Anti-Corruption • Ethics & Integrity
Frank has been engaged with global economics, banking, governance and anti-corruption for more than 40 years, as a journalist, as a World Bank senior official, as an anti-corruption civil society leader, and as a top level advisor to financial institutions. Frank is President of Vogl Communications, Inc., which has provided advice to leaders of international finance for more than two decades.
A special edition of the International Affairs Forum brings together a range of anticorruption experts to address today's critical issues. The lead article by Frank vogl highlights major US strategic issues.
Read MoreSocial Protest - the right to protest is central to democracy -- many people have taken to the streets in the United States following the election of Donald Trump -- the protests are to be welcomed, underscoring that democracy thrives.
Read MoreA new report in the BMC Medicine journal highlights the critical challenges of reducing corruption in global healthcare - experts from academia, development assistance and civil society provide their insights.
Read MoreFormer Governor of Virginia Bob McDonnell was found guilty by a jury, but the US Supreme Court, supported now by the US Justice Department, has let him go free and said he was NOT corrupt - he took over $177,000 rom an influence-peddling businessman - America legalizes grand corruption.
Read MoreThe impeachment of former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff may herald a new era of anticorruption enforcement in rising numbers of countries. Citizens are protesting for justice and the prosecution of corrupt leaders as they vent their frustration and demonstrate their impatience with 'business as usual.'
Read MoreSurprisingly, both leaders of US Democrats and Republicans agree that the top executives at the biggest banks should no longer be "too big to jail." News developments related to HSBC and Goldman Sachs underscore the key issues.
Read MoreIn Afghanistan’s northeastern province of Badakhshan, two rival warlords – both allegedly with ties to the Taliban – are competing to control the illegal mining and smuggling of the valuable lapis lazuli mineral.
Read MoreDonald Trump has claimed the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) is “a horrible law” and indicated he wanted it rolled back.
He is wrong.
Read MoreTax havens? Crime havens is a far more accurate description.
Yes, the “Panama Papers” have generated discussion about multinational corporations using holding companies registered in tiny islands from Bermuda to Vanuatu. The function of these companies is to help the corporations avoid taxes. Aided by clever (and no doubt highly paid) lawyers and accountants, such activities may just be legal, even if this raises some ethical questions.
Read MoreFor their money-laundering efforts to succeed, crooks seek the assistance of lawyers, accountants and consultants – often based in London, New York, Zurich and Geneva.
The game is first to establish offshore holding companies and then invest their cash in properties and other assets, always in ways that hide the real ownership of the holding companies.
Read MoreBrazil and South Africa have a great deal in common – flagging economies, falling exchange rates and public bonds nearing junk status – all fueled by mounting allegations of corruption. As if that weren’t bad enough, the ruling parties have also engaged in major confrontations with the rule of law, in a desperate and entirely self-serving effort to preserve the impunity of their national leaders.
Read MoreWorld soccer may have a new boss, but it will take longterm sustained efforts by FIFA to convince fans across the globe that the organization has really changed and is serving their interests, rather than its own.
Read MoreAcross the globe stride powerful people in government and business who operate as if they are above the law. They steal vast sums, live in extravagant luxury and arrogantly manipulate the systems and processes of justice in their favor. They are the untouchable kleptocrats. It is time they were brought to justice.
Read MoreThe United States, for example, imports about 1.5 million barrels of oil per day from countries whose governments are repressive and corrupt - governments where, to use a phrase that author Leif Wenar favors "might is right." Wenar, a professor of law and philosophy at Kings College, London, argues that the U.S. and other Western countries have the power to stop importing the "blood oil" that flows from these authoritarian states.
Read MoreU.S. citizens who have been victims of foreign state-organized terrorism will receive substantial compensation now with the funds coming from a surprising source, BNP Paribas, one of the largest banks in France and Europe. It is the bank that paid a record $9 billion in fines in 2014 for violating U.S. foreign sanctions laws.
Read MoreUnited States Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew chaired an unprecedented session of the United Nations Security Council on December 17. For the first time, it was finance ministers - not diplomats or ministers of foreign affairs - using the Security Council to drive international policy. Their target was terrorism, specifically the Islamic state (sometimes called ISIL, or ISIS, or Daesh).
Read MoreThe need for honest politicians serving the public's interests is at the core of the American system of democracy. Nevertheless, in the US, as in every country, politics and corruption too often go hand-in-hand. Now a New York jury has brought in a historic set of verdicts. Will it change the New York game?
Read MorePublic trust in the biggest banks is low. I have 10 specific recommendations to cure the banks of their evil ways. Bankers will not like most of my proposals, but the time has come for radical reform.
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