Global Issues News Headlines for “Tax Havens; Undermining Democracy”

Q&A: 'Political Elites Ensure Continuing Flight of Dirty Money'

2009-09-16T00:00:00-07:00

Illegal capital flight in the form of corrupt, criminal and illicit commercial proceeds out of developing economies could be as high as one trillion dollars a year. Not only does it dwarf the 50 billion dollars in development assistance that rich countries disburse annually but it is largely facilitated by the western financial system of tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions.

Latin America: Investigative Journalists Show Their Mettle

2009-08-24T00:00:00-07:00

'One way of ensuring the future of journalism is to improve content quality, and this means investigating what is deliberately hidden, like corruption,' said Gerardo Reyes, a reporter for the Miami newspaper El Nuevo Herald, on a visit to the Peruvian capital.

Venezuela: Drug Trafficking Getting Worse, Says U.S. Report

2009-07-20T00:00:00-07:00

Governmental corruption and the refusal to cooperate with U.S. counter-drug efforts are worsening a ballooning drug trafficking problem in Venezuela, according to a new report by the investigative office of the U.S. Congress.

Q&A: Tax Havens, Bank Secrecy, and Tricks

2009-07-14T00:00:00-07:00

At a recent conference in Miami organised by Offshore Alert, a specialised media organisation focused on financial crime, IPS correspondent Lucy Komisar sat down with veteran investigator Bob Roach to discuss the hurdles facing regulators trying to crack down on tax havens, which cost the U.S. alone an estimated 100 billion dollars annually.

Spain-Equatorial Guinea: More Trade, Little Pressure

2009-07-09T00:00:00-07:00

Trade between Spain and Equatorial Guinea is flourishing, amidst calls by activists for the government of Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to push for democracy in this tiny country on the Atlantic coast of Africa, still under the yoke of dictatorship.

Economy-India: Tax Haven Loot Turns Election Issue

2009-04-25T00:00:00-07:00

General elections currently being contested in India have brought an unusual issue to the fore - the repatriation of more than a trillion dollars believed to have been stashed away in Swiss and other tax havens around the world.

China: Macau Gaming Boom at a Cost

2009-04-17T00:00:00-07:00

Beijing’s decade-old flirt with lucrative gambling in the booming casino town of Macau has gone decidedly sour.

Finance: Tax Havens in Spotlight at G20 Meet

2009-03-29T00:00:00-07:00

This could be the moment when a fatal blow is delivered to the world's tax havens. Or it could be another largely cosmetic change that allows offshore financial centres such as Switzerland, the Cayman Islands and Liechtenstein to deflect attacks on the system by sacrificing the few tax miscreants that governments catch in their nets.