Op-Ed / / 06.01.22
SDG Action Article: Tackling illicit financial flows
Notes: This article was originally published in SDG Action was written by Justyna Gudzowska, Director of Illicit Finance Policy.
Tackling illicit financial flows
Recent attempts to place sanctions on Russia illustrate how easily illicit financial flows are concealed on a massive scale. With trillions diverted from critical development projects each year, jeopardizing many of the SDGs, the world has an urgent and moral duty to expose and stanch the movement of these ill-gotten gains
The recent invasion of Ukraine has resulted in unprecedented multilateral sanctions on Russia, and a global effort to freeze and seize assets belonging to sanctioned actors. Never before has a G20 economy been subject to such sweeping measures.
But this process has also underscored what people who study financial crime have long understood: illicit financial flows (IFFs) are easy to conceal and invest in desirable assets such as mansions, yachts, and art, and the richer the bad actor, the easier this subterfuge gets…