It seems corruption isn?t the bane of only India; China?s been at the receiving end of corrupt government officials for a while now. A report by China?s central bank, the People?s Bank of China, has shown the extent of the damage inflicted by corrupt government officials, and tracks where they went to hide themselves. A total of $123.6 billion dollars was smuggled out of China over the 15-year period up to 2008 by around 17,000 Communist party cadres, police, judicial officers and state-owned enterprise executives. It would be useful for RBI to conduct such a survey as it provides valuable information on the operations of such illegal money transfers, and where the officials preferred to run to. Chinese high-ranking officials preferred to run to the US, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands, while lower-ranking officials fled to neighbouring countries, with Hong Kong being quite popular. Casinos abroad were used most often to launder money, the report said. And many officials carried large amounts of money over borders or disguised their ill-gotten gains as money transfers to relatives abroad. Some of the more sophisticated ones relied on fake trade documents and overseas investments. Needless to say, just knowing this will make the fight against corruption in China that much more effective.
Now consider the scenario in India. A recent study by Global Financial Integrity has estimated black money parked abroad at $462 billion. While informative, such reports clash with several others with different estimates, making getting a clear picture almost impossible. A consolidated report by RBI would go a long way in clearing the mystery around India?s black economy.
