Corruption costs $1.6tn, UN says

The United Nations (UN) has said political corruption costs governments about $1.6tn (£951bn) every year.
The money is lost in public assets moved across borders via money-laundering or undeclared holdings.
The figure comes as the UN, World Bank and other watchdog meet in Doha, Qatar, to try to give a four-year-old anti-corruption agreement some teeth.
But hopes are low of countries agreeing to independent reviews into countries' finances to look for missing money.
Countries such as China, Iran and Russia are resisting such measures.
Two previous summits have failed to expand the powers of the UN's anti-corruption convention.
"We hope to have a commitment to action," said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former Nigerian finance minister who is now managing director of the World Bank. "We've had a lot of talk. Now we'd like to see some action."
There is also disagreement over how best to implement the tracking of money, because of tax havens and secretive banking codes in some nations.

Delaware beats Switzerland as most secretive financial center

Move over Switzerland. The tiny state of Delaware beats the Alpine country in a contest for the most secretive financial jurisdiction, a tax justice rights group said on Saturday.
The United States, led by the eastern seaboard state, took in $2.6 trillion in deposits from non-resident corporations and individuals in 2007, according to a survey of financial jurisdictions analyzed by the Tax Justice Network.
The survey of laws, practices and size of inflows in 60 jurisdictions found Delaware coming in first, followed by Luxembourg and then Switzerland. The Cayman Islands and the United Kingdom round out the top five.
"While the U.S. has been jumping up and down and saying 'Aha, bad, wicked Swiss banks,' the U.S. is doing exactly the same things as far as non-resident bank account holders," said Sarah Lewis, executive director of the group, based in the U.K.
Switzerland has been the poster child for financial secrecy over the past year. The United State sued Swiss global banking giant UBS AG, which paid a $780 million fine to settle a lawsuit against it by the government. As part of the deal, UBS admitted it actively helped Americans evade U.S. taxes.
The ranking is based on a composite of total offshore activity and measures such as whether a jurisdiction obtains beneficial ownership information about companies and the degree of cooperation in turning over requested financial information.