Prime Minister David Cameron is promising to set up an international task force to track down assets looted by corrupt politicians and government officials.
The Global Forum for Asset Recovery is a new organisation will target returning fortunes stolen from Nigeria, The Ukraine, Sri Lanka and Tunisia worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
Besides helping countries that have had assets and cash stolen, 20 other countries where these assets may be hidden have agreed to make efforts to aid their recovery.
Another 11 countries have also pledged to help draft international guidelines for the tracing and recovery of the looted cash and treasures.
One recent settlement involved the return of $7 million in cash stolen from the government of Tanzania.
Plan to defeat corruption
Speaking at the conclusion of the anti-corruption summit in London, Cameron said: “The world is uniting against a common enemy. The taboo about accusing people of corruption is broken and governments are talking about returning or helping to recover assets.
“This is not going to produce any instant victories, but we will defeat corruption in the end if we stand together.”
Cameron and the leaders of 20 other countries have also agreed to form intelligence sharing partnerships with banks and financial institutions to combat financial crime.
The group members include leading financial centres around the world, including the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, the UK, US and Switzerland.
Private financial firms will work alongside the police and tax investigators to tackle fraud and money laundering.
Corruption crackdown falls short
Other agreements at the summit covered setting up public registers to identify the beneficial owners of companies in tax havens.
At least 40 countries have signed up to share this information.
Several other countries have joined a group that will impose the highest standards in public office aimed at wiping out corruption, such as stopping officials from awarding contracts based on bribes.
However, many critics claim governments are not doing enough to tackle corruption and money laundering through tax havens, many of which are connected closely to Britain.
A spokesman for Oxfam said: “Tax dodgers can still sleep easily at night despite this effort to stop corruption. It just doesn’t go far enough.”
