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Greece: corruption and the crisis

Last month, Greeks went to the polls after two years of ceaseless crisis. After a vote that showed their frustration with the old regime and their desire for change, the question now should be how to tackle the rampant corruption that has driven a wedge between a people and their leaders. One answer is transparency. […]

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G8 action on asset recovery for the Arab world

The G8 have just released an ambitious and comprehensive asset recovery action plan as part of the Deauville Partnership with Arab Countries in Transition. It is timely and necessary to reinforce the momentum behind stolen asset recovery processes. The first step by G8 countries was to freeze the accounts of the authoritarian leaders Mubarak, Ben […]

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Corruption in Greece – a crisis of values

Everyone at the moment is interested in the situation in Greece – the impact of the financial crisis, why it ever happened and the future of the country.  One way to understand it is to talk to the Greeks themselves, of course. We visited Greece for the launch of their important study ‘National Integrity Systems’ […]

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Whistleblowers in Ireland

Paul Hockenos is a Berlin-based writer and consultant who recently visited Dublin to work with TI Ireland to give exposure to its groundbreaking programme to protect and encourage whistleblowers. German photographer Dagmar Morath accompanied him.   You don’t have to walk very far in downtown Dublin to run smack into grim fallout of the financial […]

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Fighting corruption in 2011

Today’s launch of the 2011  Corruption Perceptions Index, notes Christina zur Nedden of Transparency International’s Communications Department, serves as a timely occasion to reflect on our efforts to fight corruption in 2011. Corruption high on the agenda This has been a big year for anti-corruption work and public awareness of corruption has risen substantially. Unprecedented […]

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Will Portuguese privatisation pay the bills?

Portugal aims to raise €7 billion through privatisation as part of the conditions of its €78 billion IMF-EU bailout. Portugal’s Luis de Sousa, Chairman of TIAC, our national contact point in Portugal, talks about their efforts to maintain transparency as Portugal implements the conditions of its bailout. This March saw large public protests and demonstrations […]

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Will “Occupy Wall St” conquer hearts and minds?

Zoe Reiter is Senior Programme Coordinator in Transparency International’s Americas Department. As the Wall Street protests grow, she considers the challenges facing the movement. A friend of mine sent me a photo of her and her newborn occupying a park in Wall Street.  This friend is well-to-do and while her leanings have always veered to […]

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Where the Money Can Hide: The New Financial Secrecy Index was published today

Christian Humborg is the Managing Director of TI Germany When a police officer is bribed, usually two people are involved: the bribe-taker and the bribe-payer. In larger corruption cases, a third person is needed: the bribe-hider. Bribe-hiders don’t stash the bills under the bed. There is a global financial services industry for non-residents which allows […]

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Does Standard & Poor’s represent civil society?

Oh dear. It’s all going wrong for the European Banking Authority (EBA), the new agency responsible for policing the EU’s banking sector. We noted some promising signs here a few months ago, but it’s been largely downhill since then. In July it carried out what it claimed was a comprehensive ‘stress test’ of European banks, […]

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Cleaning up finance: when corporate governance turns bad

If anyone questioned the European Commission’s current concern with corporate governance in financial institutions, last Friday’s bombshell that 17 international financial groups – including such household names as Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland – are to be sued by the US government for offences ranging from misrepresentation to fraud and aiding […]

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