The Enablers: How the West Supports Kleptocrats and Corruption - Endangering Our Democracy

Authoritarian regimes in many countries, and the men that lead them, depend on the international management of licit and illicit funds under their control. Frank Vogl shows that curbing their activities for their kleptocratic clients is critical to secure democracy, enhance national security, and ensure international financial stability.

Table of Contents:
1:Dirty Money 2:Then and Now 3: The Scale of Grand Corruption 4:Blind Bankers 5:Slumbering Regulators 6:Klepto-Debt 7:Klepto-Investing 8:Secret Dealings 9:Corrupt Trade 10: Arms and Graft 11: Democracy at Risk 12: Ticking the Boxes is Not Enough 13:Enforcement 14:In the Public Interest Selected Bibliography Acknowledgements Chapter Notes

About the Author :
Frank Vogl, former senior World Bank official and foreign business and economics correspondent for The Times of London, teaches a graduate course at Georgetown University titled, Corruption, Conflict Resolution and Security. He is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Partnership for Transparency Fund, and the co-founder and former Vice Chair of Transparency International, the global non-governmental anti-corruption organization. He served as President of Vogl Communications, Inc., an international communications consulting firm, from 1990 to 2018.

Review :
Vogl is admirably frank about the principal impediments to anti-corruption efforts here and abroad: money and resources. There is no shortage of good ideas and well-intentioned government officials and private citizens, but, as Vogl notes, what is really needed is a “quantum upgrade in enforcement capabilities”—ideally everywhere, but at least in our own country if we ever intend to be serious about these problems.” Frank Vogl has been a campaigner against the evils of corruption for decades. In this punchy and sobering book he explains not just how pervasive it now is, but that western governments, businesses and professionals enable the kleptocratic regimes behind much of it. This is not just a bad thing in itself. It is a threat to the legitimacy and perhaps the survival of our democracies. The “klepto-cash” flooding into our economies is a poison that weakens us and strengthens our enemies. The Enablers is a brilliant tour de force, taking its reader through the world of slime and sleaze that drips from the supposedly legitimate world where international commerce collides with the corrupt and the powerful. To everyone who is concerned about the future of our world, read this, and once armed with the facts, get out there and demand a credible response from your government! This eye-opening book reveals a world that is unknown to most—the key facilitators of transnational crime and the looting of countries. The facilitators that Frank Vogl brings to life cause irreparable harm through their complex financial and legal maneuvers often hard to detect until it is too late. This book presents a clarion call to focus more on these pernicious enablers. Vogl’s timely book emphasizes both the urgency and the opportunity to rein in the professional enablers of financial crime and to disrupt this business model. A compelling read for everyone interested to find out how we can make our societies more resilient to corruption. Enablers! This is us in the richer countries, facilitating corruption, hurting the lives of billions of people across the globe. Vogl sounds a clarion call for change. He brings a lifetime of experience to his compelling stories highlighting the role of private as well as public enablers corrupting the global financial system.