Corruption and Money Laundering

Corruption keeps poor countries poor, encourages conflict and instability and leads to environmental destruction.

For years our investigators followed the money and came up against the same problems. Whether it’s timber, diamonds, oil or mineral deals, those with suspect money to hide need a bank that won’t ask awkward questions, a team of lawyers and financial advisors to help them find loopholes and skirt laws, and all too often, an anonymous company so they can get it out of the country it came from.

These services are all readily available in the world’s financial centres, like Singapore, London or New York, as well as the more notorious tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions. Banks too often fail to do the proper checks on suspect clients or funds, and regulators don’t punish them for these failures.

Without this kind of complicity from the international system, crime and corruption of this kind would be much harder to get away with. Our investigations focus on changing the international systems which make corruption and money laundering possible.