It acts as a highwayman, extracting an estimated 5% of
everything produced globally. In doing so, it deprives
humanity of more than $2.5 trillion each year; money that
we could use to build a better future for all.
So I am grateful to our friends from Albania and the OSCE
for bringing us together to build on the work we are doing
to rid us of the cancer of corruption.
Corruption looks upon COVID-19 as a partner in crime. It
sees that healthcare spending has rocketed, and it knows
that procurement done at breakneck speed is fertile ground
for bribery, embezzlement, fraud and money laundering.
Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, Transparency International
estimated that corruption bleeds $500 billion from global
healthcare systems each year. That equates to one in every
15 dollars spent on healthcare worldwide. Without a doubt,
these figures will only increase as a result of COVID-19.
Transparency is vital, if we as governments are to optimise
our healthcare response to COVID-19, and our economic
recovery to the slowdown it has caused.
Transparency around planning, budgets, procurement and
beneficial ownership is essential for good decision-making;
and vital if parliaments and civil society are to be able
to hold governments to account for the decisions they take.
World Bank and UNODC research shows that over 70% of the
biggest corruption cases over the last 30 years have
involved anonymous companies. So only by knowing who
actually benefits from owning and controlling companies can
we hold them to account and properly investigate
wrongdoing.
No country is immune from corruption, including my own.
That is why the UK government is determined to root it out.
We were, for example, the first country in the G20 to
implement a central public register of company beneficial
ownership. Our register is free to access and includes over
4.6 million names.
We have also funded the Open Ownership Global Register of
Beneficial Ownership, which now has almost 23 million
entries, and is publicly accessible from anywhere in the
world.
New technologies have opened up new opportunities for the
corrupt, but they have also transformed our ability to
fight back.
In the UK, we use technology to track and disrupt financial
crimes, and we have also used it to increase the
transparency of our public procurement. Government is more
accountable than ever before.
We have also built partnerships between our Government
Digital Service and national and state governments in five
emerging economies to help them transform their public
procurement systems.
Fighting corruption is a crucial part of the rules based
international system. The UN Convention against Corruption,
the Group of States Against Corruption and the OECD
Anti-Bribery Convention offer roadmaps towards a society
free of corruption that all countries should seek to
implement fully, if they are truly committed to working in
the best interests of all their people.
To conclude. As the speed and complexity of financial
transactions increases, our response must be fit to meet
the challenge.
The cancer of corruption affects us all, so a global and a
concerted effort is required to defeat it.
The OSCE has a crucial role to play. We must continue to
work together, and with civil society and academics, in
order to stop corrupt leaders, officials and business, from
stealing from our people."
