GI-ACE project on beneficial ownership and corruption in Nigeria investigating financial data to try to locate something that is not apparently observable—laundering the proceeds of corruption through disguising the beneficial owner—by removing from the picture what might be explained legitimately.
Recent fieldwork in Tanzania and Uganda demonstrates the potential for data transparency to improve accountability will depend on commitment, not just to open data but also to pursue accompanying reforms that facilitate oversight and promote fair competition.
Tom MayneTom Mayne is a research fellow at the University of Exeter. For twelve years he was responsible for Eurasian investigations at Global Witness, an anti-corruption NGO that campaigns to end the exploitation of natural resources.
GI-ACE researcher Daniel Haberly’s first project workshop, “Dark Architectures: Advancing Research on Global Wealth Chains,” provided an opportunity to present in detail on the preliminary version of the historical financial secrecy database compiled over the past several months, including a preliminary overview of how the world map (in 61 jurisdictions) of secrecy-related regulation evolved between the years of 2000-2015.
In a new Red Flags Explainer, Liz David-Barrett, Mihaly Fazekas, Agnes Czibik, Bence Toth, and Isabelle Adam draw on their experience of building and analysing datasets of government procurement over the past ten years to answer some Frequently Asked Questions about their work.
Thorsten ChmuraThorsten Chmura is a professor at Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University. His main research interest is using laboratory and field experiments to find solutions for real-life challenges. Thorsten holds various leadership positions at Nottingham Business School, and has previously worked at the Universities of Nottingham, Munich, and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Abigail…
It is increasingly widely recognized that many of the enablers of large-scale corruption lie in transnational financial networks and, in particular, offshore secrecy jurisdictions. These secrecy jurisdictions facilitate the international movement and storage of funds acquired through corruption, tax evasion, smuggling, drug trading, and other criminal activities which, in-turn, facilitate further criminal and terrorist enterprise.
In this GI-ACE project, data is used to develop new proxy indicators of corruption risk, based on ‘red flags’ in the tendering process, and then used to test how patterns of corruption differ across contexts and whether anti-corruption efforts work.
Jacqueline HarveyComing from the school of critical scholars, Jacqueline Helen Harvey‘s evidence-based work challenges existing frameworks and approaches. Her overall contribution to the discipline is around two main themes: anti-money laundering policy / asset recovery and the criminal interface with internal organisational structure. Harvey is a professor of Financial Management and Director of Business Research…
John HeathershawJohn Heathershaw is an associate professor and director of impact at University of Exeter. His research addresses conflict and security in authoritarian political environments, especially in post-Soviet Central Asia. It considers how and how effectively conflict is managed in authoritarian states. Heathershaw convenes the Exeter Central Asian Studies (ExCAS) research network and directs its…