Report Exposes Embezzlement in Resource Industry

An anti-corruption watchdog recently released a report entitled  “How To Lose $4 Billion,” highlighting how Nigeria, Angola, the Republic of the Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo allegedly lost more than $4 billion in oil and mining assets. According to Global Witness, a non-governmental organization dedicated to exposing corruption, anonymous companies diverted resource revenues for the personal benefit of unknown elites and officials. These revelations call into question the role of international companies in Africa and the ability of international organizations to carry out negotiations scrupulously.

Global Witness published the report  just days before the October 21-22 meeting of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), an organization that works to promote “open and accountable management of natural resources” through increased debate and the union of companies and civil society.  With the release of the report, Global Witness had hoped to ensure required disclosure of the beneficial ownership of oil and gas companies in all 49 candidate countries of the EITI. At the meeting, transparency and mainstreaming information were discussed; however, disclosure has yet to become a mandate.