New Sanctions Program Needed for Illegal Gold Mining, Group Says
The State and Treasury departments should create a sanctions program to address illegal gold mining and other environmental crimes in the Western Hemisphere, said the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition in a new report Aug. 20.
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“Current sanctions programs focus on drug trafficking organizations, corruption, and other country-specific programs, but do not directly cover environmental crimes such as illegal gold mining,” the advocacy group wrote. “This is a major omission considering that environmental crimes are now a top revenue source for transnational organized crime groups.”
The report also called for fully implementing the Corporate Transparency Act to prevent domestic and foreign criminals involved in the illegal gold trade from using anonymous shell companies. The Treasury Department announced in March that it plans to narrow the scope of a rule implementing the act so it applies only to foreign firms and not U.S. businesses (see 2503140054).
Those recommendations are among 19 the FACT Coalition made to counter the fast-growing activity of illegal gold mining in the Western Hemisphere, which it said harms the environment and enriches organized crime and authoritarian governments. In February, Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Tim Kaine, D-Va., introduced a bill, which the FACT Coalition endorsed, that would require the State Department to develop a strategy to fight illegal gold mining in the hemisphere.