Trillions in Dirty Money: How Hidden Loopholes Fuel Corruption and Inequality

Human Wrongs Watch By Baher Kamal

MADRID, Jan 16 2025 (IPS)* – It is no longer a secret that at major global summits there are more lobbyists than official delegates. There, they participate as ‘guests,’ and most of them work for big business corporations. Their goal? To deter the adoption of policies that conflict with their employers’ interests.

Their persuasion exercise quite often helps water down the urgency of taking decisive actions, the need to cut the private business staggering profits, the financial dues of the industrialised powers to the impoverished nations that bear the heaviest brunt of their policies, and so on.

To achieve such a purpose, lobbyists often quietly show different sorts of ‘gratitude.’

The Big Financial Gap in Climate Action

A clear evidence is what the global movement working in over 100 countries to end the injustice of corruption: Transparency International (TI) informs on the occasion of the International Anti-Corruption Day 2024: Time to tackle the murky world of climate negotiations:

“Every year billions of dollars are mobilised to finance initiatives that curb emissions, fund climate adaptation, and protect crucial conservation areas…

… But without strong anti-corruption measures in place, these essential resources are at risk of being diverted, and the current finance gap is at risk of never being closed.”

“We can already see evidence of this taking place.”

In the carbon credits market, it explains, where the inherent tension between reducing emissions and providing financial returns has led to land grabbing, bribery, projects being double-counted and the prices of carbon credits being keptsecret.

“Last year we saw that in total over 90 percent of carbon credits should not have been approved.”

Estimates of total global anonymous and potentially illicit wealth range from US$7 trillion to US$32 trillion (around 10% of total global wealth).

“Rich countries view the Global South as ultimately expendable, like pawns on a chessboard…”

Such an amount is more than 100-fold the 300 billion US dollars promised by the world’s major climate carnage promoters in the concept of “reparation” to the most impacted poor countries.

Responding to the COP29 climate finance agreement in Baku’s climate summit in November 2024, in which rich countries agree to mobilise $300 billion a year to help Global South countries cope with warming temperatures and switch to renewable energy, Oxfam International’s Climate Change Policy Lead, Nafkote Dabi, said:

“The terrible verdict from the Baku climate talks shows that rich countries view the Global South as ultimately expendable, like pawns on a chessboard…

… The $300 billion so-called ‘deal’ that poorer countries have been bullied into accepting is unserious and dangerous —a soulless triumph for the rich, but a genuine disaster for our planet and communities who are being flooded, starved, and displaced today by climate breakdown. And as for promises of future funding? They’re just as hollow as the deal itself.

… The money on the table is not only a pittance in comparison to what’s really needed –it’s not even real “money”, by and large, added Nafkote Dabi.

“Rather, it’s a motley mix of loans and privatized investment –a global Ponzi scheme that the private equity vultures and public relations people will now exploit.

Africa’s Stolen Wealth

“Imagine billions of dollars siphoned from public funds – money meant to build schools, hospitals and infrastructure – vanishing into a web of offshore accounts, luxury real estate and shell companies…”

“This isn’t fiction; it’s the stark reality of how corruption drains resources from Africa and other regions, leaving people to bear the cost,” Transparency International unveiled in December 2024.

TI analysis is based on cases of corruption confirmed by court decisions, as well as credible allegations of corruption and hiding of wealth offshore.

The following are just some of the findings that Transparency International has just uncovered:

– There is a staggering network of companies, properties, bank accounts and luxury goods,

Notably, close to 80 percent of assets were held abroad, often far from where the corruption originally occurred:

– Companies: the ultimate anonymity tool: In 85 percent of cases, companies and trusts were used to obscure the ownership of assets. Often, complex cross-border corporate structures or multiple shell companies were used to distance corrupt individuals – and their dirty funds – from the asset in question.

– Real Estate: The laundering favourite: If companies are the preferred tool for anonymity, real estate ranks among the top choices for laundering stolen funds. In one-third of the cases we analysed, properties played a central role.

France, the United Kingdom (UK), the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United States (US) were the preferred locations for purchasing properties connected to suspicious activities.

– Bank Accounts: Hong Kong, Switzerland, the UK, the UAE and the US appear as key destinations for bank accounts used to pay bribes, move or store dirty funds.

– EU Golden Passport, Visa Schemes: Many countries run golden passport and visa programmes which offer fast-track citizenship or residency to foreign nationals in exchange for substantial investment in the country – often in real estate.

Member states of the European Union (EU) are particularly attractive, as citizenship or residence in one country grants access to the whole EU.

“Golden passports and visas are highly desirable for those associated with corruption because they offer access to a safe haven for their stolen wealth.”

Indeed, a high percentage of the golden visas exchanged money proceed from the ‘mafias’ of trafficking in drugs and toxic substances, let alone the business of trafficking and smuggling migrants.

Transparency International listed the major destinations of the ‘dirty money’: British Virgin Islands, France, Hong Kong, Panama, Seychelles, Singapore, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and United States.

Ever Growing Inequality

TI, the international movement working to speed up global progress in tackling illicit financial flows and abusive practices that perpetuate economic inequalities and undermine sustainable development, warns that:

“Inequality is a key impediment to sustainable development and social justice. This is particularly true in the case of Africa, where the COVID-19 pandemic has further aggravated social and economic inequalities.

Despite two decades of high economic growth, resource-rich Africa is home to 10 of the world’s 20 most unequal countries.

“While extreme poverty is rising, three African billionaires have more wealth than the poorest 50 per cent of the population across the continent.”

Disproportionate impact on the Poor

For its part, the World Bank considers corruption a major challenge to the twin goals of ending extreme poverty by 2030 and boosting shared prosperity for the poorest 40 percent of people in developing countries.

“Corruption has a disproportionate impact on the poor and most vulnerable, increasing costs and reducing access to services, including health, education and justice.”

Furthermore, the World Bank explains that corruption in the procurement of drugs and medical equipment drives up costs and can lead to sub-standard or harmful products.

“As the global community continues its struggle against climate change, addressing corruption remains critical to ensuring that resources reach those who need them most and that climate finance fulfills its promise of justice and equity.”

*SOURCE: IPS. Go to ORIGINAL: https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/01/trillions-in-dirty-money-how-hidden-loopholes-fuel-corruption-and-inequality/ 2025 Human Wrongs Watch

Source: https://human-wrongs-watch.net/2025/01/18/trillions-in-dirty-money-how-hidden-loopholes-fuel-corruption-and-inequality/