Transparency International

Transparency International   (Front?)
Abbreviation	TI
Formation	1993
Founder	• Peter Eigen • Michael Hershman
Headquarters	Berlin, Germany
Type	International non-governmental organization
Interests	corruption
Sponsored by	Adessium Foundation, Google News Initiative, Luminate, Norway/Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Omidyar Network, Open Society Foundations

Transparency International (TI) is officially an non-governamental organization monitoring and indexing corruption worldwide. In reality, the organization is deeply corrupt, being a tool for Western governments' foreign policy objectives and whitewashing big corporations.

History

Transparency International was officially established by Michael Hershman, an officer of US military intelligence. He is furthermore a Centre for International Private Enterprise director and today Head of Recruitment of FBI informants as well as Managing Director of the private intelligence service Fairfax Group.

Transparency International is first and foremost a cover for economic intelligence activities by the CIA. It is also a media tool to compel states to change their legislation to guarantee open markets. In addition it is a pressure tool in regime change operations, where official enemies of the US get maximum corruption score.

UK Branch

The UK chapter of Transparency International sets out its priorities as:

• combatting corruption in the UK;
• reducing the UK’s role in fuelling corruption overseas; and,
• combatting corruption in the international defence and security sector.

Acting Executive Director is Duncan Hames and 46 staff members are listed here.

Funding

Despite describing itself as an NGO, Transparency International’s funding is dominated by the governments of the United States and the European Union and their cutouts. Money sources include the US State Department, the European Commission, the US State Department’s National Endowment for Democracy (NED), Britain’s Department for International Development and the Open Society Foundations, owned by billionaire George Soros.

Other big funders are multinational companies. The London office of TI whose bankers are HSBC, get donations from the likes of Shell BV and GlaxoSmithKline with other investors in the business forum via a ‘Premium Membership’ costing up to £20,000 each that includes Barclays plc, Lloyds Bank and RBS. Others included (either now or previously) are British American Tobacco (BAT) and Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC). BAT ended up suing PwC for $1billion for its involvement in the promotion of tax avoidance “on an industrial scale.” PwC’s accountants were also involved in the Tesco scandal – after a whistleblower at the supermarket revealed profits had been over-inflated for years.

 

Events Sponsored

Event	Description
Adessium Foundation
Google News Initiative
Luminate	Foundation for funding global media and civil society groups
Norway/Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Omidyar Network	"A philanthropic investment firm"
Open Society Foundations

 

Related Document

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:GCHQ and Me: My Life Unmasking British Eavesdroppers	Article	3 August 2015	Duncan Campbell	No one at the May 2015 conference on intelligence, security and privacy argued against greater openness. Thanks to Edward Snowden and those who courageously came before, the need for public accountability and review has become unassailable.