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                Kerry Could Face Barbs at Anti-Corruption Summit

   by Luis Ramirez

   U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry may be gently scolded Thursday when
   he attends an anti-corruption summit hosted by Prime Minister David
   Cameron in London.

   "Corruption is an enemy of progress and the root of so many of the
   world's problems," Cameron said before the summit, which will call into
   question the practices of rich nations like Britain and the United
   States.

   The summit's aim will be to agree on mechanisms to expose and punish
   corruption. The meeting will include leaders of Afghanistan, Colombia
   and Nigeria.

   In remarks to Oxford University students Wednesday, Kerry said the U.S.
   was working with countries like Nigeria to combat corruption.

   "Nigeria saw tens of billions of dollars taken out of the country.
   Those were schools, those were health care, those were infrastructure,
   new jobs, hidden in bank accounts around the world," he said.

   The focus will be not only on corruption in the developing world, but
   also on transparency in rich nations. This is due in part to
   revelations in the so-called Panama Papers about how and where the
   world's rich and powerful hide their money.

   "We have moved away from this idea that it's the African kleptocrats
   who are involved in corruption. It's clear today that financial secrecy
   is provided by rich countries like the U.S. and the U.K.," Alex Cobham,
   director at research at the Tax Justice Network, a London advocacy
   group, told VOA.

   ''Cameron's summit is taking place after the Panama Papers leaks
   revealed his late, wealthy father ran an offshore fund to avoid paying
   British taxes. Later revelations showed the prime minister had a stake
   in the dealings, something the British leader has admitted.

   Cameron's government has been under pressure to carry out reforms that
   include a public register of British companies with overseas holdings.
   There is also pressure for Britain to extend reforms to its offshore
   possessions after the Panama Papers revealed more than half of the
   210,000 companies exposed were registered in the British Virgin
   Islands.

   The Panama Papers leaks named relatively few Americans and no
   high-ranking public officials. But anti-corruption advocates see the
   United States as a major area of concern when it comes to allowing tax
   evasion and money laundering in states like Delaware, Nevada and
   Wyoming, which critics say permit businesses to be formed inexpensively
   and secretively.

   Kerry may speak in support of reforms in the United States, but
   expectations are tempered by the fact the U.S. government's power is
   limited, since the states have the right to set many of their own
   banking regulations.

   Bolstering Kerry's position at the summit will be steps the Obama
   administration unveiled this month to combat money laundering,
   corruption and tax evasion.  The actions by the U.S. Treasury
   Department include requiring financial institutions to find out and
   verify who actually owns and profits from companies that make use of
   their services. That information will then be available to law
   enforcement agencies.

   But anti-corruption campaigners said the top U.S. diplomat would get a
   message, quietly but repeatedly, at the anti-corruption summit.

   "He will hear the world identifies the U.S. as the biggest
   noncooperative jurisdiction," Cobham said.

   Seriousness of purpose

   Analysts say Washington and London are taking the need for
   anti-corruption reforms seriously. Both see it as a matter of
   legitimacy and security, especially following the financial crisis of
   the past decade that has resulted in poverty, unemployment and
   frustration among millions.

   Tim Evans, a professor of political economy at London's Middlesex
   University, sees the summit and, more broadly, the drive to combat
   corruption as signs of concern among the elite nations.

   "They're worried at the loss of legitimacy that will come from rich and
   powerful people being able to evade taxes and get away with it," he
   said. "So, I think there's huge pressure on elites to be seen to be
   engaging the subject and to be doing something about it."

   "Given some of the things, some of the riots and problems we've seen in
   Europe and in the United States in recent years, the politicians are
   fearful and they're becoming focused on trying to rebuild trust and
   transparency," Evans told VOA.

   The one-day summit in London is off to a somewhat awkward start after
   the British prime minister was overheard on camera, in a conversation
   with Queen Elizabeth, describing Afghanistan and Nigeria as
   "fantastically corrupt."
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/kerry-could-face-barbs-anti-corruption-summit/3326360.html