Other Group

Finance Uncovered

Website:

www.financeuncovered.org/

Type:

Financial training group

Location:

London, England

UK Registration ID:

09560997

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Finance Uncovered is an London-based nonprofit that claims to offer training courses for journalists in reading financial documents and writing topics involving money flows related to corruption, money laundering, and tax revenue. 1 It provides courses about reading financial statements, “follow the money” workshops, and classes in London covering journalism, accounting, money laundering, and campaigning. 2 Finance Uncovered previously worked with Free Press Unlimited, Journalismfund.eu, and Oxfam Novib to create the Money Trail project. 3

Finances

As of December 2022, Finance Uncovered had received over $1.5 million in grants from several organizations including $605,000 from Luminate, $252,000 from the National Endowment for Democracy, $401,186 from Open Society Foundations, and $300,000 from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. 4

Partner Organizations

Finance Uncovered has partnered with and trained journalist-affiliated groups from around the world including Africa Uncensored in Kenya, the Daily Prothom Alo in Bangladesh, the multinational organization Public Services International, and the Centre for Investigative Journalism in Nepal. 5 Finance Uncovered is part of the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) 5, a Washington, D.C.-based left-of-center journalism nonprofit. 6

Projects

In 2018, Finance Uncovered helped create the Money Trail Project, a three-year program from April 2018 through September 2021 that covered six financial investigation courses. According to the website, the project was started because, “countries throughout the world lose billions of dollars through tax abuse, money laundering and grand corruption.” 3

Notable Publications

In 2020, Finance Uncovered published an article that opposed tax incentives for a silver and lead mine in Myanmar that was a joint venture between local organizations Myanmar Metals, Win Myint Mo Industries, and East Asia Power. The venture, known as Bawdwin Joint Venture (BJV), requested a seven-year tax break for the mine from the government of Myanmar, which was allegedly estimated to save BJV $163 million. Finance Uncovered used a quote from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in its article, claiming ‘ “[Tax holidays are an] inefficient and ineffective incentive for mining.” 7 Finance Uncovered further claimed that tax breaks, “cause countries to lose out on large sums of money that could be used to improve people’s lives.” 7

In 2023, Finance Uncovered published an article covering allegations of money laundering within the United Kingdom, claiming that money launderers were creating joint partnership companies in the UK under names of people who were not actually owners of the business while making it appear that the company is doing legitimate business in order to avoid sending their money to offshore accounts. Finance Uncovered’s article quoted anti-money-laundering activist Helena Wood, in arguing that the U.K.’s political leaders had a ‘ “no-questions-asked approach to money flowing into corporate Britain.” 8

References

  1. “Imagine If Every Journalist Could Follow the Money .” Finance Uncovered. Accessed January 13, 2025. https://www.financeuncovered.org/.
  2. “Training.” Finance Uncovered. Accessed January 13, 2025. https://www.financeuncovered.org/training.
  3.  “About Us.” Money Trail. Accessed January 13, 2025. https://www.money-trail.org/about-us/.
  4. “Funding.” Finance Uncovered. Accessed January 13, 2025. https://www.financeuncovered.org/funding.
  5.  “About.” Finance Uncovered. Accessed January 13, 2025. https://www.financeuncovered.org/about.
  6. “Empower the World’s Watchdog Journalists.” Global Investigative Journalism Network. Accessed January 13, 2025. https://gijn.org/about-us/donate/.
  7. “Proposed Tax Break to Operators of Myanmar’s Most Lucrative Mine ‘Would Cost Impoverished Citizens $163m.’” Finance Uncovered, February 14, 2020. https://www.financeuncovered.org/stories/proposed-tax-break-to-operators-of-myanmars-most-lucrative-mine-would-cost-impoverished-citizens-163m.
  8. Bowers, Simon, Clement Kumalija, and Purity Mukami. “How Sham Companies Are Created in the UK to Benefit Money Launderers.” Finance Uncovered, August 3, 2022. https://www.financeuncovered.org/stories/explainer-video-how-sham-companies-are-created-in-the-uk-to-benefit-money-launderers.
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