Switzerland: A Parasite Feeding on Poor African and Third World Countries?

For more than half a century the Alpine nation of Switzerland has built a reputation as the world´s centre for tax evasion, fraud accounting, money laundering, racketeering, save haven and above all a staunch ally of corrupt third world leaders and a great beneficiary of third world corruption. For more than 70 years various categories of persons including Popes, presidents, prime ministers, corrupt dictators, wealthy business men, and drug dealers have all used and benefited from the banking secrecy laws of Switzerland. As a result her economy has been described in various terms as underground economy, deposit box for dirty money and dirt-driven economy.

Over the last couple of years countries such as United States, Germany and France have argued that they have become victims of Swiss illegal financial activities and as result have stepped up their campaign to get Swiss authorities to cooperate in fighting tax evasion and money laundering. The campaign has even brought a row between the German Finance Minister and members of Swiss parliament. These nations claim they are loosing billions of dollars annually through tax evasion and other illegal financial activities. In 2009 a action by the US Justice Department against the Swiss Banking giant UBS earned the United States close to $1 billion. In 2001, the United States learnt that the Swiss had protected the bank that handled finances for Osama Bin Laden. One of them, the Bahrain International Bank, had funds transiting through non-published accounts of Clearstream, which has been qualified as a "bank of banks" and was involved in one of Luxembourg's major financial scandals.

Western governments have argued that dirty money in many forms welcomed by the Switzerland allows the proceeds of corruption, drug trafficking, racketeering and terrorism to tag alongside and deny the world´s poor the chance to escape poverty. Swiss banks are reputed to be holding an estimated 35% of the world's private and institutional funds (or 3 trillion Swiss francs)".

However, of all the victims of Swiss banking secrecy laws and her shady banking practices, developing countries and Africa in particular seem to have suffered the most. The global infrastructure of international financial secrecy with headquarters in Switzerland has helped bleed trillions of dollars in illicitly generated money out of Africa and the rest of the developing world. The activities of Swiss banking institutions and real estate companies have plunged third world nations into debts, poverty, misery, malnutrition, diseases, economic meltdown, infrastructure decay and political instabilities through the help they give to corrupt politicians, civil servants, the business elite and corrupt multinational corporations who collude and connive with the corrupt entities to loot and hide the proceeds of their ill-gotton gains.

Many third world countries especially those in Africa lack the infrastructures needed to run successful economies. They lack schools, hospitals, roads, harbours, rail infrastructure, irrigation facilities, electricity, clean water, telecommunication, sanitation facilities because of the loots. Many children are orphaned and malnourished and many do not have access to education and healthcare because money meant for all that are stolen and are sitting in Swiss banks such UBS, Credit Suisse. There has not been a single corrupt politician or dictator in Africa, Latin America and Asia who has not had dealings with this secretive alpine country. While third world countries continue to struggle to provide the basic necessities of life Swiss economy is washed with money could save millions from hunger, starvation and diseases.

Every year since the year 2000 developing countries receive about $100-billion in aid annually from rich countries with about $10-billion going to Africa but these rich countries headed by Switzerland receive about $900- billion from these poor countries ($150-billion from Africa) in the form of tax evasion, embezzlement, fraud accounting debt servicing and corruption. The World Bank´s Stolen Asset Recovery initiative estimates the cross-border flow of proceeds from criminal activities, corruption and tax evasion at between $1 trillion and $1.6 trillion per year, about half of which come from developing and transitional economies.

Global Financial Integrity agrees with World Bank and says, "$900-billion is secreted each year from underdeveloped economies, with an estimated $11.5 trillion currently stashed in havens. More than one quarter of these hubs belong to the UK, while Switzerland washes one-third of global capital flight".

The Africa Union says 25 percent of the GDP of African States is lost to corruption every year amounting to more than $150-billion a year. The negative impact of that has been increasing the cost of goods by as much as 20%, deterring investment, holding back development and preventing the people from escaping poverty. The fact as pointed out by GFI is that most of the money that denies poor countries the chance to escape poverty sits in Swiss Banks.

Over the last couple of years a number of Swiss banks have been accused of accepting money from dictators like Sani Abacha, Mobutu, Lansana Conte, Gnassingbe Eyadema, Arap Moi, Omar Bongo, Obiang Nguema, Blaise Campore, Denis Sassou Nguesso, Eduardo dos Santos, Sadam Hussein, Ferdinand Marcos, Baby Doc Duvalier, Hosni Mubarak, Yoweri Museveni, Augusto Pinochet, Gaddafi and the evil genius Ibrahim Babangida without questioning the source of their wealth.

For example Swiss economy was the main recipient and beneficiary of Sani Abacha´s $5-billion embezzlement of Nigeria´s oil money. When it was discovered that Abacha used the crook banks in this country to steal the money, Switzerland wanted to distance herself from the criminal enterprise run by her banks and benefited by her economy and her citizens. But in the end she had no choice but to repatriate over $700-million to the government of Nigeria after five years of foot dragging. The banks in Switzerland that aided, abetted and provided shelter for Abacha´s stolen money were UBS AG, Zurich; UBS AG, Geneva; Union Bancaire Privee, Geneva; Credit Suisse, Zurich ; Bank Len, Zurich; Banque Barring Brothers, Geneva; Goldman Sachs and Company, Zurich; Gothard Bank, Geneva; Citibank Zurich; Banque Nationale De Paris, Basle; FIBI Bank (Schweiz) A. G. Zurich. Only heaven knows how much of Abacha´s loot still remain in these countries.

Again the Arab daily newspapers Asharq Al-Awsat and Al-Hayat reported that former Prime Minister Dr. Iyad Allawi told them in interviews that Saddam Hussein admitted he invested stolen Iraqi money which the Iraqi Governing Council estimated at $40 billion in Switzerland, Japan and Germany, among others, under fictitious company names. Directors of those shell companies would deposit 5% in company bank accounts, and the money was effectively laundered. Swiss and French lawyers did the paperwork.

One million Iraqis died during the oil for food programme while money that could have saved them was accepted by Swiss Banks and their corrupt counterparts in Japan and Germany.

Also after 18 years of legal wrangling Switzerland agreed to let the people of Philippines receive the $700m looted by Ferdinand Marcos and kept by her crook banks. Switzerland kept $700m while children were starving to death and hospitals were closing down for lack of medicines and electricity.

Furthermore, between August 2001 and 2004, Peru recovered nearly over $180 million stolen by her former spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos from several jurisdictions including Switzerland, Cayman Islands and the United States.

In May 2007, an agreement between the governments of the United States, Switzerland and Kazakhstan allowed for the repatriation of $84 million denied the people for many years. Again it took Switzerland 12 years to return $74m of the $110m stolen by Raul Salinas to the government of Mexico. Switzerland still has in her possession the money looted by the dictator ´Baby Doc´ Duvalier 24 years after he was chased away by the poor people of Haiti.

Additionally, when Mobutu died in 1997 Swiss newspapers reported that the country may be home to at least $5-billion of Mobutu´s stolen assets. The report was also confirmed by CNN World News in September, 1997. The whole world was shocked when Swiss authorities announced that Mobutu´s stolen assets in the country totalled something just under $8m and this was after they had sold his villa for $2-million. The shock sent a chill down the spine of DR. Congo´s president. He has still not recovered and has refused to show any interest in pursuing the money.

In recent years Switzerland has repatriated some of the money her banks criminally accepted at the expense of poor nations and Swiss political leadership is using it to score cheap political point instead of being ashamed of it. Mali has received just $2.5millions out of the estimated $5-billion deposited in that country by Mali´s corrupt political leaders among them former dictator Moussa Traore. Argentina has also received $4.5million from a bribery case.

It is believed that most of the $2 billion stolen by ex- President Arap Moi's family is stashed in Switzerland and her sister countries in the Alpine region. In 2003, investigation by the international risk consultancy firm Kroll on behalf of government of Kenya into allegations of corruption on the part of Arap Moi's government revealed a trail of corrupt practices by Arap Moi, his children, members of his government and their associates with most of their 24 years of ill-gotten hiding in Switzerland, Britain, Luxembourg and the Caribbean. Credit Suisse - Zurich and Citibank- Geneva came up several times as the bank where where most of the loots are being kept. "During the beginning of December 2003, Philip Moi made his move through Zara. She left the country for Italy, from where she visited Leichtenstein and Lugano located inside the Swiss canton of Tieino. It is believed that Tieino, though a remote area, consists of over 100 banks. Zara/Rosanna Moi, Philips Italian wife, estimates Philip's worth to be USD750 million." Source: Kroll Report, 2003. http://wikileaks.org/wiki/KTM_report#Target_3

Switzerland has mounted fierce campaign to portray herself as a clean, responsible country. "A senior Swiss diplomat says Switzerland no longer deserve its reputation as a save haven for the ill-gotten gains of corrupt dictators. Speaking in Geneva Ambassador Paul Seger said the government had returned $1.6 billion (SFr1.9 billion) of stolen funds in recent years" but also admitted that "incidents such as the Marcos, Abacha or Montesinos affairs reinforce the international perception that there are still more assets to be returned". Source: Swissinfo.ch.

The fact is that Switzerland has not been able to convince anyone that they still do not hold money for Omar Bongo, Lansana Conte, Obiang Nguemaa, Denis Sassou Nguesso, Eduardo dos Santos, Blaise Campore, Gaddafi, Hosni Mubarak, Arap Moi, Gnassingbe Eyadema, Ibrahim Babaginda, Jerry Rawling all of them corrupt dictators with little to show for the billions of dollars that they received from the sale of oil, gas, gold, diamond, timber and other resources.

During the trial of the disgraced Elf executives, they claimed that they paid Omar Bongo $50 million a year for concession rights in his oil rich but economically impoverished country.The executives claimed the millions of dollars were transferred into Bongo's Swiss bank accounts. But we have not heard any comment from Switzerland regarding that money and now that Bongo is dead there is no doubt that what Democratic Republic of Congo went through will be the fate for Gabon should they make any attempt to retrieve the money. It is a common knowledge that the late Omar Bongo of Gabon, Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo, Dos Santos of Angola, Obiang Nguema of E. Guinea like their old friends (Abacha, Mobutu and Conte) have billions of dollars stashed in Swiss Banks.

Where Swiss leaders do not get it is that their past and present actions have led millions of people who could have lived to die of poverty, malnutrition, starvation and diseases. Whereas more than 800 million Indians live in poverty and in squalor, with little access to education, health, water and sanitation, the BJP party estimated during the May 2009 election campaign that the nation has lost close to $1.4 trillion most of it stashed in foreign banks notably in Switzerland.

In 2007 Swiss federal prosecutors abandoned an investigation into suspected money laundering involving the former prime minister of Madagascar. As a result a Swiss bank will refund SFr2.8 million ($2.3 million) to Tantely Andrianarivo, a move that has "disappointed and shocked" the Madagascan government, which has demanded the money back" to be used to help millions of people languishing in poverty. Source: Swissinfo.ch.

There are a good number of experts who still believe Switzerland deserves her reputation. Richard Murphy, director of Tax Research LLP says: "The idea that Switzerland has a clean economy is a joke; it is a dirt-driven economy". Her economy is dirt-driven because her financial institutions (a vital sector of her economy) have been implicated in a number of corruption scandals involving corrupt third world leaders and their associates. In fact Switzerland can best be described as economic vampire, parasite and predator feeding on the economies of poor third world countries. The Swiss Bankers Association claims that four-fifths of the nation supports banking secrecy laws. This law is the foundation of all the corruption, embezzlement, tax evasions and all the criminal enterprises that we see in the world.

The sad thing about this parasitic behaviour is that it is supported by almost all the citizens of that country. The Swiss Bankers Association claims that four-fifths of the nation supports banking secrecy, revealing a society deeply embedded in a culture of impunity and exploitation, where the licit acts as a shield protecting the illicit in a terribly respectable manner.

But Switzerland has had it both ways with her hypocrisy and double standards. Her politicians condemn corruption in Africa and the third world while her banks make fortunes off that corruption. She claims to be a champion of democracy and development but the actions of her banks and companies like SGS, UBS have proven other wise. If there is any justice in the world her banking executives should have been put on trial by the International Criminal Court for crime against humanity because there is no difference between those who use guns to kill and those who kill millions by accepting to hide money that could be used to save them from hunger, starvation, malnutrition, diseases and provide them with medicines, water, shelter, schools and electricity?

The cost of Switzerland's collusion and connivance with the corrupt entities in Africa and the third world fall primarily on the poor people in those poor countries who are denied every opportunity to escape poverty. Many live in squalor with no access to health and sanitation facilities, water, electricity, housing and even food. Over one million people in those poor countries die of malaria, 90% of them from Africa with most of the victims being children. Millions of others also die from starvation, hunger, malnutrition, polio, mizzles, tuberculosis and six killer diseases. The crime of those who die and those who continue to suffer is that they happen to have corrupt incompetent leaders and a counterpart in Europe who is ready to protect their looted funds.

As monies meant for development are stolen and stashed in Swiss Banks, the poor are left on their own to fend for themselves with aid agencies being left to pick the pieces with them. Millions have died, millions are starving and many more are suffering as a result of the role played by Swiss banks, real estate agencies and other companies. In this 21st century such suffering cannot go on forever. Switzerland cannot continue to be a willful accomplice in crimes involving the death of millions of children and women.

It is therefore time for Switzerland to act as a responsible member of the global community,tear down her banking secrecy laws and her corrupt financial infrastructures that are responsible for the deaths. It is time for Switzerland to stop her banks from accepting looted funds from Africa and the third world that make so many face starvation, hunger and death. The banks must be called to order and should be tasked to employ due deligence in dealing with their clients especially the dictators and their associates from Africa and the third world. Finally, it is time for Switzerland to turn words of fighting corruption into action and deeds and repatriate all the stolen money to its rightful owners and stop parasiting on poor African and third world countries so they can also have the opportunity to escape poverty like most citizens of Switzerland have.

By Lord Aikins Adusei

Political Activist and Anti-Corruption Campaigner. He blogs at www.ghanapundit.blogspot.com

Hiding Africa’s Looted Funds: The Silence of Western Media

By Lord Aikins Adusei 

Quite often when you read newspapers, listen to radio and watch television in the West you learn how poor Africans are and how corrupt African leaders are. But you will never watch, read or hear anything in these media outlets about the role being played by Western banking institutions; property development and estate companies; the big corporations; and the western political and business elite in promoting corruption in Africa. When it comes to Africa and the developing world the Western media pretend to be doing a good job only when there is an embarrassing story or a scandal that undermines their credibility as the watchdog of the state. It is not uncommon to see poverty stricken Africans in poor living conditions being shown in documentaries, movies, and television screens in the West but the same documentaries and movies are always silent on the role play by the institutions in the West. Bribery as we all know involves a giver and a taker but it is

always the taker who is reported in media. In many instances as we shall soon see bribes are offered in order to secure contracts, secure official favour or to induce officials in order to influence the out come of a government decision. In other instances people become corrupt because of the existence of favouring conditions as can be seen in most western countries with their banking secrecy laws. 

The media in the west tend to ignore the role of western institutions for many reasons. One main reason why they would like to show the poverty level in Africa but refuse to show the role played by the western banking, property, multinational corporations is the fear of loosing revenue through adverts. Many of the media outlets survive through advertisements from the property, banking and multinational corporations so while would they want to incur their wrath? Another reason is that the editors, programme directors and the other bigshots in the media are themselves shareholders of these banks and property companies so why would they want to jeopardise the source of their own wealth? The enthusiasm with which CNN, BBC, ABC, CBS, ITN, SKYNEWS, television producers portray Africa as poor and least developed; the same cannot be said about the way they report on the role played by the Western banking and other institutions. They fail to tell the world that

the looted funds that make Africans poor are indeed sitting in Europe, America, Australia, New Zealand and the offshore Islands controlled by the West. They fail to tell the world that Africa would be a different place if all the stolen monies are returned, but would they ever raise a voice in support of such a laudable idea? Why would the media change the way they report when for centuries they have been the source of all the misinformation and misrepresentation of anything unwestern?

Corruption is rife in Africa because there are banking institutions in Europe especially Switzerland, France, Jersey Island, Britain, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Austria, US and many others who accept money from African leaders without questioning the source of the money. According to the UN around $148 billion are stolen from the continent by the political leaders, the business elite and civil servants every year with collusion and connivance of banking industries in Europe and North America. Even though it is a common knowledge western banks are acting as havens for looted funds, very little attention is received from the western media to expose them. The media to focus their energies on the corrupt leaders with little or no mention at all as to where the monies they have stolen are being kept. There has not been any concrete effort to expose the banks that collude and connive with these corrupt leaders who are impoverishing the people. 

No effort has been made by the political elite in Europe and America to force the banks to return these stolen monies to the poorest of the poor because they are often the shareholders and beneficiaries of profits made by these banks. They talk about corruption because it is embarrassing to them but they have no agenda to fight it as that would mean no fat dividends for them and no cheap credits for their citizens. Even the Pope knows that the monies stolen are in Europe and America as is seen below. 

Within five years of his reign (1993-98) Sani Abacha of Nigeria according to official figures was able to stash four billion dollars and between 12 and 16 billion dollars in unofficial terms. After his death in 1998, investigators in Nigeria, Europe and America stumbled on over 130 bank accounts in abroad where some of the money stolen was kept.

The banks that received Abacha’s stolen funds are: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, ANZ, London Branch; Bank Len, Zurich; Bankers Trust Company, London; Bankers Trust Company, Frankfurt; Bankers Trust Company, New York; Banque Barring Brothers, Geneva; Bank in Liechtenstein A. G. Vaduz; Barclays Bank, New York; Barclays Bank, London; Banque Edouard Constant, General; Banque Nationale De Paris, Geneva; Banque Nationale De Paris, London; Banque Nationale De Paris, Basle; Citibank N. A. London; Citibank N. A. New York; Citibank N. A. Luxembourg; Citibank Zurich; Credit Lyonnais , New York; Credit Suisse , New York; Credit Suisse, General; Credit Suisse, Zurich; Deutche Morgan Grenfell, Jersey; FIBI Bank (Schweiz) A. G. Zurich; First Bank of Boston , London; Goldman Sachs and Company, Zurich; Gothard Bank, Geneva; LGT Liechtenstein Bank, Vaduz; Liechtenstein Landesbank, Vaduz; M. M. Warburg and Company, Luxembourg; M. M. Warburg and Company,

Zurich; M. M. Warburg and Company, Hamburg; Merrill Lynch Bank, New York; Merrill Lynch Bank, Geneva; Midland Bank, London; National Westminister Bank, London; Paribus, London; Paribus, Geneva; Royal Bank of Scotland , Leeds; Standard Bank London Limited, London; UBS AG, Zurich; UBS AG, Geneva; Union Bancaire Privee, Geneva; Union Bancaire Privee, London; London Branch; Verwaltungs Und Private Bank A. G., Vaduz; and ANZ, New York; ANZ, Frankfurt. Source: Tell Magazine, October 7, 2002.

In February 2009 a French court had Omar Bongo’s 9 bank accounts containing several millions of Euros frozen. In confirming the court’s decision lawyer Jean-Philippe Le Bail said, "This concerns Crédit Lyonnais, in which the president of Gabon has two current accounts, two savings accounts and a share account, and BNP, in which he has two checking accounts, a savings account and a share account". These are the banks whose shady dealings with the political and business elite in Africa continue to impoverish African countries but which for profits sake the media refuse to tell the world about. The banks know these corrupt leaders have stolen the money yet they pretend not to know until there is a scandal before they begin to act as if they are responsible institutions.

Most of the above named banks have also been implicated for receiving billions of dollars of looted funds from the lates Mobutu of Zaire; Lansana Conte of Guinea; Eyadema of Togo; and a number of tyrants such as Omar Bongo of Gabon; Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea; Dos Santos of Angola; Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo; Paul Biya of Cameroon; Arap Moi of Kenya; Jerry Rawlings of Ghana; Ibrahim Babadjinda of Nigeria and a number of sitting and ex-presidents in Africa yet western media are silent about where the funds are being kept. According to a 110 page report prepared by international risk consultancy firm Kroll, Arap Moi and his family have banked £1 billion in 28 countries including Britain but the media in the west will not expose the banks involved.   

Apart from the banking sector, the property sector in Europe, America and Australia have also colluded and connived with the political and business elite in Africa to impoverish the people. It has been revealed that several African leaders have bought properties in Europe and America using the monies stolen from their poor countries. It is on record that Mobutu of DRC (Zaire)bought several villas in France, Switzerland, Belgium and many European Countries. Yet again the companies selling the villas have been kept secrete. They will not be exposed by the media. Why would they?

According to AFP a French police investigation has established that Bongo and his family own at least 33 luxury properties in France, including a villa located at Rue de la Baume, near the Elysée Palace, in Paris bought in 2007 for 18.8 million Euros. The French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been spotted greeting Bongo in this villa bought with funds looted from Gabon. However, other investigations have uncovered that he and his family have at least 59 properties, several bonds and stocks in France alone. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was embarrassed when it was revealed that Bongo's government paid his consultancy firm a staggering 2.64 million Euros for advice on health policy drawn up by Kouchner before he took office.

It has recently come to light that Arap Moi of Kenya and his family bought several multimillion pound properties in London, New York, South Africa including 10,000-hectare ranch in Australia and bank accounts containing hundreds of millions of pounds. While majority of Kenyans live in slums and in rural areas, with little roofing on their heads and lacking water and other basic necessities of life, Moi’s family live in a £4m home in Surrey and £2m flat in Knightsbridge yet the media will not expose the estate companies involved.

Another area often ignored by the western media is the role play by western companies and corporations in encouraging corruption, bribery and thievery in Africa. It is very common for western companies looking for lucrative contracts to pay bribes and kickbacks to induce officials into awarding them contracts. For example on 17th September 2002, a Canadian firm called Acres International was convicted by a High Court in Lesotho for paying $260,000 bribe to secure an $8 billion dam contract. In 2002 Halliburton a company once controlled by Dick Cheney former US Vice President, was accused of establishing $180m flush fund with the intent of using it to bribe Nigeria officials in order to secure a $10 billion Liquefied Gas Plant contract in Nigeria. Achair Partners a Swiss company and Progresso an Italian company have been accused of bribing Somalia Transition Government officials in order to secure contracts to deposit highly toxic industrial waste in the

waters of Somalia. Such corrupt practices by western companies seeking contracts in Africa are one of the reasons why poverty and diseases are rife in the continent.

The catastrophic environmental damage being caused by Oil, mining and timber companies such as Shell, BP, Total, Elf, Texaco, Mittal, Anglo-America Corporation in Nigeria, Ghana, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Congo, DR. Congo, South Africa, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Senegal do not make the news in the West. How often do we hear about the huge environmental price Africans are paying to satisfy the west insatiable appetite for energy and technology? Apart from the huge profits being made by these conglomerates which we often hear in the news, do we hear also their complete disregard for environmental rules; the pollution of rivers, lakes, streams, wells, and the environment? 

In October 2002, after a three year investigation a UN Panel of Experts implicated Cabot Corporation (Boston), Eagle Wings Resources International, and George Forrest's OM Group (Ohio) for arming rebel groups and collaborating with them to traffic from DR. Congo gold, diamond, timber and most importantly coltan (columbo-tantalite)-a precious ore essential to Sony playstations, laptop computers, and cell phones. Coltan is often spirited out of DRC to U.S., Swiss, Belgian, and German clients by Uganda and Rwanda army officers, rebel groups and through a network of criminal syndicates. In all 85 companies were implicated by the report. Except the wars and the stranded faces of hungry refugees, do these illegal activities by the corporations make the news in the Western media? Definitely not. Even when local journalists and writers document these for broadcast in the western media they refuse because it does not serve their interest in the wider scheme of

things.

These are the hypocrisy and the double standards of the western media. They want the world to know how poor Africans are but fail to tell the world that Africans are poor because Western banking institutions, property development companies, defence companies and defence contractors, oil and mining corporations are major stakeholders in promoting Africa’s poverty and underdevelopment. Corruption and bribery in Africa and indeed the developing world could be reduce tremendously if the media for once put aside the pick and choose journalism and attach the same importance to show the degree of involvement by western capitalist institutions Europe, America and Japan and their role in keeping Africans poor.

African leaders steal $ 148 billion a year

A QUARTER of the gross domestic product of African States - or $148 billion is lost to corruption annually, the United Nations has said.  Most of this money is stolen by African leaders and kept in banks overseas.The UN and the World Bank estimate that the value of criminal businesses is between $1 to 2 trillion. The revelations were made during a press conference by the UN Secretary general, Mr Ban ki Moon, and the World Bank President, Mr Robert Zoelick in New York on Monday. To check this practice, the two bodies announced a partnership to recover billions of dollars stolen by corrupt leaders from the developing world and which monies are lying in foreign banks while the countries from which it originated wallow in poverty. A partner in the recovery effort will be the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. The launch of Stolen Assets Recovery Initiative (STAR) in New York is a warning shot especially in Africa- where leaders like the late Congolese (Zairean) President Mobutu Sese Seko and Gen Sani Abacha of Nigeria- built obscene fortunes abroad.  However, neither Mr Ban nor Mr Zoelick mentioned the culpability of the banks that accept deposits from corrupt African leaders -and the support given to some of these leaders by powerful western governments. "The theft of public assets from developing countries is a grave and growing concern, said Mr Ban, adding that stolen assets amounted to US$ 1 trillion every year. Mr Zoellick on his part said the money being stolen was at the expense of social programmes that would target the poor in society. "There should be no haven for those who steal from the poor," Mr Zoellick added. STAR is also intended to tighten the noose on illegal money used by criminal groups including international terrorists. Corruption The Bank also says officials in developing countries pocket between US$ 20 to 40 billion in bribes- equivalent to almost 40 percent of the money they receive from development partners. The new initiative intends to re-invest recovered money in social programmes. "Every 100 million recovered could fund full immunisations for 4 million children, provide water connections for some 250,000 households or fund treatment for over 600,000 people with HIV/Aids for a full year," Mr Zoellick said. The World Bank president was optimistic that assets could be recovered citing cases from three countries - Phillipines, Peru, Nigeria. In 2004, the Phillipines was able to repatriate $624 million of former President Ferdinand Marcos' money held in Swiss Bank accounts.  Marcos, a staunch ally of America, was President from 1965 to 1986, and was reported to have stolen billions of dollars while his wife Imelda lived a lavish lifestyle- filling her house with thousands of pairs of expensive shoes.  Nigeria also recovered $505 million of the Sani Abacha money from Swiss banks but this is just a small slice of the money he is reported to have stolen. The chairperson of Transparency International Huguette Labelle described the initiative as "a wake up call to those who steal and to those who facilitate or harbour stolen assets" but little pressure has come to bear on western banks and governments who are complicit in the thefts.  In May 2004 for example, Christian Aid, a United Kingdom-based charity organisation, accused the Uganda government of "wrongly" diverting aid money with the knowledge of the British government. Uganda, an aid-dependant country, is also notoriously corrupt.  This year the government has said fighting corruption is a priority but a 2004 report for the World Bank, which gives millions of dollars worth of aid and loans to the country, noted that corruption was key to the survival of the regime in Kampala. Source: TheMonitor: http://www.monitor.co.ug/news/news09212.php