How Stolen Money To Foreign Banks Underdevelops Africa

This article will provide ample information as to why despite Africa’s vast mineral resources the continent continues experiencing snail development, while Europe’s economy flourishes with lucrative employment in various fields. Again, this article reveals how Europe plays a significant role in the underdevelopment of Africa.

Quite often, when you read newspapers, listen to the radio and watch television in Europe, you will learn how poor Africans are and how corrupt African leaders are. But you will never see, read or hear something in these media about the role played by Western banking institutions; real estate development companies and real estate companies; large corporations and Western political and business circles in support of corruption in Africa.

When it comes to Africa and developing countries, the Western media pretend that they do a good job only when there is an embarrassing story or scandal that undermines their reputation as a state watchdog. Often, you can see very poor Africans living in poor conditions, which are shown in documentaries, on film and television in the West, but the same documentaries and feature films are always silent about the role played by Western institutions.

Bribes, as we all know, imply the giver and taker, but the media always reports only takers. In many cases, as we will see shortly, bribes are given in order to secure the conclusion of contracts, to secure the patronage of officials, or to encourage officials to influence the outcome of a government decision. In other examples, people are becoming corrupt due to the presence of favorable conditions, as can be seen in most Western countries with their bank secrecy laws.

Western media tend to ignore the role of Western institutions for many reasons. One of the main reasons why they want to show the level of poverty in Africa, but refuse to show the role of Western banking, real estate, and multinational companies, is the fear of loss of advertising revenue. Many media outlets survive by placing advertisements from real estate companies, banking, and multinational corporations, so why bring on their anger?

Another reason is that editors, program managers and other influential people in the media are themselves, shareholders of these banks and real estate companies, so why should they risk a source of their own wealth? Enthusiastically channels CNN, BBC, ABC, CBS, ITN, SkyNews, and other TV producers portray Africa as poor and least developed; but the same cannot be said about how they report on the role of Western banking and other institutions.

They do not tell the world that the looted money that makes Africans poor is actually located in Europe, America, Australia, New Zealand and on offshore islands controlled by the West. They do not inform the world that Africa would have been different if all the stolen money had been returned, but would they ever come out in support of such a laudable idea? Why should the media change the way they provide information if for centuries they have been the source of all the misinformation and misrepresentation of something non-Western?

Corruption is common in Africa because in Europe, especially in Switzerland, France, Jersey, Britain, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Austria, the United States, and many other places, they accept the money of African leaders without asking them questions about the origin of money. According to the UN, every year on the continent political leaders, business elites and government officials steal approximately $ 148 billion in collusion and with the tacit consent of banks in Europe and North America.

And although it is well known that Western banks act as safe havens for looted money from Africa, the Western media devote very little attention to exposing them. The media focus more on corrupt leaders, rarely or completely not mentioning where the stolen money is stored. No concrete effort has been made to expose the banks that collude and cooperate with these corrupt leaders who drive people to poverty.

No effort was made by political elites in Europe and America to force banks to return this stolen money to the poorest of the poor because they are often shareholders and recipients of the profits made by these banks. They talk about corruption because they are embarrassed, but they have no intention to fight it since it would mean the absence of fat dividends for them and no cheap loans for their citizens.

However, why it doesn’t matter to African leaders the reason European leaders don’t steal money to keep in Africa but they do? Sani Abacha, the former Nigeria leader, alone stole $380m (£260m) and stored in European bank accounts. He is dead and gone but Nigeria continues to suffer in poverty.

Sani Abacha, the former Nigeria military dictator stole $380m (£260m) to a Swiss bank

According to a bank official from Luxemburg I met recently, almost, every African leader has hidden money in either Luxemburg or somewhere in Europe because they can't keep stolen money in Africa; Therefore, those that claim they are fighting against corruption is just a strategy to cover up their own.

I strongly believe that because no one can fight corruption in Africa. I heard of the fight against corruption in Nigeria by the successive head of states since in the late seventies. What has Nigeria achieved so far? Recovered stolen money again vanishes, is that a fight against corruption?

African leaders must think twice because they are fully or partly responsible for Africa's weak economy and poor health amenities. According to the bank official from Luxemburg, monies African leaders deposit are giving out as cheap loans while the use the money and interest to develop their countries.

How long can this go on when Africans including thousands of Ghanaians are suffering? African leaders must stop this dirty acts because when their cups are full it will spill over and the public will be aware of their shady deals and hidden corruption.