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Subscribe to RSSWASHINGTON - Crime, corruption and tax evasion have cost the developing world nearly $6 trillion over the past decade, and illicit funds keep growing, led by China, a financial watchdog group said in a new report.
China accounted for almost half of the $858.8 billion in dirty money that flowed into tax havens and Western banks in 2010, more than eight times the amounts for runners-up Malaysia and Mexico.
Total illicit outflows increased by 11 percent from the prior year, Global Financial Integrity, a Washington-based group that campaigns for financial accountability, said in its latest report released on Monday.
"Astronomical sums of dirty money continue to flow out of the developing world and into offshore tax havens and developed country banks," said Raymond Baker, director of GFI.
Italy rocked by corruption, drug scandals
"Developing countries are hemorrhaging more and more money at a time when rich and poor nations alike are struggling to spur economic growth. This report should be a wake-up call to world leaders that more must be done to address these harmful outflows," he said.
All the countries in the top 10, which this year saw India, Nigeria, the Philippines and Nigeria join the ranks, face significant problems with corruption, and in most there are vast gaps between rich and poor citizens as well as internal security problems.
More donors freeze aid to Uganda over corruption
Leaders of the Group of 20 major economies increasingly are focusing on ways to crack down on money laundering, bank secrecy and tax loopholes to prevent funds stolen from public coffers or earned through criminal activity from depleting the budgets of developing countries.
The sums are so huge that for every dollar in foreign direct aid, $10 leaves developing countries.
The report said the 10 countries with the highest measured illicit money outflows between 2001 and 2010 were, in order: China, Mexico, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Philippines, Nigeria, India, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates.
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Its nice to see so many people are copying Mitt Romney's tax evasion plan. :)
Crime, corruption and tax evasion cost the developing world $6 trillion over a decade. They have some catching up to do. In the United States it only took four years.
And it happens only in modern and developing countries, right? It NEVER occurs in cesspools like Pakistan and Afghanistan, whose leaders hoard it all and let their ordinary people starve, right????? NOOOOOO. NO WAY!
Pats and Broncoss in AFC -----------> write it down! (But you didn't hear it from me!)
And this money is the industry that keeps the tax haven countries very wealthy.
kinda like Geithner huh.
the USA should be on the top 10 list.. I can not believe we don't rank with our plutocrat"s and oligarch's in this nation...
That's because you believe the crap you're spoon fed, by the media and politicians. Of course you'd expect the US to be on that top 10 list, because that's what you've been told to believe.
The US is not on the top 10 list because our plutocrats do it mostly legally. They simply get their Congress to further lower their taxes every few years, then run TV commercials about how out-of-control government spending is.
John Kerry, Democratic senator from Massachusetts got caught parking his new yacht in another state in an attempt to not pay the higher luxury tax in his home state, the state that the electorate saw fit to send him to Washington to represent them.
I'm sure part of the U.S.'s budget problems are due to this very reason. A lot of the self-employed, the company owners, the younger generations, the "screw the government" types, foreigners... all do not report their full income year after year to avoid paying taxes. If the truth be known it would be mind-boggling.
That's $6T kept away from the corrupt politicians.
More has been stolen with a pen than the sword. But it is cleaner.
Theft may be easier with a pen. However, a sword may be better for recovery.
Right on, and top of the day to you.
And the rest to you.
This is known as white collar crimes and they are not punished much!
And most of the nations are socialist. Keep taxes high, give corruptible politicians and bureaucrats too much power so that nothing can get done without a bribe and watch the money flow overseas.
That's the direction Europe is heading (Greece, Italy and France are already there), and Obama is taking us right down the same path. This is what we have to look forward to... high taxes but less money actually collected, and regulations that make it impossible to do business without being in the good graces of the politicians.
Sounds like a great future.
Most of these countries are socialist? Which ones?
Ummm... India, China, Russia, Indonesia, Nigeria, Philippines... even the UAE and Saudi Arabia have massive social welfare programs funded with their oil money, despite being monarchies.
Pretty much every third-world hellhole on the planet is socialist to some extent.
Don't you ever get tired of the same ole shi@...it'slike the Fox news rallying cry. Obama's a socialist. And just for the record, the GB tax break was supposed to be temporary. Also, since you like to cry and cry about taxes going up a question. How has the country fared after GB tax breaks? Seems to be that we have a record deficit now. And don't even try to go on and on about Obama. GB is the only president in our nations history to lower taxes while fighting a war....or I should say two wars. You see they are very expensive. Like a few million or so a day...each. And where are these great jobs. GB lowered taxes, but where are the job from the job creators? And I mean not the illegal housecleaners, landscapers and nannies that hedge fund managers and other CEOs hire to clean and raise their childers. Fox really needs a new mantra because the socialist is getting old and is not even close to being true.
The deficit has nothing to do with the Bush Tax Cuts. They have everything to do with that fact that Bush spent like a Malibu housewife.
You see, times weren't good under Clinton because the taxes were higher. They were good because spending was reasonable, to go along with the tech boom.
The country was doing very well prior to the housing market bust, and the global recession. In fact the revenues that the US took in had never been higher in the history of the US rising from 2003 to 2008. As a matter of fact, with these cuts still in place after Obama extended them, the US has continued to take in more revenue each year, during the so called great recession, than any year under Clinton's tax rates.
The tax cuts were never the problem, the spending always was, and still is the problem!!!
Badly.
Yes, we do. Also seems to be that you don't know the difference between deficits (what the current president spends) and national debt (the cumulative effect of the deficits). Obama has increased the national debt more in four years than Bush did in eight.
Too late. Time for you to go to the fallback position: "Obama had to spend all that money to save the economy."
At the end of his second term, Obama will probably comment, "We had to destroy the economy to save it."
Romney said it best. Latin America will be our next China. To bad we aren't taking his advice and funneling Billions of Tax Dollars into Off Shore Banks via Mexico or are we? I wonder what it cost to keep your Billions from being taxed in Mexico. We know what it cost in American, JOBS!
A step in the right direction would be to prosecute executives for banks like HSBC. How about applying the law for a change. Deferred prosecution? Who allowed it and why?
A step in the right direction is start prosecuting corrupt government employees here in the US. Getting a job with the government is like winning the lottery. The higher you are the bigger the jackpot.
The "legal" lobby bribes in the US cost the nation far more than these "foreign "rip offs,all they have to do is make their corruption legal ,like in the States....
This will continue forever, because the Jewish bankers make billions from this. They have laundered trillions of dollars of drug money over the last 30 years. The government just slapped them on the wrist and fined them few billion dollars. This is equivalent of fining an avarage citizen for 5 dollars. The reason nothing will happen is that these Jewish banks are the world Government . Controll the money supply and you rule the world, plain and simple.
China is the Top Corrupt? Like I am so not surprised. Please give me news that is new!! This has gone on for decades - we work hard and they steal our money. We are considered stupid because we keep giving money they then take = Foreign Aid to countries that are corrupt. Ding Dong........
For every dollar in direct foreign aid, 10 leaves the country.
How many of these country's are we sending aid too? And how do they know the amount that is being siphoned off these economies? Just curious.
Foreign aid consumes only 1% of the federal budget.
Corruption has cost the american taxpayers $ 43 trillion and the lives of batman movie shooting and the lives
at the sandy hook school shooting
In the wake of the mass murders that took place in Newtown, Connecticut on Dec. 14, information on the shooter, and his family, is slowly being discovered by law enforcement other sources. One interesting connection to the tragedy that took place at the Sandy Hook school is that the father of Adam Lanza has a connection to the theater shootings that took place in Aurora earlier this year by James Holmes.
Both fathers of the shooters were allegedly expected to testify in the Libor scandal that rocked the banking world in June.
Libor scandal grows as the fathers of two mass murderers were to testifyLibor scandal grows as the fathers of two mass murderers were to testify
Libor is the internal banking interest rate that major financial institutions determine each day for lending purposes between each facility. This rate is then translated to the interest rates used for mortgages, student loans, credit cards, and nearly every interest bearing loan in the world. Manipulation of the Libor rate has resulted in hundreds of billions, if not trillions of dollars in fraudulent payments made by billions of customers throughout the financial world.
For similar events on the magnitude of both Aurora and Newtown to hold a connection to one of the greatest financial scandals in the history of finance is astronomically slim in regards to coincidence. In fact, neither shooter had a history with firearm proficiency, and the outcome of each shooting showed an expertise many trained military personnel could not achieve. This leaves the question of where they got their training, or if there was another plot involved which allowed these young men to perform the actions they did with such precision.
While the coming days will bring forth more pertinent information on the motives, access, and failures of both community and family to diagnose the events leading up to Adam Lanza's killing spree, one thing is becoming disturbingly clear. The connections between the Aurora massacre, and the one that took place in Newtown on Friday, may have far more ramifications to the people involved in the Libor scandal than anyone could imagine.
The wheels of justice grind slowly but they do grind after all.
Major players in the Obama White House have been targeted in a law suit by Spire Law Group who is responsible for recovering 43 trillion in laundered funds and racketeering that has been linked to major banks, crony capitalists, and government officials. This scheme based in New York will be party to the biggest federal government lawsuit in history. The government will attempt to recover 43 trillion in taxpayer’s funds disbursed during the 2009 bailout that totaled 787 billion to supposedly save the US financial markets from a massive collapse while funding infrastructure projects though out the US such as roads and bridges that were badly in need of repairs, yet only 6% of the money was ever used for such purposes.
Corrupt bailout evidence never acted upon
As many such as Rush Limbaugh had charged, the massive bailouts used for AIG, General Motors, Chrysler Corporation, a number of banks, even broadcasting companies, was apparently disbursed for other clandestine purposes such as slush funds for Democrat election campaigns. Yet, that’s not all.
A slick operation that didn’t plan on getting caught
Plaintiffs have now identified a number of individuals who were running a racketeering enterprise linked to the following individuals, who participated in and profited from the illegally deposited money. Those named as defendants in the lawsuit are: Attorney General, Eric Holder, California Attorney General Kamala Harris, Jon Corzine, former New Jersey Governor, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, current Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, former chairman of the board for Citigroup, Vikram Pandit, who recently resigned under disgustingly unethical disclosures, Senior White House advisor, Valerie Jarret, former communications director for the White House, Anita Dunn, chief legal counsel for Obama re-election campaign, Robert Bauer, including bankers and other associated parties who participated in the violation of the laws.
This lawsuit alleges criminal violations of the Patriot Act, the policy of embargo against Iran and other foreign nations hostile toward the United States, as well as the RICO statute, which involves Racketeering Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act. There are additional federal and state laws also violated and represented under the record federal government lawsuit.
Seeking to recover trillions and stop foreclosures
In addition, on the behalf of home owners across the nation, and taxpayers in the state of New York, Spire Law Group has extended its mass tort action to District Court of Brooklyn, New York seeking to halt all foreclosures nationwide until such time as the amount of 43 trillion dollars is recovered from bankers and co-conspirators. Audits will be sought against the Federal Reserve and bail out programs by an independent receiver such as Neil Barofsky, former Inspector General of the TARP programs on the basis that none of the money that was ever advanced to the Treasury Department was ever paid back despite protestations to the Obama administration who has failed to prosecute any of the bankers responsible for the alleged violations for which the lawsuit has been detailed to identify. These same indicted bankers the Obama re-election campaign has been borrowing money from to finance its operations.
The theft and corruption goes international to our enemies
Furthermore, Plaintiffs have expanded their lawsuit to include racketeering, money laundering, and violations of the Iranian Embargo Act by national banks that are named as defendants in the lawsuit along with the names of their bankers.
Hiding the money didn’t work
The jurisdictions of well known offshore havens have been identified as sanctuaries used to launder trillions which located in Switzerland, Isle of Man, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Cypress, and entities considered adverse to the Sanctions and Embargo Act against Iran by the US government. Many of these offshore entities have already been served with summons to appear in court over the last 6 months.
Our federal government part of the scheme
With undeniable proof already in place that the Obama administration was publicly urging refinance through bankers named in the lawsuit while secretly ratifying the formation of shell companies violating the Patriot Act along with state and federal laws. The Spire Law Group lawsuit further establishes that major federally chartered US banks were laundering stolen taxpayers and home owner’s money in the amount of 43 trillion and laundering it through obscure offshore companies. Named in the lawsuit are Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Bank, One West Bank, Citibank, and Citigroup, along with others to name a few.
Why weren’t our agencies protecting the people?
The Spire Law Group is the only legal organization that has pursued prosecution of these bankers named in the lawsuit. Neither Eric Holder’s Department of Justice, the Federal Deposit and Insurance Corporation, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or nor any state’s Attorney General has bothered to chase these criminal bankers internationally to recover the 43 trillion, lawful damages, injunctive relief, or other legal damages stemming from these gross irregularities and violations! Not one US Government agency has attempted to act under the directives of its own charter and prosecute the guilty parties involved!
The Spire Law Group specializes in the litigation of such entities as banks, government officials, failed loan pools, and the very offshore entities that were in receipt of laundered money that the defendants named in the lawsuit have disbursed through them. A 47 year partner of the law firm James N. Fiedler, expressed his outrage over the fact that US government agencies tasked with protecting the interests of the American public did not even attempt to pursue their duty! The law firm has 250 years accumulated experience in this type of legal recovery and prosecution whose clients range from large corporations, wealthy individuals, to the public’s interest at large.
Stripping away the facade
When comments were solicited from the Attorney General offices of six US states, no response came from those agencies who should have been involved. This lawsuit represents the most massive scale of corruption, theft of public funds, laundering, racketeering, and failure of the government to pursue it’s duty to the citizens of America in history. It promises to unveil and divulge the corrupt inner workings of the federal government along with its malignant relationship with the banking industry, Wall Street, and government officials who have considered themselves cunningly beyond the law!
From the President on down the chain of command justice will be done accordingly
Third world, and UN corruption costs the USA trillions so we are even! it is not tax evasion, it is tax avoidance, and legal, stupid, and by the way, if you do not owe it, it is not their money!!!! get the commie and Marxists out of their countries, and then maybe they can produce and earn their money, instead of stealing from the rest of us.
Turn the charity deduction into a full credit with no cap and see how many people still think laundering taxes through the govt is a good investment.
In 2009 the LA Times reported that 90% of the currency in LA was tainted with cocaine. We have seen huge finds of drug money, which are just the tip of the ice burg. This article notes that one of the big countries for moving money is Mexico, I think it's a safe assumption that most of this is from drugs.
It would seem to me that something we can do right now is to stop the use of illegal drugs in this country. If your a user, stop for the good of your country. If you have friends that use, try and get them to stop for the good of the country. If you know dealers, consider telling the police so they can get them off the streets, for the good of the country. Get out and find people that help people stop using and support them with time or money.
I understand this sounds overly simplistic, but when are we going to start doing something about things we can control? Virtually everyone here points fingers at someone or something as being the cause, when in fact, we as individuals, can start at the community level. Do we have to deal with other things, absolutely, but those will take time.
We have tax laws passed by congress over the last 60 years that allow deductions that are not relevant today. Every Democrat and Republican has allowed this, so for those that want to point a finger at a particular person or group, you show a lack of understanding.
No mention of government corruption here in the US.
Corruption = Public Enemy #1
wooo hooo... philippines aka flipland made the list...
flips must be so proud...
It won't be too long before the U.S. has a third world economy and we already have plenty of government corruption. So Global Financial Integrity had better reserve a slot for us on their list.
Money doesn't like to hang around in hostile business environments.
Society works best when money is allowed to follow the highest rates of (return/risk).
Shocking!!! yeah right.
So now the problem is known....freaking do something about it already!