WASHINGTON  - Crime, corruption, and tax evasion cost the developing world $858.8 billion in 2010, just below the all-time high of $871.3 billion set in 2008, the year preceding the global financial crisis.  The findings are part of a new study released Monday by Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington-based research and advocacy organisation.The report, “Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2001-2010,” is GFI’s annual update on the amount of money flowing out of developing economies via crime, corruption and tax evasion.“Astronomical sums of dirty money continue to flow out of the developing world and into offshore tax havens and developed country banks,” said GFI Director Raymond Baker.“Regardless of the methodology, it’s clear: developing economies are hemorrhaging more and more money at a time when rich and poor nations alike are struggling to spur economic growth. The $858.8 billion of illicit outflows lost in 2010 is a significant uptick from 2009, which saw developing countries lose $776.0 billion under the new methodology.  The study estimates the developing world lost a total of $5.86 trillion over the decade spanning 2001 through 2010.“This has very big consequences for developing economies,” explained Freitas, a co-author of the report.  “Poor countries lost nearly a trillion dollars that could have been used to invest in healthcare, education, and infrastructure.  It’s nearly a trillion dollars that could have been used to pull people out of poverty and save lives.”Dr Kar and Freitas’ research tracks the amount of illegal capital flowing out of 150 different developing countries over the 10-year period from 2001 through 2010, and it ranks the countries by magnitude of illicit outflows. According to data released a huge amount of $2.5 billion was siphoned out of Pakistan between 2003 and 2010. The report said that $44 million were illegally transferred in 2003, $202 million in 2005, $505 million in 2007, $728 million in 2008, $298 million in 2009 and $729 million in 2010.  The report said the total outflow of black money from India, which is at eighth position, since independence until 2010 was $232 billion, generally in the form of corruption, bribery and kickbacks. The cumulative value of illicit assets held by Indians during the same period is estimated to be $487 billion. China accounted for almost half of the $858.8 billion in dirty money that flowed into tax havens and Western banks in 2010, more than eight times the amounts for runner-ups Malaysia and Mexico. Total illicit outflows increased by 11 per cent from the prior year, GFI said.All the countries in the top 10, which this year saw India, Nigeria, the Philippines and Nigeria join the ranks, face significant problems with corruption, and in most there are vast gaps between rich and poor citizens as well as internal security problems. The sums are so huge that for every dollar in foreign direct aid, $10 leaves developing countries.China lost $420.4 billion in 2010 and over the decade lost a total of $2.74 trillion. And its losses are steadily rising. In an October report, GFI said another $602 billion in illicit flows left China in 2011 for a total of $3.79 trillion between 2000-11.However, the numbers in the latest report are not directly comparable with earlier data because GFI has updated its methodology, making the estimates somewhat more conservative. It measures illicit flows by calculating the difference between fund inflows from loans and net foreign direct investment, and the outflows from a country to pay for trade, cash transfers and other earnings.According to the report, the 15 biggest exporters of illicit financial flows over the decade were China $2.74 trillion, Mexico $476 billion, Malaysia $285 billion, Saudi Arabia $210 billion, Russia $152 billion, Philippines $138 billion, Nigeria $129 billion, India $123 billion, Indonesia $109 billion, UAE $107 billion, Iraq $63.6 billion, South Africa $83.9 billion, Thailand $64.3 billion, Costa Rice $63.7 billion, and Qatar $56.1 billion.