November 2014

The G20 Leaders’ Summit in Brisbane, Australia have been asked to confront the corporate secrecy problem by Transparency International and a host of prominent individuals and partners including John Githongo, Desmond Tutu, and Richard Goldstone.

Cloudy corporate structures, the shifting of money and profits, and low levels of law enforcement have led to at least one trillion dollars siphoned from developing countries each year. The victims of these illicit financial flows are the world’s poorest people. In an open letter, Transparency International and their partners are asking the G20 leaders to “address the flaws that still allow the corrupt to operate with impunity and siphon off tainted monies. In your drive to achieve a target of 2% collective growth in GDP above trend, you must remember that growth must be inclusive and sustainable and not leave anyone behind. At the Brisbane Summit you must put people at the centre of your decision-making.”

Read the full story here.

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05 Nov 2014 – New York

Remarks by Magdy Martínez-Solimán, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director, Bureau for Policy and Programme Support

Business for Social Responsibility Conference 2014: Transparency and Transformation

Shared commitment and collective action in fighting corruption:UNDP perspective on public-private partnerships

“A call to action, a call against a cancer, a call for health and a call for integrity. The corporate world brings not only investment finance and capital but also normative frameworks, expertise and knowledge to the fight against corruption. Only bad business thrives in an atmosphere of traffic of influence, access to privileged information and widespread bribery. That’s the businesses afraid to compete because they can’t win fair and square against the competition. All other businesses, the medium enterprises, the startups, the big ones, the innovators, those who play by the rules need a State to enforce such rules. So the question is: are you afraid to compete or are you happy to play the integrity game? Bribery and facilitation payments are the most common reported issues in sectors that are critical to democratic governance and inclusive development: extractive industries, security and defense, big pharma and broadcast media. If you work for or with any of these sectors we need you even more. Ethical leaders are essential in promoting clean hands business practices connected to clean hands government rule. Let us protect the public market place, where the State buys from the private sector. It’s called procurement. Ethical, competitive and transparent procurement is a good way to prove that private corporations competes and the State buys value for money. Another good show of visibility is the disclosure of taxes and revenues paid by the Private Sector to Government. “Publish what you Pay” should be applicable to our work at all levels. It helps business, and it also helps the citizens know what the Government has cashed in and thus, what it will do with the public purse.”

Click here to watch the speech- http://youtu.be/ajuNAVd42Nk

Click here to read more – http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/presscenter/speeches/2014/11/05/magdy-mart-nez-solim-n-remarks-at-the-business-for-social-responsibility-bsr-conference-2014/

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