Request for posting Articles
Article Type: (Mandatory)
[Choose/highlight any one] 1. News article at Home page
1. News articles and Patron’s speeches
Image Name: (Mandatory)
Statement of the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows to AU Summit- 31 Jan
2015
Image Title: (Mandatory)
[Only for news articles at home page]
Statement of the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows to AU Summit- 31 Jan
2015
Title: (Mandatory)
Statement of the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows to AU Summit- 31 Jan
2015
Body of the Content: (Mandatory)
STATEMENT BY THABO MBEKI, CHAIRPERSON OF THE HIGH LEVEL
PANEL ON ILLICIT FINANCIAL FLOWS, TO THE TWENTY FOURTH
ORDINARY SESSION OF THE ASSEMBLY OF THE AFRICAN UNION,
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA, JANUARY 31, 2015
Your Excellency, Chairperson of the Union,
Your Excellencies, Heads of State and Government
Your Excellency, Chairperson of the AU Commission,
Distinguished delegates,
I have the honour to present to the Assembly the final Report of the High
Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa.
Your Excellencies will recall that the 4th Conference of African Ministers of
Finance, Planning and Economic Development held in 2011 here in Addis
Ababa called for the establishment of a High Level Panel to look into the
troubling issue of the loss of tax revenues and capital through illicit financial
flows from Africa and to make recommendations in this regard. The Panel
submitted a progress Report to the Ministers at their meeting in Abuja in
March 2014 and they requested that we submit our final Report to this
Assembly.
Permit me, then, in tabling our Report to highlight some salient issues
arising from the work of the Panel.
It is clear that illicit financial flows from Africa are large and increasing.
They are also particularly prevalent in the extractive and natural resources
sector, which is a key contributor to our national economies.
To emphasise the importance of the issue of the illicit financial outflows, I
must mention that these outflows far exceed the amount of Overseas
Development Assistance Africa receives. Through trade mispricing alone,
Africa loses more than US$ 50 billion annually.
Indeed, following extensive research and consultations, the Panel agrees
with the view that large corporations are by far the biggest culprits
responsible for illicit outflows, especially given their ability to retain the best
available professional legal, accountancy, banking and other expertise.
Organized criminal organizations also contribute significantly to illicit
financial flows which are facilitated across the board by corrupt practices by
public and private sector individuals within and outside the continent.
A closely related set of issues pertains to new and innovative ways of
generating illicit financial flows particularly through the digital economy and
the opportunity afforded for ‘opacity’ by intangibles such as intra-company
loans and other transactions. Money through laundering such as
triangulated transactions and the smuggling of cash on aircraft are part of
this problem.
It also became quite clear in the course of our work that while the study of
illicit financial flows seems technically complex, it is ultimately a political
matter requiring decisions at various levels of governance. It can indeed be
said that illicit financial flows are an ‘African problem with a global solution’.
This slogan underscores the important role of cooperation and
collaboration by all concerned to tackle illicit financial flows and to bring
coherence at regional and global levels to existing disparate strands of the
work being done on this matter.
We also agree that secrecy and lack of transparency across various parts
of the financial chain contribute to the problem of illicit financial flows. This
means that the international community must take steps to ensure the
public availability of information on the finances and ownership of
multinational companies. In addition, greater transparency in the
international banking system including elimination of financial secrecy
jurisdictions are necessary. These steps are also vital with regard to asset
recovery and the repatriation to Africa of stolen assets.
Our countries and the international community must adopt practical steps
to tackle the illicit financial flows. These steps are reflected in our
recommendations which address the commercial, criminal and corruption
components of illicit financial flows as well as measures that need to be
taken by Africa and its partners.
In this regard, one key issue we wish to bring to the attention of the
Assembly is the need to establish or strengthen the capacities of such
institutions and agencies of government as the financial intelligence units,
anti-fraud agencies, customs and border agencies, revenue agencies, anticorruption agencies and financial crime agencies.
Moreover, as the international community prepares to engage in the
3rdInternational Conference on Financing for Development, Africa should
ensure that the challenge of illicit financial flows is placed firmly on the
agenda. Indeed, the very credibility of the post-2015 development agenda
entails realistic expectations about the availability of resources for its
financing. Stemming illicit financial flows is surely one new and real
commitment to the objective of securing financing for development.
The report of the High Level Panel is hereby placed before Your
Excellencies. It is our expectation that you will endorse our
recommendations for implementation by all actors including our national
governments. To lend further momentum to this pressing issue, we in turn
will present our findings and recommendations to a broad section of
stakeholders including development partners, multilateral agencies, civil
society organizations and the media.
I am honoured to commend to this 24th Ordinary Session of the Assembly
of the African Union, the Report of the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial
Flows from Africa.
Thank you.
120,896 people reached
Footer of the Article: (Non-Mandatory)
<<Type the footer text of Article>>