Show Us The Money!
Five years since Dodd-Frank, Section 1504 is still unfinished and $1.5 trillion went to developing countries for oil with limited transparency
Every year, oil companies pay hundreds of billions of dollars to some of the poorest governments in the world with limited transparency. Many countries rich in natural resources are poor in oversight institutions and some of these payments may be siphoned off as bribes, they may line the pockets of corrupt bureaucrats, or they may be mismanaged or wasted. They could even be used to fund violence or conflict. It’s called the “resource curse” – where countries rich in natural resources are plagued by corruption, poverty, instability, and even violence. An American law that has sought to fight the resource curse by shining a light on these payments has been delayed at the Securities and Exchange Commission since 2010. Since it passed, oil produced in developing countries was worth an estimated $1.55 trillion for their governments. Yet without US laws, any payments between governments and oil companies took place with limited transparency.