The G20 fail to bring full transparency to the fight against global corruption and tax evasion

Brisbane, 16.11.14 – Friederike Röder, from The ONE Campaign at the G20 summit, said:

“Despite all the progress in the fight against tax evasion and corruption made this year in the run up to the summit, the G20 leaders have fallen at the final hurdle, talking up their commitment to transparency but failing to deliver it.

“It’s a job half done: the G20’s beneficial ownership principles state that transparency of beneficial ownership of legal persons and arrangements is a high priority, yet they have not agreed to put information in the public domain. It is critical that people have information on what governments and businesses are doing so that they can be held to account, enabling journalists, NGOs and others to fight corruption.

“The G20 has also failed to adequately address solutions for the world’s poorest: developing countries without strong systems will not be able benefit from the automatic exchange of information from the very start. Crucially, in one area the Australian G20 appears to have taken a step back. Transparency in the extractive industries, obtained last year is now relegated to the annex.

“In the end, the G20 has only partially addressed the Trillion Dollar Scandal that hits developing countries hard. They are deprived of at least a trillion dollars each year, that properly taxed and invested in health could save 3.6 million lives every year.

“It’s now up to individual G20 member states to deliver on transparency.

“ONE is asking countries to keep up their efforts and to be ambitious in the fight against tax evasion and corruption, especially in Europe.”