Prime Minister Imran Khan has welcomed US President-elect Joe Biden’s declared intent of a policy targeting dirty money.
In a tweet on Wednesday, the Prime Minister said that developing countries are being impoverished by their corrupt elites who launder money to richer countries and offshore tax havens. He also shared an article written by Biden along with his tweet.
Declaring his intentions in the Foreign Policy magazine, Biden said that he would “lead efforts internationally to bring transparency to the global financial system”.
“I will lead efforts internationally to bring transparency to the global financial system, go after illicit tax havens, seize stolen assets, and make it more difficult for leaders who steal from their people to hide behind anonymous front companies,” he wrote.
He further said that one of his chief goals was to “rally our allies to combat corruption and kleptocracy, and to hold systems of authoritarian capitalism accountable for greater transparency and participation in a rules-based system.”
Earlier in September, the Prime Minister made an impassioned appeal to the international community to take decisive action and work to prevent white collar criminals from bleeding developing countries dry.
In an address to the United Nations International Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity (FACTI), the PM had said countries that such criminals view as “tax havens” must return wealth looted from developed countries.
“We welcome the interim report of the FACTI panel. The figures […] mentioned in the report are staggering,” said the Premier. He said that $1tn is taken out each year “by these white-collar criminals”. “$20-40 billion is in the form of bribes received by these corrupt white-collar criminals,” he added. He has also called upon the international community to “adopt decisive actions”, before proceeding to list 9 recommendations.
