Jan 20, 11
Malaysiakini
Malaysia is among the countries which registered the highest illicit financial outflows over a period of nine years in the last decade.
According to a ground-breaking report by Washington-based financial watchdog Global Financial Integrity (GFI), money flows out of Malaysia have more than tripled from 2000 to 2008.
The outflow from Malaysia in 2000 was RM67.7 billion (US$22.2 billion). Eight years later, this has ballooned to RM208 billion ($68.2 billion).
The report warned that the sharp increase of capital flight in Malaysia is “at a scale seen in few Asian countries”.
It said that it was difficult to point out the reasons behind this massive outflow of illicit capital – estimated at RM889 billion (US$291 billion) between 2000 and 2008 – without carrying out an in-depth study of Malaysia, which is outside the scope of the report.
“It is clear however that significant governance issues affecting both the public and private sectors have been playing a key role in the cross-border transfer of illicit capital from the country.
“For instance, there are reports in the Malaysian media that large state-owned enterprises such as Petronas could probably be driving illicit flows.”
The financial watchdog said that its research has indicated that political instability, rising income inequality and pervasive corruption are some of the structural and governance issues that could be driving illicit capital from many developing countries. Continue reading “Malaysia is world’s No 5 in illicit outflows”