In mid-November, the United Nations, the World Bank and other watchdog groups gathered in Doha, Qatar, in an effort to curb world political corruption costs and grant concrete authority to enforce the 141-nation UN anti-corruption agreement. Two previous agreements have failed.

“We hope to have a commitment to action,” said Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former finance minister of Nigeria and current managing director of the World Bank. “We’ve had a lot of talk. Now we’d like to see some action” (BBC).

Lost monies hidden in corruption move from country to country and are placed in anonymous investments estimated to total up to $6 trillion.

“There’s an estimate that $20-$40 billion a year, in terms of corruptly stolen assets, leaves developing countries to go to developed countries each year,” Dr. Okonjo-Iweala said (Reuters).

Some countries (such as China, Russia and Iran) are strongly resisting efforts to reveal investments, slowing the search for missing funds.