Thread by @FinTrCo

Follow along in this thread for the highlights of today's new UN @FACTIpanel release, and all the recommendations for how to finally curtail #illicitfinancialflows.

https://twitter.com/FinTrCo/status/1364921987106279426

Statement from UN Secretary-General @antonioguterres: "I warmly welcome the @FACTIpanel report. The Panel has delved into how... current international tax norms deprive governments of needed revenues."

https://twitter.com/FACTIpanel/status/1364908002776522755

Munir Akram: "Every year, trillions of dollars flow out of developing countries due to... criminal activities, and tax evaders.... The existence of safe [offshore] havens that receive illicit money must be dismantled."

#illicitfinancialflows

Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, @FACTIpanel co-chair: "The status quo that governs global finance is skewed, with #illicitfinancialflows representing a double theft: an expropriation of funds that also robs billions of a better future."

Amounts of global funds hidden in offshore havens:

—$7 trillion of private wealth hidden in offshore havens
—10% of global GDP may be held in offshore assets
—$1.6 trillion (nearly 3% of global GDP) lost in money laundering by criminals, including organized crime

@FACTIpanel

Among the solutions to ending #illicitfinancialflows proposed by the UN's @FACTIpanel:

—A new UN Tax Convention
—Beneficial ownership registries for all countries
—Publishing country-by-country financial information for multinational companies

More solutions to ending #illicitfinancialflows proposed by the UN's @FACTIpanel:

—Create new transparency requirements for "enablers," including lawyers and accountants
—Create more equitable tax-sharing information between countries
—Create Center for Monitoring Taxing Rights

.@ImranKhanPTI: Offshore haven jurisdictions must "return all foreign assets that are stolen or whose legitimacy cannot be explained," especially as it pertains to politically exposed persons.

Among the @FACTIpanel solutions: improving asset return systems.

What does $500 billion lost every year from profit-shifting multinationals look like?

—Homes for 8 million families in Brazil
—Hospital treatments for 55 million people in India
—3,500 schools in South Africa
—Welfare for 13 million in Bangladesh
—6,500 water wells in Gambia

Marcus Pleyer, head of @FATFNews: "Public [beneficial ownership] registries is an option that we encourage," but it "depends on the national legal system... Before we look into new standards, we need countries to implement the ones that are in place right now."

Marcus Pleyer, head of @FATFNews, discussing the enablers of offshore finance: "A lawyer must understand what the risk indicators [for money laundering] is... There are a lot of risk indicators lawyers must learn and understand."

#illicitfinancialflows

Sternford Moyo of @IBAnews regarding lawyers' role in offshore finance: "Once you attack lawyers as enablers, you actually...undermine confidence in the law.... It's only a few bad eggs, really, which you'll find in any profession, that are not compliant."

#illicitfinancialflows

More from the UN's @FACTIpanel release: "Gender-disaggregated data" remains important to analyzing #illicitfinancialflows, as "the most disproportionate effect is on women and on marginalized racial and ethnic minorities" when it comes to offshore finance.

Are you interested in learning more about just how significant today's UN @FACTIpanel release on tax abuse and human rights was? Join us tomorrow!

https://twitter.com/FinTrCo/status/1364915548115640320