CAPITALISM'S ACHILLES HEEL Dirty Money and How to

176 CAPITALISM’S ACHILLES HEEL
UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.
Came into force in 1990. Requires states to establish as criminal offenses
the cultivation, manufacture, transport, sale, and possession of narcotics.
International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.
Came into force in 2002. Requires all states to take steps for the identification,
freezing, and forfeiture of terrorists’ funds.
UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. Came into force in
2003. Requires states to adopt laws tackling international criminal syndicates,
money laundering, corruption, and obstruction of justice.
UN Convention against Corruption. Signed in 2003, with ratification continuing
through 2005. Requires states to adopt laws barring bribery, embezzlement,
laundering of public funds, and procurement fraud.
Anti-Bribery Convention of the OECD. Came into force in 1999. Requires signatory
countries to make bribery of foreign public officials a criminal offense.
OECD’s Transfer Pricing Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Tax Administrations.
First addressed by the OECD in 1979 and updated in 1984,
1987, 1993, 1995, and 1997. Urges adoption of arms-length pricing between
associated companies.
OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. Revised in 2000. Nonbinding
recommendations for corporations to avoid “practices that are deceptive, misleading,
fraudulent, or unfair” and to comply with “tax laws and regulations in
all countries” and “to act in accordance with both the letter and the spirit of
those laws and regulations.”
OECD Principles of Corporate Governance. Revised draft text released in
2004. A guide for investors, corporations, and stock exchanges, primarily applicable
to publicly traded companies, focusing on shareholder rights, board
responsibilities, and financial disclosure.
The Wolfsberg Group. Formed in 2000 and now comprising 12 international
private banks pledging to adopt a rather limited code of conduct in dealing
with wealthy clients.
The Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units. Set up in 1995 and now including
nearly 60 members, aimed at coordinating the work of financial intelligence
groups, such as the U.S.’s FinCEN, globally.
International Money Laundering Information Network (IMoLIN), part of an
anti–money laundering program in the UN’s Office of Drugs and Crime in Vienna.
IMoLIN probably has the best country-by-country money-laundering
database available.