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Kleptocrats’ trusted helpers: The professions that enable illicit financial flows

‘Enablers’ are those people and professions who make illicit financial flows possible. They include lawyers, accountants, bankers, real estate agents and others – and the firms they represent. Whether they know it or not, they play an essential role in helping kleptocrats to move, launder and spend the proceeds of their illicit wealth, while also helping them to ‘whitewash’ their reputation. Many enablers are based in countries that are significant providers of official development assistance. We therefore make some important recommendations to help address the ‘enablers’ problem’.

18 May 2023
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Main points

  • Kleptocrats and oligarchs worldwide rely on enablers to move illicit financial flows (IFFs), hide, invest and spend their illicitly acquired wealth.
  • ‘Enablers’ are those people and professions who make those illicit financial flows possible.
  • Enablers include lawyers, accountants, bankers, real estate agents and others – and the firms they represent.
  • Enablers support kleptocrats in IFFs schemes in four ways: initiation of schemes, hiding and laundering money, utilisation of funds, and whitewashing reputations.
  • We discuss case studies from around the world highlighting how each step of the enabling process plays out in reality.
  • Many enablers are based in countries that also provide large amounts of official development assistance.
  • Using the US, UK and Switzerland as examples, we look at the ways in which OECD countries tolerate an environment in which enablers and IFFs continue.
  • It is vital that these countries take action against enablers to prevent their work being undermined.
  • We make more than 20 recommendations for donor countries to help improve legislation, accountability and enforcement around IFFs.

Cite this publication


Lemaître, S.; Visser, A.; (2023) Kleptocrats’ trusted helpers: The professions that enable illicit financial flows. Bergen: U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, Chr. Michelsen Institute (U4 Issue 2023:3)

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About the authors

Sophie Lemaître is a Senior Adviser at U4 Anti-corruption Resource Centre. Sophie leads U4’s thematic work on natural resources and on illicit financial flows.

Anrike Visser

Anrike Visser is an adviser and investigator on illicit finance policy. She has ten years' experience in financial crime and corruption in Europe, Asia, and Africa. In addition, she advises European governments, EU institutions, international financial institutions, and private companies on policies countering illicit finance and corruption. Previously, she worked at the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets.

Disclaimer


All views in this text are the author(s)’, and may differ from the U4 partner agencies’ policies.

This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Keywords


illicit financial flows, kleptocrats, professional enablers , beneficial ownership , money laundering, SLAPP, oligarchy

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