Corrupt Practices

China: 1,800 officials admit to graft

2007-08-03T07:48:00.000-07:00

Undated photo of Zheng Xiaoyu, China's former head of the food and drug watchdog who was executed last month for corruption

Chinese officials admit to graft

Almost 1,800 officials confessed to corruption in June, a Chinese Communist Party watchdog has announced.
The officials were taking advantage of a month-long leniency offer that began on 30 May, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said.
Over the month, 1,790 people confessed to corruption totalling 77.89m yuan ($10.2m, £5m), a spokesman said.
China has been working hard to tackle official corruption, which has become a major trigger for public discontent.
"Some of the officials have corrected their mistakes and some are still under investigation, since we need to check whether they have confessed all their wrongdoings," CCDI spokesman Gan Yisheng said.
No details were given of what penalties the officials who confessed might face, Xinhua news agency said.
But Mr Gan said corrupt officials who had not confessed would face severe punishment, the agency reported.
Public anger
Corruption is one of the Communist Party's biggest problems and the thing that ordinary people criticise most bitterly, says the BBC's James Reynolds in Beijing.

Chinese gamers at an internet cafe in Shanghai (file photo)
Chinese gamers have embraced a game that tackles corrupt officials

He says they complain about officials with gold watches, driving around in black Mercedes, getting fat on bribes and free lunches and handing out all the best jobs to their friends and family.
Now, our correspondent says, Chinese President Hu Jintao wants to show that he is taking action, particularly with the party's key five-yearly congress looming.
Last week, the Communist Party's former leader in Shanghai, Chen Liangyu, was expelled from the party, and may now face charges, after he was linked to a pensions fund scandal that has also implicated other senior officials.
His expulsion follows the execution last month of Zheng Xiaoyu, the former head of the country's food and drug watchdog who was convicted of taking bribes to approve products.
But corruption is widespread, affecting local and provincial administrations, as well as the central government.
The popularity of an online game that allows players to eradicate corrupt officials illustrates the depth of feeling among ordinary people over the issue of graft.
The game, entitled "Incorruptible Fighter", was launched just over a week ago.
Since then, it has been downloaded more then 100,000 times and is in such demand that its website has crashed, state media reported.

US: FBI searches senator's house

2007-08-02T08:18:00.000-07:00

Ted Stevens: Longest-serving Republican senator in history

FBI searches US senator's house

Federal agents in the United States have searched the Alaska home of veteran Republican Senator Ted Stevens as part of an inquiry into corruption.
FBI and Internal revenue Service agents entered the house to investigate Sen Stevens's ties to the jailed head of an oil service company, Bill Allen.
Mr Allen was sentenced this year after admitting to bribing state legislators.
Sen Stevens, 83, who is up for re-election next year, has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
He is being investigated for his links to Mr Allen, who was the chief executive of Veco, the biggest oil service company in Alaska.
In May, Mr Allen and another Veco executive Rick Smith pleaded guilty to several corruption charges, including paying more than $400,000 to bribe Alaskan legislators.
Contractors have told a federal grand jury that Mr Allen oversaw a project that doubled the size of Sen Stevens's home in the Alaskan ski resort of Girdwood.
Sen Stevens has said that money for the remodelling of his house came out of his own pocket.
Sen Stevens, who has been in office since 1968 and an influential member of Congress for many years, said he would not comment on the search.
"I continue to believe this investigation should proceed to its conclusion without any appearance that I have attempted to influence its outcome," he said in a statement.
He is among more than a dozen current and former members of Congress who have come under federal scrutiny over allegations regarding their links to lobbyists, defence contractors and other business interests.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6923872.stm
Published: 2007/07/31 10:52:54 GMT
© BBC MMVII

Investigators searched inside and outside the house

Senator Stevens's Igloo

New York Sun Editorial
August 2, 2007

Senator Stevens is finding himself in hot water. The FBI raided the Republican's residence in Girdwood, Alaska, looking for evidence on his relationship with an oil-field-service contractor by the name of Bill Allen. Allen, who was been convicted this year of bribing state legislators, oversaw a 2000 renovation project that more than doubled the size of Mr. Stevens's house; Allen's company, VECO Corp., has reaped millions of dollars in federal contracts over the years.
Though the matter must await the outcome of the law-enforcement process, a note of caution is in order. It has been corruption more than any other issue that has dragged the Republican Party down in recent years. Having been given a majority in 1994 to root out the corruption of the Democratic Congress, all too many Republicans who came to Washington to do good stayed to do well. Despite the war, "corruption/ethics" ranked highest in voters minds, according to exit polls, when voters threw the GOP out of power.
Mr. Stevens has become a symbol of Republican susceptibility to pork, particularly the idea that taxpayers should be forced to disgorge a half a billion dollars so that a "Bridge to Nowhere" could be constructed connecting two chunks of ice in Alaska, one uninhabited. He even threatened to resign should his favored earmark be removed from the budget. The FBI investigation could yet force his resignation for different reasons. But we're not so focused on who paid for the ice in the Stevens igloo. The real scandal is not what's illegal but what's legal Â-- namely the earmarks that grew a mind-boggling tenfold on the Republican watch.

Japan: Scandal-hit minister quits

2007-08-01T19:37:00.000-07:00

Mr Akagi said he bore partial responsibility for the poll result
Mr Akagi apologises

Scandal-hit Japan minister quits

Japan's scandal-hit agriculture minister is to step down following the ruling coalition's crushing defeat in Sunday's upper house polls.
Norihiko Akagi, who is accused of financial irregularities, offered his resignation and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe accepted it, a spokesman said.
A number of Mr Abe's ministers have been hit by scandal, an issue seen as a key factor in his party's poll defeat.
The premier has pledged to reshuffle his Cabinet in the wake of the polls.
Mr Akagi said he was partly to blame for the defeat.
"There were various reports about me during the upper house election campaign," he said.
"It is an undisputed fact that these were partly responsible for the defeat of the ruling coalition."
Mr Akagi, who is accused of misreporting office expenses, was appointed only two months ago. His predecessor, Toshikatsu Matsuoka, committed suicide in May over a separate funding scandal.
Two more of Mr Abe's ministers have been forced to step down in recent months, causing many voters to question his leadership skills.
'Senseless conduct'
But the prime minister has so far resisted calls for his resignation in the wake of Sunday's elections, which saw control of the upper chamber wrested from his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)-led ruling coalition.
The opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) made huge gains, becoming for the first time in its history the largest party in the upper house.
The LDP still controls the more powerful lower house and the party has continued to back Mr Abe - in part, some experts say, due to the absence of a suitable candidate to replace him.
The premier has stated that he plans to continue with an agenda of reform.
But according to the latest opinion polls, almost half of the public want him to step down.
About 47% of respondents wanted him to resign, the Asahi newspaper said, while the Yomiuri newspaper put the figure at 45%.
On Tuesday, DPJ leader Ichiro Ozawa hit out at Mr Abe's decision to stay.
He was "trying to get away with such senseless conduct, trying to keep his cabinet in charge even after his party lost the majority", he said.
"I don't think he will gain people's support and understanding by doing something so selfish."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/6925348.stm
Published: 2007/08/01 04:07:10 GMT
© BBC MMVII

Iraq: Corruption 'mars Iraq rebuilding'

2007-08-01T19:15:00.000-07:00

Corruption 'mars Iraq rebuilding'
Reports of widespread fraud and waste of funds in Iraq

LISTEN
Bowen interview

The US agency overseeing reconstruction in Iraq has told the BBC that economic mismanagement and corruption there are equivalent to "a second insurgency".
The chief auditor assigned by Congress, Stuart Bowen, said the Iraqi government was failing to take responsibility for projects worth billions of dollars.
Mr Bowen also said his agency was investigating more than 50 fraud cases.
Meanwhile, nearly a third of Iraq's population is in need of emergency aid, a report by Oxfam and Iraqi NGOs says.
The report said the Iraqi government was failing to provide basic essentials such as water, food, sanitation and shelter for up to eight million people.
It warned that the continuing violence was masking a humanitarian crisis that had escalated since the US-led invasion in 2003.
On Monday, six people were killed and at least 12 injured in a car bomb attack in Baghdad. The US military also announced the deaths of three of its soldiers in the western province of Anbar.
'Troubling'
US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen was appointed to audit $44bn (£22bn) allocated since 2003, after reports of widespread fraud and waste.
The agency publishes quarterly reports on the situation, most of which have complained about a serious lack of progress. Monday's report was no different.

Millions of Iraqis have been forced to flee the violence, either to another part of Iraq or abroad - many of those are living in dire poverty
Jeremy Hobbs
Director of Oxfam International
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Bowen said corruption was endemic and described it as "an enemy of democracy".
He added: "We have performed 95 audits that have found instances of programmatic weakness and waste, and we've got 57 ongoing cases right now, criminal cases, looking at fraud."
Mr Bowen said the transfer of projects to Iraqi government control was "troubling", and expressed concern about delays and cost overruns.
The report gave the example of the Doura power station, rebuilt with tens of millions of US dollars, which fell into disrepair once it was transferred to Iraqi control.
Mr Bowen also said Iraqi ministries were struggling to administer funds.
Last year, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's government only spent 22% of its budget on vital rebuilding projects, while spending 99% of the allocation for salaries, he said.
He said "a pathway towards potential prosperity" could be found only if oil production was brought up to optimal levels, and security and corruption effectively managed.
'Ruined by war'
The Iraqi parliament has now adjourned until 4 September, despite US calls for it to remain in session and pass already-delayed legislation.
The recess means parliament will reconvene just days before America's top commander in Iraq, Army Gen David Petraeus, reports to Congress on the US troop "surge" strategy.

OXFAM/NCCI REPORT IN FULL
Adobe Acrobat Reader.

His assessment will likely provide the backdrop to the next round of war spending.
The BBC's Nicholas Witchell in Baghdad says the report by the UK-based charity and the NGO Co-ordination Committee in Iraq (NCCI) makes alarming reading.
The survey recognises that armed conflict is the greatest problem facing Iraqis, but finds a population "increasingly threatened by disease and malnutrition".
It suggests that 70% of Iraq's 26.5m population are without adequate water supplies, compared to 50% prior to the invasion. Only 20% have access to effective sanitation.
Nearly 30% of children are malnourished, a sharp increase on the situation four years ago. Some 15% of Iraqis regularly cannot afford to eat.
The report also said 92% of Iraq's children suffered from learning problems.
It found that more than two million people have been displaced inside the country, while a further two million have fled to neighbouring countries.
On Thursday, an international conference in Jordan pledged to help the refugees with their difficulties. Oxfam has not operated in Iraq since 2003 for security reasons.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6922347.stm
Published: 2007/07/30 14:51:55 GMT

© BBC MMVII

Bangladesh: Overseas remitting system shaken: Million-dollar scam

2007-07-29T12:25:00.000-07:00

Overseas remitting system shaken: Million-dollar scam: Corrupt people close to past political regime involved
By Pulack Ghatack
Tue, 3 Jul 2007, 13:37:00
From New Nation Online Edition
The million-dollar scam of First Solution Money Transfer Limited has shaken the overseas money remitting system and credibility of the entitled institutions. People are also raising questions about the surveillance mechanism of the governments and the central banks of Bangladesh and the United Kingdom.
Some sources on Monday said that certain corrupt people close to the last political regime in power were involved in business with First Solution Money Transfer Ltd.
They said that move was taken during the previous government to close down Sonali Exchange, the foreign currency collecting branch of the Sonali Bank in London to facilitate growth of money transfer companies in the UK. But the information is yet to be confirmed, for Bangladesh Bank and the authorities of eight other banks, which were involved in business with the fraud company, do not know who the owners are. When asked, Bangladesh Bank officials could not confirm the names of the people involved. Then, what was the basis of their trust in establishing drawing arrangements with the fraud company?
"We want business. Bangladesh High Commission in London recommended the company to establish drawing arrangements. Bangladesh Bank also gave permission after checking their documents. Then where is our fault?", replied a mid-level executive of a private bank on condition of anonymity.
Bangladesh Bank permits banks in Bangladesh to establish drawing arrangements with foreign banks and exchange houses to facilitate remittance by Bangladeshi nationals living abroad.
Persons willing to remit their earnings through official channels can buy either Taka draft or US dollar draft from these foreign banks and exchange houses having drawing arrangements with different banks in Bangladesh.
With this arrangement, Bangladeshi nationals living abroad can send foreign exchange directly to their own bank accounts or to their relatives' bank accounts in Bangladesh.
Questions are, however, being raised about the credibility of Bangladesh Bank about giving permission to any bank to establish drawing arrangements with foreign banks and exchange houses.
People are now questioning about the difference between the "hundi" and the so-called legal money supply of accredited companies. If a criminal gang forms a company and starts to transfer legal or illegal money, will the banks get involved in business with it without verifying its credibility? "How could the central bank allow banks to establish drawing arrangements with a company without having enough information about it?," a host of people told the New Nation yesterday.
Globally, some 86 institutions including the foreign branches of Bangladeshi banks are involved in money transfer to Banladesh. A total of 38 institutions including four branches of Sonali Bank are engaged in money transfer from the UK.
Of those, First Solution maintained relationship with the highest number of Bangladeshi banks. The fraud company remitted money through eight Bangladeshi banks including Uttara Bank, Eastern Bank, National Credit and Commerce (NCC) Bank, SouthEast Bank, Mutual Trust Bank, BRAC Bank Limited, Prme Bank and Islami Bank.
The firm claimed itself as one of the biggest Bangladeshi money-transferring firms in London. They had 42 branches in different cities. But, all the branches were suddenly closed down on Thursday last.
It was also involved in business like travel services, Hajj and Umrah services, property finance, business loan, personal loan, general insurance, tax consultancy, pensions etc. It lured people offering higher profit in the name of religion terming it "Islamic finance" and "Shariah Compliant Investments."
"We are committed to providing Shariah compliant products and services to all our clients. As part of our vision, we want to be at the forefront in encouraging more and more British Muslim Women to become successful entrepreneurs through participation in First Solution Investment Projects such as property developments as individuals or in groups," says the website of the fraud company.
Reports received from London revealed that the expatriate Bangladeshis living in the UK sent 9 million pound sterling worth Tk 126 crore to Bangladesh through the company during the last six weeks.
Meanwhile, UNB reports that Bangladesh Bank has asked Bangladesh High Commission in London to take up with the British authorities the remittance scam by UK-based First Solution Money Transfer Ltd that allegedly misappropriated huge money sent by NRBs.
"We wrote a letter to the High Commission in this regard today," Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Salehuddin Ahmed told reporters Tuesday.
"They (the remittance house) are not under our supervision. The UK authorities gave them license to operate," he said after a function at the auditorium of National Press Club.
He was addressing a function marking the distribution of stipends among meritorious students by Islami Bank Foundation.
Replying to a question, he said the commercial banks here would pay the beneficiaries from their covered funds. "Later, we'll see what we can do in this regard."
The company, which had money transfer arrangements with the local banks, reportedly closed down all of its branches immediately after misappropriating the huge amount of money remitted by the expatriate Bangladeshis living in the UK.
They advised the local commercial banks to send the money to the beneficiaries but did not post the remitted money for the banks.
A senior Bangladesh Bank official told UNB that the High Commission has already started collecting relevant documents for sending the remittance from the expatriate Bangladeshis in UK and they would take up the problem with the UK authorities for its settlement as per UK's legal provisions.
"Otherwise, we'll look for a satisfactory solution locally," he said, adding that the remitted money, if necessary, should be given from the profits of the banks concerned.
He said Bangladesh Bank has also launched an internal investigation whether the commercial banks had proper agreements with the remittance house for transaction or the agreements had any discrepancy. "Bangladesh Bank will take action after examining the documents," he said.
To avert future problems related to remittance, Bangladesh Bank has decided to publish ads in newspapers urging people not to make transactions with fake exchange houses.
The central bank would also formulate a policy to regulate the local exchange houses to avert future problems relating to wage earners' money.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Bank executive director Yasin Ali summoned senior executives of the commercial banks involved and had case-to-case talks with them in this regard.
The central bank convened the meeting as part of its investigation into the alleged misappropriation of remittance. It has so far detected an amount of Tk 18 crore remitted from the United Kingdom that remained to be disbursed among the recipients in Bangladesh by the local commercial banks.
Of the amount, South East Bank alone is responsible for Tk 14 crore as reported at a meeting between the Bangladesh Bank and eight commercial banks at the central bank's conference room on Monday.

© Copyright 2003 by ittefaq.com

Westminster Hall debates
Wednesday, 18 July 2007
What is Westminster Hall?
First Solution Money Transfer Ltd

4:15 pm

George Galloway (Bethnal Green & Bow, Respect)

The collapse of First Solution Money Transfer Ltd hit the community of the east end of London and elsewhere with all the force of a flood. It has devastated some of the poorest people in England: some of the lowest paid and some of the poorest housed, who live in the chilly shade of the hedge fund operators in the richest square mile on earth in the City of London and the gleaming spires of capitalism at Canary Wharf. Those people sweated from their brow to save what often may be small amounts to you and me, Mr. Cummings, but large amounts to them, and bigger amounts to those in Bangladesh, the poorest country in the world, to whom the money was destined to be sent.
No one will know the full scale of the losses until the Insolvency Service has concluded its forensic examination of the accounts, but at the moment the directors are claiming that £1.7 million is owed to 2,000 creditors. Those figures do not begin to paint the human picture of the suffering. One man from Manchester has lost £70,000, his life savings, which has brought him to the edge of despair. Another has lost the money that he had saved for retirement back in Bangladesh. In yet another case, money saved by a man for a whole year to buy essential medical treatment for his brother has gone missing. The tale of misery is represented among the strangers here, who are some of the poorest and some of the oldest victims of this collapse.
I was first alerted to the problems in the company almost four weeks ago. Agents working for First Solution in the Home Counties contacted me and said that money that they had taken in over the previous two months for transfer to Bangladesh—some £150,000—had for the most part failed to get there. They said that a meeting had been held between more than 40 agents and the directors of First Solution in the middle of May after money had stopped getting to Bangladesh. They had been told by the directors that there were problems, but that they would soon be put right. More than one month later, the situation had merely got worse as the amount of money owed to clients had grown.
As the evidence mounted that there were problems in the company, and that good money was being paid in after bad in large quantities daily, my response was to seek the authorities' assistance to find out what had gone wrong. I contacted the Financial Services Authority, but to my amazement was told that this financial service fell outside its remit, and that I would have to approach trading standards officers.
My office contacted trading standards officers at Tower Hamlets council with the evidence that had been presented to me, but they said that the matter was too big for them and that the police should be contacted. I sent a personal letter straight away to the borough commander in Tower Hamlets, again outlining the evidence of the very serious problems in the company, and of the suspicions, now widespread, of wrongdoing, and asked him to engage whatever agencies in the police were responsible for investigating the company. Commander Savill referred the matter to the local fraud office and an officer then contacted my office to say that he was preparing a report to send to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, as it was in fact the regulating body and should carry out any investigation. This was some three days before the company finally ceased trading.
Under mounting media pressure—I commend the excellent investigative reporting of Ted Jeory of the East London Advertiser—the company seems to have engaged with its accountants and lawyers, and I believe the directors were advised that they were almost certainly trading as an insolvent company, which is a criminal offence. They were advised by their lawyer to instruct their agents to stop taking business, but to this day, many agents claim that they never received any such instruction. Early in the morning on 21 June, the directors posted a notice on their office in the London Muslim centre, saying that their office was closed until further notice.
That was no tin-pot business. It had grown from a £4 million turnover in its first year of operation, 2004, to an estimated £87 million turnover in 2006-07. That growth was achieved in several ways. First, the business offered higher exchange rates for lower fees and a quicker service to more outlying areas of Bangladesh than its rivals, in particular the banks, which are subject to financial security regulation. Secondly, with its headquarters located in the London Muslim centre next to the East London mosque, it was assiduously and ruthlessly promoted as a community service on the Bangladeshi TV station Channel S. Not coincidentally, Dr. Fazal Mahmood, the driving force behind First Solution, which also includes real estate, investment, travel and other services, was also the managing director of Channel S until the day before First Solution collapsed.
I have asked Ofcom, and I demand it again today through you, Mr. Cummings, to investigate whether there was a breach of the broadcasting code as a result of that close relationship and the apparent conflicts of interest, but so far Ofcom has not agreed to an inquiry. I want to know whether the adverts that ran interminably on Channel S for First Solution, even though the two companies shared Dr. Fazal Mahmood's services, were properly billed and paid for, and whether it was really commercial advertising or a relentless drive to get the TV station's audience to do their business with First Solution. Ofcom has a duty to the population of east London in that regard.
Mr. Cummings, you may be surprised to know—I was—that Dr. Fazal Mahmood was convicted in 2004 on two counts of the criminal offence of breaching section 84 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. A convicted criminal in 2004 was allowed to build up an £87 million business within three years because of the failure to put a fit and proper person regulation in place for people operating money transfer businesses.
The next point is even more interesting. Upon the collapse of the company, the directors appointed an insolvency firm, Panos Eliades, Franklin and Co., to register creditors, set up a creditors' meeting and advise on liquidation. Panos Eliades himself fronted and continues to front that operation. Mr. Eliades, however, was excluded from membership of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in 2000, and, in a legal dispute over debts with the boxer Lennox Lewis, a New York court and the High Court in London ruled that Mr. Eliades had comprehensively lied in order to avoid paying the debts that he was alleged to owe. His partner, Mr. Franklin, is qualified as an insolvency practitioner, although he is subject to restriction and monitoring by the Insolvency Practitioners Association. In a word, he is in "special measures".
One cannot help wondering why among all the insolvency firms operating in London, many of which have bombarded me with offers of help, the directors of First Solution managed to choose that one. There is a very important point to make. There is a great deal of anger in the British Bangladeshi community in the east end, and in Bangladesh itself about what has happened. There is a feeling, which I share, that it should be impossible for a money transfer company to lose money. After all, it merely takes money from Peter and promises to transfer it to Paul. In the east end, there has been much rumour and speculation that something criminal must have happened to that money.

US Justice Department probing oil operations in Nigeria

2007-07-29T12:20:00.000-07:00

US Justice Department probing oil operations in Nigeria

Last Update: 6:33 PM ET Jul 24, 2007

By Judith Burns Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The U.S. Justice Department is conducting a criminal inquiry of nearly a dozen oil and oil-services companies, focusing on potentially illegal payments to customs agents who provided freight forwarding and other services, including in Nigeria, Dow Jones Newswires learned Tuesday.
A civil investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission also is underway.
Eleven oil and oil-service firms received a July 2 letter from the Justice Department's criminal fraud section asking them to detail their relationship with Panalpina World Transport Holding Ltd. (PWTN), a Swiss-based shipping and logistics-management company, according to individuals familiar with the matter, who agreed to speak anonymously. The Justice Department letter, which was read to Dow Jones, cited concerns about payments that may violate the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
The oil and oil-service firms were asked to list the countries where Panalpina provided it with services in the past five years, and to specify what it paid for those services. Each firm also was asked to meet separately with federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C. A Justice Department spokesman didn't respond to requests for comment. SEC spokesman John Heine declined to comment.
Panalpina announced Tuesday that it is conducting an internal investigation and has been asked to provide documents to the Justice Department relating to services in Nigeria, Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia for "a limited number of customers."
"Obviously, we are cooperating with the investigation," Panalpina spokesman Martin Spohn told Dow Jones.
The Justice Department probe underscores the difficulty of complying with U.S. anti-bribery laws in countries that may be as awash in corruption as they are in oil. Federal officials, in a bow to such concerns, called a meeting at the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., last Friday specifically to discuss the pitfalls of operating in Nigeria.
Participants included four companies that weren't recipients of the July 2 letter, and which had previously reported internal investigations of potential violations of U.S. anti-bribery laws in West Africa.
Tidewater Inc. (TDW) , Noble Corp. (NE) , GlobalSantaFe Corp. (GSF ) and Global Industries Ltd. (GLBL ) , in announcing their own investigations, didn't identify any third parties by name, referring only to reimbursements to an unidentified "customs agent."
On the agenda at the July 20 meeting: how to comply with U.S. anti-bribery laws while doing business in Nigeria, where such laws aren't respected and bribery is rampant.
The meeting included officials from the Justice Department, the SEC, the Commerce Department and the State Department. U.S. State Department officials based in Lagos took part by telephone, but not Nigerian government officials, allowing U.S. corporations to freely discuss frustrations about doing business in Nigeria, said an individual close to the matter, who declined to be identified. A Commerce Department spokesman had no immediate comment and a State Department spokeswoman didn't return phone calls seeking comment.
"It's a very difficult operating environment, even if you're trying to do everything by the book," said an individual familiar with operating in Nigeria, who agreed to speak anonymously. Another individual, who has conducted business in Nigeria, who also agreed to speak anonymously, said corruption in Nigeria is so widespread, "you can't pass through the Lagos airport without being asked to pay a bribe."
Firms that refuse to pay bribes cannot obtain permits needed to conduct business in Nigeria, while those that pay run the risk of being charged with violating the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practice Act, according to individuals familiar with the matter, speaking anonymously.
U.S. oil and oil-services companies that do business in Nigeria are keenly interested in having the U.S. government address such issues, and hope Nigeria's recent elections might offer an opportunity for change, these individuals said. They spoke on condition they not be identified because they are not authorized to talk to reporters.
Solutions are in short supply, however. Pulling out of Nigeria would help U.S. companies avert potential legal harm, but wouldn't benefit the nation's energy supply or U.S. consumers. Remaining in Nigeria carries other risks, particularly for companies found to be repeat offenders of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
In February, Vetco Gray Controls, a Houston oil-services company, and two other Vetco International Ltd. subsidiaries, paid a $26 million settlement to the Justice Department, a record for a criminal foreign corrupt practices case. The units admitted paying about $2 million in bribes to Nigerian customs officials through an international freight forwarding and customs clearing company, ending in 2005. Vetco had agreed in 2004 not to make such payments.
Baker Hughes (BHI) and a subsidiary paid $44 million in April to settle criminal charges involving bribes in Kazakhstan and SEC civil charges involving payments elsewhere, including Nigeria, the largest combined penalty for such charges. Baker Hughes had a 2001 agreement not to pay bribes under an SEC settlement related to payments in Indonesia.
As the Justice Department focuses on 11 oil and oil-services firms that relied on Panalpina for services, including in Nigeria, four others are voluntarily scrutinizing operations, a process that might or might not yield criminal charges depending on the findings.
New Orleans-based Tidewater Inc. announced in April that it was investigating payments to a customs agent to obtain permits to operate in waters off Nigeria. It cited concerns stemming from the fact that its Nigerian affiliate used the same customs agent thought to be implicated in the Vetco case.
Noble Corp., of Sugar Land, Texas, GlobalSantaFe Corp., of Houston, and Global Industries Ltd., of Carlyss, Louisiana followed suit in June. Noble announced an internal investigation of its Nigerian operations, focusing on reimbursements to customs agents for expenses for import permits. GlobalSantaFe said it is examining agents who handled customs matters in Nigeria, and Global Industries reported it was probing payments in Nigeria that may violate laws meant to prevent U.S. firms from bribing officials overseas.
Noble spokesman John Breed declined to comment and officials from Tidewater, GlobalSantaFe and Global Industries weren't immediately available to comment. GlobalSantaFe, an offshore drilling firm, announced merger plans Monday with Transocean Inc. (RIG ) .
-By Judith Burns, Dow Jones Newswires, 202-862-6692; Judith.Burns@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 24, 2007 17:04 ET (21:04 GMT)
-Contact: 201-938-5400 End of Story

US: Former Executive of Willbros Group Inc. Indicted on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Charges

2007-07-29T12:16:00.000-07:00

Former Executive of Willbros Group Inc. Indicted on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Charges

WASHINGTON – A federal grand jury in Houston has indicted a former executive of a subsidiary of Houston-based Willbros Group Inc., on charges of conspiring to make corrupt payments to Nigerian officials in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the Department of Justice announced today.The four-count indictment unsealed today charges Jason Edward Steph, 37, a U.S. citizen residing in Kazakhstan, with conspiring to make over $6 million in bribe payments to Nigerian officials in order to obtain and retain gas pipeline construction business from a joint venture majority-owned and controlled by the Nigerian state oil company.
(PressZoom) - WASHINGTON – A federal grand jury in Houston has indicted a former executive of a subsidiary of Houston-based Willbros Group Inc., on charges of conspiring to make corrupt payments to Nigerian officials in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ( FCPA ), the Department of Justice announced today.
The four-count indictment unsealed today charges Jason Edward Steph, 37, a U.S. citizen residing in Kazakhstan, with conspiring to make over $6 million in bribe payments to Nigerian officials in order to obtain and retain gas pipeline construction business from a joint venture majority-owned and controlled by the Nigerian state oil company. Steph was also charged with money laundering based upon the international transfer of some of the bribe money.
Willbros, a publicly-traded company that provides construction, engineering and other services in the oil and gas industry, conducts international operations through a subsidiary known as Willbros International Inc. ( WII ). Steph was a WII employee from 1998 to April 2005. From 2002 until April 2005, he served as general manager of WII’s on-shore operations in Nigeria.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation ( NNPC ), the state-owned oil company in Nigeria, is responsible for developing Nigeria’s oil and gas wealth and regulating the industry. NNPC is the majority shareholder in certain joint ventures with multinational oil companies. The multinational oil companies often serve as the operators of the joint ventures. NNPC’s subsidiary, National Petroleum Investment Management Services ( NAPIMS ), manages NNPC’s investments in the joint ventures. Among other functions, NNPC and NAPIMS approve the award of major oil and gas construction projects to private contractors such as Willbros.
The indictment alleges a conspiracy from late 2003 through March 2005 that included Steph, a former senior Willbros executive officer, two individuals acting in Nigeria as purported consultants to Willbros, Nigeria-based employees of a major German engineering and construction company, and others, to make millions of dollars in corrupt payments to assist in obtaining a major gas pipeline engineering, procurement and construction project known as the Eastern Gas Gathering System ( EGGS ), which Willbros and its German consortium partner bid to perform for approximately $387 million. In exchange for the award of the EGGS project, the conspirators allegedly paid, promised to pay, and authorized payments to officials of NNPC, NAPIMS, a senior official in the executive branch of the Nigerian federal government, and to political party, as well as to officials of the operator of the EGGS joint venture. Most of the payments were allegedly laundered through the consultants, who typically received 3 percent of Willbros’ contract revenue by wire transfer from Houston to a foreign bank, and transferred some or all of the funds to Nigerian officials.
The maximum sentence for a charge of conspiring to violate the FCPA is five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss. Each of the money laundering charges carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000 or twice the value of the funds involved in the transfer, whichever is greater.
An indictment is merely an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it is the government’s burden to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
The case is being prosecuted by Deputy Chief Mark F. Mendelsohn and Trial Attorney Thomas E. Stevens of the Fraud Section, Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Washington Field Office and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division. The Fraud Section also acknowledges the assistance of the Fort Worth Regional Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The criminal investigation is ongoing.

###

Malta: Foreign Ministry Lm40,000 in airline tickets

2007-07-29T12:11:00.000-07:00

After waiting passively for three years...
Gonzi asks Auditor: 'What happened to the John Dalli investigation?'
Kurt Farrugia Sat, 28 July 2007
After waiting passively for three whole years, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi wrote a letter to the Auditor General asking what happened to an investigation into the procurement of air tickets by the former Foreign Minister John Dalli, sources at the Office of the Prime Minister revealed.
Auditor General Joseph G Galea’s term in office will effectively expire this week. But on Saturday 28 July it was announced that his term has been extended until a replacement is found. Meanwhile, it is still not yet known whether the Dalli report is concluded or not.
Gonzi’s dependability could be at stake depending on the outcome of the auditor general’s investigation into the air ticketing case.
A report in The Times on 9 June 2004 had alleged that all travel arrangements for the Foreign Ministry were made by a travel agency, Tourist Resources, in which members of the former minister’s family had an interest.
Among other issues, these allegations had led to John Dalli’s resignation.
Gonzi has on various occasions went on record claiming that he accepted Dalli’s “offer” to resign because of case of the air tickets.
But John Dalli, who had contested Lawrence Gonzi in the PN leadership battle, still claims he was forced to resign because of a fabricated report on another case in relation to Mater Dei hospital.
Ask the auditor general - John Dalli
Asked by maltastar.com whether he knew if the auditor general’s report was concluded, former minister John Dalli said: “I have no information about the said report. You would have to ask the auditor general about it.”
Various attempts to contact the auditor general on Saturday were not successful.
If the report finds no wrong doings in the procedures used by John Dalli to buy air tickets from Tourist Resources, then the million dollar question will gain added credibility: “Why has Gonzi sacked John Dalli from his Cabinet?”
In his short letter sent a few days ago – seen by maltastar.com sources at the OPM – the prime minister refers to the speech by the Leader of the Opposition Alfred Sant in Parliament on 18 June 2007, who also referred the auditor general’s unfinished investigation.
During the debate on a no confidence motion in Transport Minister Jesmond Mugliett, Alfred Sant had asked on which grounds the prime minister had accepted John Dalli’s resignation.
On a point of order the former minister said that the investigation by the auditor general had been going on for three years. “It is indeed shameful,” Dalli had said.
Gonzi-Dalli impromptu meeting
After the session Gonzi was seen approaching John Dalli and the two spoke for a few minutes. They were also seen heading to the Prime Minister’s office in Parliament.
It is believed that the subject of the impromptu meeting was the auditor general’s report. The outcome of which was the short letter to the auditor general.
maltastar.com is not informed whether the auditor general has replied to the prime minister.

11 July 2007

Different weights for different ministers

John Dalli’s resignation three years ago and the reasons behind the Prime Minister’s decision to accept it have resurfaced following Lawrence Gonzi’s decision not to accept transport minister Jesmond Mugliett’s resignation last week, MATTHEW VELLA writes.

If Lawrence Gonzi had found nothing to substantiate allegations made against John Dalli, why had he accepted his resignation back in 2004? The answer seems no clearer today than it was three years ago, as it is revealed that Dalli has never been the subject of any investigation by the Auditor General, while Jesmond Mugliett’s actions have also convinced the PM there are no grounds of corruption on which to accept the roads minister’s resignation.
Two ministers, both found to have not acted incorrectly in their government roles, but a different outcome for the PM’s former leadership rival.
With an audit by the Auditor General into the procurement of air tickets by government ministries in its final stages, the news that neither Dalli nor his former ministry are not the subject of this ‘investigation’ carries more weight today, after the Nationalist MP yesterday told MaltaToday that the Tourist Resources saga had been the “excuse” for Gonzi to accept his resignation.
Yesterday the Office of the Prime Minister said there was no relation between the resignations of Dalli and Mugliett, the latter accused by the Opposition of misleading parliament on the reinstatement of two ADT officials which were publicly indicted by a court.
In the John Dalli case, the OPM said yesterday, “the Prime Minister accepted the explanation given by John Dalli on the IRISL issue” – referring to Gonzi’s response to Dalli’s resignation letter that the IRISL allegations had been “unsubstantiated”.
But as for the suggestion by John Dalli himself in his resignation letter to refer the airline tickets case to the Auditor General, the OPM skirted the issue by stating that the matter is “still sub judice” – an incorrect terminology given that the case is not being investigated by any court of law, but is in fact a general and overarching audit of all the ministries’ procurement practices.
So if John Dalli has never been the focus of any investigation, how did the airline tickets saga come to bear so much upon the Prime Minister’s acceptation of Dalli’s resignation?
Dalli’s accusation is that the ‘excuse’ used by the PM had as a background the fact that he had come into possession of the Joe Zahra report in June 2004, later found to have been fabricated, which implicated Dalli’s brother Sebastian in a kickback over a multi-million hospital equipment contract.
“The prime minister had been in possession of that report but it had not yet been sent for investigation by the police,” Dalli told MaltaToday yesterday. “And the air tickets story was brought up as an excuse to justify the decision to accept my resignation.”
And since 2004, the impression given was that Dalli was being ‘investigated’ over the way Lm40,000 in airline tickets had been purchased by the foreign ministry, when he was foreign minister, from the company Tourist Resources Ltd.
When the story broke out on 9 June 2004 in The Times, amid allegations that Dalli had wooed over the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) to be represented by Gauci Borda Shipping, whose director was his son-in-law, the news item was carried in full by PBS journalist Ivan Camilleri, whom Dalli has accused of having “kept up the attack on various occasions”.
He wrote in his resignation letter of 3 July 2004 that, “Wonder of wonders, PBS departed from their normal practice, and not only covered the same story but practically read out the Times report,” referring to Camilleri, the brother of Gonzi’s then communications coordinator Alan Camilleri.
From then on, it seemed it was on this basis that Gonzi had accepted Dalli’s resignation. Even Nationalist Party secretary-general Joe Saliba, speaking on Super One TV last December, referred to the case saying he believed John Dalli “will not be found to have done anything inappropriate” – again reinforcing the impression that Dalli’s prospects of re-entering the cabinet as a minister depended on the outcome of the audit by the Auditor General.
Last week however, Gonzi’s refusal to accept Jesmond Mugliett’s resignation brought back to the fore John Dalli’s departure from the Cabinet. The Office of the Prime Minister sys Gonzi did not see any grounds for accepting Mugliett’s offer of resignation, “as Minister Mugliett had never defended corruption and never tried to intervene to reverse the ADT board’s decision to terminate the employment of the employees concerned.”
As Gonzi himself stated, the decision to keep Mugliett on may be considered “debatable”. His decision on whether to accept Minister Mugliett’s was based on whether he considered the minister’s behaviour in this issue “as one that compromises his position as a minister,” an OPM spokesperson said.
And as in the John Dalli affair, a minister who has presented his resignation but whom Gonzi finds nothing that compromises his position, has been spared his demotion from the Cabinet.
But in an ‘investigation’ which has proved itself to be nothing but a rudimentary auditory exercise into procurement practices, the implications of John Dalli’s resignation ring loud to this day – short of any investigation that places Dalli under the lens of the prosecutor, why did Gonzi choose not to keep this minister in his Cabinet?

Malta: Corrupt ADT employees salaries published

2007-07-29T12:07:00.000-07:00

Corrupt ADT employees salaries published
Mugliett's gift to corrupt ADT officials: Lm1,235 each

Kurt Farrugia Wed, 04 July 2007
Jesmond Mugliett’s intervention to stop the transport authority from sacking two of its officials convicted with corruption has cost the authority Lm2,470 in salaries since end of January.
The roads minister admitted that in February he personally intervened to stop the ADT’s board from sacking the two corrupt officials, one of which was a canvasser of the same minister, pending a request for a presidential pardon.
A stand which does not make legal or political sense, especially when coming from a minister, political analysts commented.
Roderick Galea and Jason Buttigieg were in November found guilty of taking bribes to give a pass mark to candidates taking driving tests. They were handed a general lifetime interdiction sentence which means they cannot hold public office ever. Their appeal was turned down in January 2007 but they were not sacked from ADT despite a board decision in that sense. It was later revealed that Jesmond Mugliett had personally intervened against the board’s decision.
Replying to a parliamentary question tabled by Labour MP Silvio Parnis, Mugliett said that the two corrupt officials who were suspended from ADT on half pay were paid Lm2940.81 each for the period June 2006-June 2007, when their job was actually terminated.
Had it not been for Mugliett’s intervention to stop the ADT from terminating Galea’s and Buttigieg’s job, the authority would have been better off by Lm2,470.
In fact, an ADT board meeting early in February decided to terminate the job of its corrupt officials. But roads minister Jesmond Mugliett intervened directly to stop the ADT from sacking Galea (his canvasser), and Buttigieg.
For the period January 2007 (when the lifetime interdiction was confirmed) to June 2007, the ADT forked out Lm1235.45 each to the ADT officials.
Jesmond Mugliett had said that Roderick Galea was his canvasser and used to accompany him during campaigning in PN party clubs and home visits. Galea also used to take time off from work at ADT to drive Mugliett’s constituents to political activities organised by the minister.
The attitude of the minister who interfered in favour of two corrupt officials was not yet denounced by the prime minister who is keeping dead silence on the matter.
The Labour Party demanded for the minister’s resignation, but the minister has not shown any intention of stepping down despite his scandalous political attitude in the ADT corruption scandal.

Mexico: Ye Gon's meth ring & complicity of corrupt officials

2007-07-29T11:56:00.000-07:00

The suspect has said he was forced by Mexican authorities to store money in his home.
(Richard Drew / AP)

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-mexdrugs25jul25,1,6713809.story?coll=la-news-a_section
From the Los Angeles Times
Calderon hails arrest in cash case
The owner of a mansion in Mexico City where $207 million was found is arraigned in the U.S.
By Héctor Tobar
Times Staff Writer

July 25, 2007

MEXICO CITY — A week ago, Zhenli Ye Gon was the toast of the Mexican media.
Speaking to reporters by telephone while in hiding, he said he would prove that senior officials of the government of President Felipe Calderon were responsible for the $207 million in illicit cash found in his Mexico City home.
On Tuesday, Ye Gon was in a U.S. courtroom, having been captured hours earlier at a restaurant in suburban Washington by U.S. agents who traced his cellphone. And Calderon was claiming victory in a case that officials say yielded the biggest haul of drug money in history.
"Today, those who commit crimes should know that my government will not spare any resources or effort to hunt them down wherever they may be, inside or outside our national territory," Calderon said at a speech at his alma mater here, the Free School of Law.
Agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration arrested Ye Gon in Wheaton, Md., on Monday night, about four months after police entered his Mexico City mansion on suspicion that he was running a methamphetamine production ring.
With its massive haul of cash, involving more than 2 tons of U.S. $100 bills, and allegations of official complicity, the case has come to symbolize the wealth and power behind the international trade in illicit drugs.
A 44-year-old naturalized Mexican of Chinese descent, Ye Gon was arraigned Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington on drug-trafficking charges. Mexican authorities alerted their U.S. counterparts last month that they thought Ye Gon was in the United States.
Mexican authorities have said they will request Ye Gon's extradition on a variety of drug-trafficking charges. If convicted in Mexico, he faces up to 73 years in prison.
U.S. authorities filed their own charges against Ye Gon last month.
On Tuesday, U.S. officials released an affidavit by a DEA agent in Mexico with new details on the scale of Ye Gon's alleged operation. He is said to have imported enough chemicals to produce methamphetamine worth $724 million on the street.
A note discovered at Ye Gon's home refers to apparent assistance from corrupt Mexican customs officials, the affidavit said.
Ye Gon traveled often to Las Vegas to launder drug money and to gamble, the affidavit said. Between 2004 and 2007, records from Las Vegas hotels and casinos show, Ye Gon had gambling losses of $125.9 million.
The DEA also conducted tests in April at Ye Gon's Mexican pharmaceutical plant and found ephedrine, a stimulant and decongestant used to manufacture methamphetamine.
Martin McMahon, a Washington lawyer representing Ye Gon, told the Associated Press that the charges against his client were "complete nonsense…. He has never had drugs, and he didn't have any drugs on him when he was arrested."
If he is extradited, Ye Gon will not receive a fair trial in Mexico, McMahon said.
"President Calderon has already said he is going to jail," McMahon said. "We will vigorously oppose his extradition."
In statements made before his arrest, Ye Gon said Mexican officials had forced him to store the money in his home. He said the funds were destined for use in Calderon's 2006 presidential campaign and "terrorist" activities. Calderon called the statements a "tall tale."
Ye Gon's arrest comes amid growing concern in Mexico that his alleged drug operation may have flourished thanks to the complicity of corrupt officials.
According to news reports here, an investigation by the Mexican attorney general's office is focusing on the role of drug regulators and of a high-ranking tax and customs official, Luis Roberto Patron Arregui.
The investigation has found that Patron Arregui assisted Ye Gon by providing false documents that allowed Ye Gon's company to import chemicals required to produce pseudoephedrine, also a precursor to methamphetamine.
During the administration of President Vicente Fox, Patron Arregui ran the customs office at the Pacific port of Manzanillo.
After winning the presidency last year, Calderon named Patron Arregui to head the national customs office, but Congress refused to even hold confirmation hearings because of allegations that he was corrupt.
Patron Arregui instead became the No. 2 official in Mexico's tax collection agency. He is related by marriage to the Coppel family, a key backer of Calderon's presidential campaign.
--
hector.tobar@latimes.com

police discovered $207 million at his Mexico City mansion

U.S. agents arrest fugitive in historic drug bust
By Hector Tobar, Times Staff Writer
5:55 PM PDT, July 24, 2007

MEXICO CITY -- A week ago, Zhenli Ye Gon was the toast of the Mexican media.

Speaking by telephone from a hiding place, he told a news conference that he would one day prove that senior officials of the government of President Felipe Calderon were responsible for the $207 million in illicit cash found in his Mexico City home.
Tuesday, Ye Gon was in a U.S. courtroom, having been captured hours earlier at an Asian restaurant in suburban Washington by U.S. agents who traced his cell phone. And Calderon was claiming victory in what was said to be the largest drug-cash seizure in the country's history.
"Today, those who commit crimes should know that my government will not spare any resources or effort to hunt them down wherever they may be, inside or outside our national territory," Calderon said at a speech at his alma mater, the Free School of Law.
Agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration arrested Ye Gon in Wheaton, Md., Monday night, some four months after Mexican police entered his Mexico City mansion on suspicion that he was running a methamphetamine production ring.
With its massive haul of cash, involving more than 2 tons of U.S. $100 bills, and allegations of official complicity, the case has come to symbolize the great wealth and power behind the international trade in illicit drugs.
A 44-year-old naturalized Mexican of Chinese descent, Ye Gon was arraigned Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington on drug-trafficking charges. Mexican authorities alerted their U.S. counterparts last month that they thought Ye Gon was in the United States.
Mexican authorities have said they will request Ye Gon's extradition on a variety of drug-trafficking charges. If convicted in Mexico, he faces up to 73 years in prison.
U.S. authorities filed their own charges against Ye Gon last month.
Tuesday, U.S. officials released an eight-page affidavit by a DEA agent in Mexico City that offers new details on the vast scale of Ye Gon's alleged operation. He is said to have imported enough "precursor chemicals" to produce methamphetamines with a street value of $724 million.
A note discovered at Ye Gon's home refers to apparent assistance from corrupt Mexican customs officials, the affidavit said.
Ye Gon traveled often to Las Vegas to launder drug money and to gamble, the affidavit said. Between 2004 and 2007, records from Las Vegas hotels and casinos show Ye Gon had gambling losses of $125.9 million.
DEA agents conducted tests in April at Ye Gon's Mexican pharmaceutical plant and discovered ephedrine, a stimulant and decongestant that can be used to manufacture methamphetamines.
Martin McMahon, a Washington lawyer representing Ye Gon, told The Associated Press that the charges against his client were "complete nonsense. . . . He has never had drugs, and he didn't have any drugs on him when he was arrested."
If he is extradited, Ye Gon will not receive a fair trial in Mexico, McMahon said. "President Calderon has already said he is going to jail," McMahon said. "We will vigorously oppose his extradition."
In statements made before his arrest, Ye Gon said Mexican officials had forced him to store the money in his home. He said the funds were destined for use in Calderon's 2006 presidential campaign and "terrorist" activities. Calderon called the statements a "tall tale."
Ye Gon's arrest comes amid growing concern in Mexico that his alleged drug operation may have flourished thanks to the cooperation and complicity of corrupt officials.
According to news reports, an investigation by the Mexican attorney general's office is focusing on the role of drug regulators and of a high-ranking tax and customs official, Luis Roberto Patron Arregui.
The investigation has found that Patron Arregui assisted Ye Gon by providing false documents that allowed Ye Gon's company to import chemicals required to produce pseudoephedrine, a precursor to methamphetamine.
During the administration of President Vicente Fox, Patron Arregui ran the customs office at the Pacific port of Manzanillo.
After winning the presidency last year, Calderon named Patron Arregui to head the national customs office, but Mexico's Congress refused to hold confirmation hearings, because of allegations that he was corrupt.
Patron Arregui instead became the No. 2 official in Mexico's tax-collection agency. He is related by marriage to the Coppel family, a key backer of Calderon's presidential campaign.

Authorities Nab Alleged Mexico Drug Kingpin Zhenli Ye Gon in Maryland
Tuesday , July 24, 2007
AP

MEXICO CITY —
U.S. federal agents have arrested a Mexico City businessman wanted in connection with one of the Western Hemisphere's largest trafficking rings for the main chemical ingredient in methamphetamine.
Zhenli Ye Gon was arrested in a Maryland restaurant Monday evening, four months after police discovered $207 million at his Mexico City mansion in what U.S. officials have called the world's biggest seizure of drug cash.
Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora called the arrest "magnificent news" and said Mexican officials had 60 days to file their legal arguments for Ye Gon's extradition. The Chinese-Mexican fugitive is wanted on organized crime, drug trafficking and weapons charges.
DEA spokesman Garrison Courtney said Ye Gon was arrested on drug smuggling and money laundering charges, adding that he was tracked down by agents and did not turn himself in.
Medina Mora said the cash seized at Ye Gon's home was connected to one of the hemisphere's largest networks for trafficking pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient in methamphetamines. He said the ring had been operating since 2004, illegally importing the substance and selling it to a drug cartel that mixed it into the crystal form and imported into the United States.
Ye Gon has said the chemicals imported by his company, Unimed Pharm Chem de Mexico SA, were legitimate and intended for use in prescription drugs to be made at a factory he was building in Toluca, just west of the Mexican capital.
Ye Gon also claimed that $150 million of the money belonged to Mexico's ruling party, and that he was forced to store it for party officials in his mansion under threat of death during the 2006 presidential race, which Felipe Calderon narrowly won.
Calderon has called the accusations "pure fiction."
Ye Gon's U.S.-based lawyer, Ning Ye, denounced the "lousy evidence made up by Mexican government" and said Ye Gon would apply for political asylum in the United States.
Ye said DEA agents swarmed a restaurant in Silver Spring, Md., where Ye Gon was dining with another member of his legal team. The agents also raided the house where Ye Gon had been staying. Ye Gon went willingly, he said.
The Mexican Attorney General's office said Ye Gon was arrested in Rockville, Md. The discrepancy could not immediately be explained.
Ye said he was surprised by the arrest because he said he had reached a verbal agreement last week with a DEA agent in Mexico that called for Ye Gon to surrender to U.S. marshals on Thursday. In return, Ye Gon was to be tried in the United States, not Mexico, Ye said.
"Only the United States can provide the most comprehensive procedural safeguards concerning what is happening on the Mexican side," Ye said.
Ye said he will file the first motions in the legal battle at a U.S. district court in Washington early Tuesday.
Medina Mora said Ye Gon's girlfriend Michelle Wong had been detained in Las Vegas and may also face criminal charges.
Rogelio de la Garza, Ye Gon's lawyer in Mexico, said he feared that U.S. authorities may simply deport him to avoid a drawn out battle in a U.S. court.
De la Garza said he will fight for Ye Gon's immediate freedom if he arrives in Mexico, arguing the money was earned legally and that Ye Gon was not found with any narcotics.
U.S. anti-drug officials have praised Calderon's crackdown on Mexican traffickers since taking office. DEA chief Karen Tandy also applauded Mexican agents following the March money seizure.
"This is like law enforcement hitting the ultimate jackpot. But luck had nothing to do with this windfall," Tandy said, calling it "the largest single drug-cash seizure the world has ever seen."

Business: SIEMENS-ABB/CORRUPTION

2007-07-29T11:50:00.000-07:00

ABB, Siemens Probes Show Bribery Hard To Stamp Out

An investigation into suspected bribery by ABB shows the difficulty of eradicating decades-old corruption to win foreign contracts.

Reuters
An investigation into suspected bribery by ABB -- a second case involving a major European engineering firm -- shows the difficulty of eradicating decades-old corruption to win foreign contracts.
In an echo of the low-key beginning a year ago of a scandal at Germany's Siemens that escalated to claim the scalps of its chairman and chief executive, Swiss-based ABB said on Thursday it was probing suspect payments made by some employees abroad.
For many years the practice of bribing foreign officials was not only tolerated but tax-deductible in Europe. Following the lead of the United States, most European countries have enacted laws in the past decade that have made the practice illegal, although few cases have been prosecuted.
ABB said it was investigating several cases of suspect payments in Asia, South America, Europe and in particular Italy. It is unclear how much money may be involved, it said, adding that it had informed U.S. justice authorities.
ABB's statement that it may have violated the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act bribery law followed on the heels of a statement from German industrial group Siemens that it was extending its own internal corruption investigation.
Siemens said it was now looking at suspect payments in its turbines, power distribution, transport, medical and industrial services divisions as well as the hundreds of millions of euros' worth of payments it was already examining at its telecoms unit.
"The company has identified a significant increase in the total amount of business consultant agreement payments under review," it said in a statement.
Siemens added that it had spent 188 million euros ($260 million) on outside advisers hired in connection with the corruption investigations in the first nine months of its financial year.
Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International said the cases showed that corrupt practices were often deeply ingrained in company culture and were not simple to weed out.
"It shows that corruption was endemic in the industry in the past, and it shows that these new laws are very difficult to put into effect," Peter von Blomberg, the deputy head of TI Germany, told Reuters.
"At Siemens, measures obviously weren't implemented carefully enough as the division heads didn't take them that seriously. That's the lesson that all companies should learn from the Siemens case," he said.
Investors have been largely indifferent to the corruption affair at Siemens, and ABB shares rose on Thursday, despite the bribery investigation revelation, based on the forecast-beating results the company released at the same time.
"The news on the disclosure of suspect payments ... is worth monitoring, but we do not view it as a major issue at this stage," Credit Suisse analysts said in a note.
Published: July 26, 2007 13:37h

ABB launches probe as results beat forecasts

The ABB engineering group says it may have violated a United States bribery law after discovering suspect payments made by some employees abroad.
The group, which has its headquarters in Zurich, said on Thursday it had launched an inquiry and had notified the US authorities. At the same time, ABB announced first-half figures that clearly surpassed market expectations.
"The news on the disclosure of suspect payments... is worth monitoring, but we do not view it as a major issue at this stage," commented Credit Suisse analyst Julian Mitchell.
ABB said in a note in its results statement the payments may be in violation of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or other applicable laws.
"If ABB is found to have violated any of these laws, the company could be liable for penalties and other costs and the violations could otherwise negatively impact its business," it said.
Several cases?
ABB said it was investigating several cases of suspect payments but it was unclear whether they were linked. It added it had not made any provisions and was not sure how much money could be involved.
The news came after shares in Swiss logistics firm Panalpina of Basel fell by as much as nine per cent on Wednesday after it started an inquiry in response to a US request for documents in a bribery probe.
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act includes anti-bribery measures that forbid corrupt payments to influence decisions that could help a company to obtain or retain business.
ABB reported that its first-half net profit had risen to $1.266 billion (SFr1.54 billion) from $571 million in the comparable period last year.
Second-quarter profit almost doubled to $729 million as it sold transformers, switchgear and substations to customers in China and the Middle East.
Strong growth
"Our second quarter was marked by continued strong growth with outstanding operating margins," company CEO Fred Kindle said in a statement.
"As a market and technology leader, ABB continues to benefit from increased global investments in energy efficiency as well as power and industrial infrastructure," he added.
China alone plans to spend about $33 billion this year on extending its electricity grid to help power new plants and reduce outages.
Orders at ABB in the second quarter rose 26 per cent to $8.666 billion as growing demand for power in emerging markets and a drive from customers to update their energy transmission systems bolstered the group.
The ABB statement said the business environment for ABB during the rest of 2007 was expected to remain in line with the positive market situation in 2006 and the first half of this year.
Order growth is seen continuing on a high level but is expected to moderate in the course of 2007, said ABB. The market anticipates the group will raise its medium-term earnings goals in September as business booms.
The group has a target of turnover growth above five per cent and an operating margin above ten per cent for 2005 to 2009.
swissinfo with agencies

Mexico: Tijuana police officers turn to extortion

2007-07-29T11:43:00.000-07:00

Traffic streaks by during the evening commute in Tijuana. (Bob Chamberlin / LAT)

A crackdown on Baja bribes
As coastal luxury resorts go up south of Tijuana, officials are seeking to end police corruption that can discourage tourism.
By Richard Marosi, Times Staff Writer
July 26, 2007
TIJUANA — Baja California sees a lucrative future in the luxury residential towers sprouting up along its coast, and officials are hoping developments by the likes of Donald Trump will bring Southern California prosperity south of the border.
But there's a problem: The 5-mile highway from the border to the beaches is notorious for police who pull tourists' cars over in search of bribes.
Now Tijuana police say they're cleaning up the route and targeting corruption elsewhere in an effort to make the border area more inviting.
They're installing cameras to catch extortion attempts, publicizing that people can pay tickets with credit cards and transferring corrupt cops. They've deployed a squad of female traffic officers to offer courteous help to tourists. They've even declared the stretch of road a "no-ticket" highway.
"I've told my officers it is strictly prohibited to stop vehicles with foreign plates, especially from California," said Victor Manuel Zatarain, Tijuana police chief.
Police say that this time, unlike before, their efforts will make a difference.
Corrupt cops have long slipped around such measures to prey on retired American expatriates, surfers and college kids on weekend getaways.
Still, with stretches of shoreline now attracting heavyweight developers from outside Mexico, the latest crackdown, even with its gimmicky touches, seems to be being taken seriously, say border experts and real estate professionals.
Government officials, they say, can't readily dismiss the concerns of investors set to pour an estimated $3.5 billion into the local economy.
"I think they're finally getting the message," said Gustavo Torres, president of the Rosarito Beach-Ensenada Board of Realtors. "They don't want to kill the goose that laid the golden egg: the developers."
Police corruption has emerged as a major issue in the mayoral campaign in Rosarito Beach, a popular weekend destination down the coast from Tijuana, which also is experiencing a real estate boom.
Along the 70-mile stretch of coast from Tijuana through Rosarito Beach to Ensenada, 25 condominium and hotel high-rises are planned or are under construction, some with golf courses and private beaches. The Trump Ocean Resort Baja, set to break ground this year on a 17-acre oceanfront bluff, is pitched as the new standard for Baja California luxury.
Potential buyers, many from Southern California, are treated to sales events with open bars and gourmet food. At one event in Del Mar, Calif., buyers got to meet Trump's 25-year-old daughter, Ivanka. Sales agents said she bought a unit in one of the three towers.
Dazzled by the five-star treatment at a sales event in San Diego, Don Smith, 61, a retired psychiatric nurse from Oceanside, waited eagerly for a chance to buy a $450,000 one-bedroom unit. The prospect of being stopped by corrupt cops on the way to the gleaming high-rises didn't concern him.
"I don't personally feel afraid that something bad might happen," Smith said.
Many potential buyers visit Mexico frequently and are not fazed by petty corruption. But Realtor association President Torres said developers have lost $3.5 million in sales this year as buyers pulled out of deals after being extorted.
One former police patrol officer in Rosarito Beach, who spoke on condition of anonymity, estimates he took more than 3,000 bribes in six years, enough to build his own house near the beach. "It was a good living," he said.
Many police officers turn to extortion, he said, because their supervisors threaten to transfer them to dangerous neighborhoods if they don't fork over a daily share of cash from bribes.

Officers usually don't demand cash from the drivers they stop, he said. Instead, they start asking a lot of questions and reviewing registration records. Most people are quick to offer a bribe to avoid long dealings with officers who seem to have nothing but time on their hands.
"For Americans, $20 is nothing," said the former officer. "The American has money. The American doesn't know the law. The American doesn't want his vacation delayed."
The best way to avoid paying a bribe, he said, is to insist on being taken to the police station.
"If the American wanted to go to the station, I would follow for a while, and then put on my lights and pretend I had an emergency. I didn't want to get in trouble with my supervisors," the former patrol officer said.
The crackdown on highway bribes in Tijuana is the result of pressure from developers, real estate agents and citizens groups.
Now cameras, not police officers, identify speeders on the highway and only traffic officers who carry new credit card machines are allowed to issue tickets. The machines allow Americans to pay citations at a reduced rate, officials said. The officers also will be monitored by cameras.
Near the border crossing, the squad of female officers — many of whom are bilingual — directs traffic in an effort to ease congestion. The women wear crisp white shirts and smile a lot to calm harried tourists.
Tijuana Police Chief Zatarain said he has transferred a notorious motorcycle squad and its supervisor from the coast to other areas. Two police officers who harassed tourists last month were thrown in jail for 36 hours as punishment, he said. This month, the Police Department began subjecting officers suspected of corruption to lie-detector tests on a new polygraph machine that officials say is 98% accurate.
Conversely, officers who show Americans hospitality are treated like heroes. After Julio Caesar Garcia, a 33-year-old police supervisor, gave driving directions to a saleswoman for the Trump development, he was given an award by Torres' real estate association.
"She was impressed that I didn't ask for a bribe, but I was just doing my job," said Garcia, who was a bit bewildered by the praise. "I never got an award for being shot at."
The latest anti-corruption measures, say border experts, reflect Baja California's growing commitment to professional law enforcement. Police salaries in Tijuana were recently doubled — to about $1,500 monthly — making the force the highest paid in Mexico, say officials who hope the increases also will make their officers the least likely to seek bribes.
Serious problems remain, including a lack of professional training, minimum educational requirements and an entrenched culture of corruption that in some departments starts at the top.
There's also the temptation of all the new money in the area.
The former Rosarito Beach police officer said many cops viewed the building boom as a bribe-taking bonanza on par with the filming of "Titanic" in Baja in the mid-1990s, when he and other police regularly stopped studio workers and visiting Hollywood executives.
"They were easy targets because of the language difference and because they were always in hurry," the former patrol officer said. "Those were great days."
Real estate professionals don't see it that way.
Their goal is to re-create the Southern California oceanfront experience in Mexico at a fraction of the price, without the problem of corrupt officers' outstretched hands.
"They kill our business," said Torres, the Realtor association president. "We want tourists and investors to feel like we love them here."
--

richard.marosi@latimes.com

India: Dynamics of the Rajasthan drug trade

2007-07-29T11:36:00.000-07:00

Farmers say they are unaware that growing opium is illegal

Commentary: Dynamics of the Rajasthan drug trade
VARANASI, Jul. 24
BIJO FRANCIS
Column: Incredible India

Reshma never knew what she was carrying. She was asked by a "friend" to go to Ajmer and hand over a small parcel, which was supposed to contain letters to the person waiting for her at the railway station. At the Ajmer railway station, however, she was met by the railway police who asked for her "parcel," which was found to contain drugs, not letters. She was subsequently taken into custody. Now Reshma is in prison awaiting trial. She was told by her lawyer that if found guilty she would be sentenced to seven years in prison.
Reshma is one among hundreds of people languishing in prisons in Rajasthan and neighboring Indian states facing charges of drug trafficking. Poppy cultivation in Rajasthan is not rare. In and around Manur, there are large poppy fields. Though the license for most farmers is for a small patch of land, the actual area for cultivation is a much larger piece of property, meaning the excess yield will have to be laundered and brought to market through safe routes.
The safety of routes is ensured by bribing law enforcement officers, from the state police to law enforcement agencies often unrelated to such a trade, like the railway police. Huge quantities of drugs are transported through various means. The entire illegal process is done with the knowledge of law enforcement agencies. However, these agencies periodically have to record a few arrests and recover some drugs. Reshma is a victim of one of these operations.
The drug trade could not flourish with the help of just a few corrupt law enforcement officers, however. Although the number of police officers actively engaged in the drug trade is alarmingly high, they could not carry on their illegal activities without the support of local politicians and state-level political party leaders. Political parties, irrespective of ideologies and affinities, support the drug trade, for the huge amount of money involved in the trade also funds their parties.
The money is used to contest elections and propagate party ideologies. In the recent past, the ruling political party and its factions distributed weapons to its followers in the name of religion. Naturally, a large amount of money was required to procure these arms. The party leadership ordered local cadres to manage the affair from the money they could collect in their area. It is well known in the state that a major portion of the money came from the drug mafia.
The police and politicians alone though could not manage the trade without the help of yet another group within the state structure -- the state judiciary. An alarming number of court staff as well as presiding officers in the state judiciary are corrupt.
The state government has spared no effort to induct "favorable" officers into the system. The policy is meticulously followed in appointments ranging from court clerks to High Court judges. One of the most sought-after positions is that of the office of the prosecutor. In such a corrupt structure, it is difficult for officers with integrity to coexist with their corrupt colleagues.
It is for survival that poor women from villages in Rajasthan volunteer to do errands for these people, without much knowledge of the nature of the drug-trafficking business. Once they discover what they have agreed to do and try to escape from the clutches of the agents and a completely corrupt system, they realize it is impossible. Those who resist end up like Reshma -- in prison awaiting trial.
The conditions in prison, of course, are uncomfortable, and imprisonment naturally limits one's freedom. Restrictions of freedom are not the worst of what awaits a female detainee in custody. She is likely to be exploited for sexual gratification by prison officers, but the abuse will not end there. Some women are taken out of the prison for "external services," mostly for the sex trade. This violence against women also occurs with the connivance of officers within the system, including the judiciary.
Every person detained during the period of their trial, which can last for years, is kept in custody for 14 days. The remand must be extended every 14th day, for which the detainee must be produced in court. The detainees, women in particular, are never brought to court, however. They are taken from the prison and transported elsewhere. The presiding officer, who is supposed to see the detainee to extend the remand, does so without seeing the person. While their case is before the court and in their absence, with the connivance of the prosecutor, court staff and the judge, the women are forced to "deal with" their "clients," who book them through the prison officers.
By the time her case is finally tried -- probably after five to 10 years -- the female detainee is likely to be emotionally broken and physically unfit for anything other than to wait for the imminent death that looms for anyone infected with HIV/AIDS or other serious sexually transmitted diseases.
While the state of Rajasthan boasts about its culture and tradition, much less is known about its role in promoting and supporting the international drug trade. Needless to say, the role of a fallen justice system is never debated while human rights groups inside and outside of Rajasthan lament the deteriorating condition of the rule of law in the state.
Drug trafficking in Rajasthan is a flourishing business. No one would ever dare stop it since it is a gold mine of money, influence and power. Leaders of the state administration are intoxicated with this influence that is injected into Rajasthan like a powerful opiate by the drug mafia of the state. While the entire state is suffering from this intoxication, it is also poisoning the rest of the world by being a silent, but huge, supplier to the world market of illegal drugs and narcotic substances.
--
(Bijo Francis, a human rights lawyer currently working with the Asian Legal Resource Center in Hong Kong, contributed this column while visiting Uttar Pradesh. He is responsible for the South Asia desk at the center. Mr. Francis has practiced law for more than a decade and holds an advanced master's degree in human rights law.)

Authorities have destroyed opium worth more than $150m

Crackdown on India's poppy crop
By Habib Beary
BBC News, Bangalore

Police in southern India have been cracking down on a flourishing trade in opium poppies.
Authorities have destroyed opium crops worth more than $150m in a number of raids across the state of Karnataka in the past two months.
Officials say the illegal cultivation of poppies is widespread.
They say farmers have taken to growing the crop because it is lucrative and easy to grow, with a harvesting time of 90 days.
Now a spate of police raids have scared them.
"We are living in fear. We don't know when the police will come again," says Mariapppa, a farmer in Kolar, 100km (62 miles) from Bangalore.
Stringent laws
The scene is similar in Mandya on the busy highway to the city of Mysore, a major tourist destination.
"My husband is innocent. We did not know this crop was illegal. I have not slept properly after police raided our farm," says 46-year-old Savithramma.
Her husband, A Krishnappa, is on the run.
Mr Krishnappa grew poppies on a two-acre farm at Algudu village close to the road.
Police have charged Mr Krishnappa under the stringent Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
If found guilty, he could be jailed for a minimum of 10 years with a fine of $2,200.
"The person who gave us the seeds said it was for medicinal plants. We believed him and grew the crop. Now look at our plight," says Savithramma.
Most farmers growing poppies say they are innocent.
But senior police official, R Hitendra, says: "There is no ambiguity about the law. Opium cultivation is illegal.
"We are investigating who the end user is. The involvement of drug traffickers in the racket is also being looked into."
Although poppy seeds are used in making spices, there are fears that drug traffickers could be buying to make heroin.
Deals with agents
The cultivation of opium in Karnataka and parts of southern India has caught the attention of the Vienna-based International Narcotics Control Board.
In some of the fields, police found poppies being grown camouflaged between maize, cereal and sugarcane crops.
Agriculture Minister Srinivas Gowda says farmers are being exploited by drug dealers.
"Most of the farmers did not know that poppy cultivation is prohibited," he says.
The government, which does not want to be seen as being anti-farmer, has announced an amnesty until 31 March for those farmers who voluntarily surrender the crop.
Concerned over the unrest the raids have generated among farmers, a senior leader of the socialist Janata Dal Secular party, HD Kumaraswamy, has called for a halt to the crackdown.
"The farmers are naïve and have been growing poppies as any other crop," he says.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4381617.stm
Published: 2005/03/25 08:40:03 GMT
© BBC MMVII

Sierra Leone; Grand Strategy for a Corrupt Country

2007-07-29T11:29:00.000-07:00

Sierra Leone's President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. (Photo: Rabih Moghrabi / AFP-Getty Images)

Grand Strategy for a Corrupt Sierra Leone

Kenday S. Kamara
July 11, 2007

The Quagmire

Sierra Leoneans at home and abroad are at odds in a taxing debate about the breadth and depth of their country's leaders' strategies against corruption. The 2006 press release by Britain's international development secretary, Hilary Benn, is one of many press releases and statements from the international community ever since "the I.M.F.'s [International Monetary Fund's] series of 'quantitative performance criteria and benchmarks for the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (P.R.G.F.) [were set in place] for the continued maintenance of macroeconomic stability in Sierra Leone." The international community has periodically analyzed the Sierra Leone government's efforts to tackle corruption and the low salary structure in the country. In July 2006, the press release "on taking a stand against corruption" put forward a characteristic outline of the approach. The development secretary "called for the government and people of Sierra Leone to take greater action against corruption as he backed a governance and accountability pact during a visit to the country. The pact, supported by international partners and the government of Sierra Leone, will monitor progress on 10 critical reforms to address problems including money laundering, bribery, public theft, and election abuse which perpetuate poverty in the country" (www.wider.unu.edu).

Even though the development secretary was thoughtful of the threats to political survival reducing corruption may cause for even the most committed leaders, his foremost concern was "the urgency of improving governance and accountability, and also of citizens taking a stand against corruption," not the political survivability of high-level government actors. He lamented the fact that "corruption is both a symptom and a cause of poor governance." He maintained that the ultimate "success of an institution like the A.C.C. [Anti-Corruption Commission] will depend on the broader support it receives from the government and the real political will to root out corruption. Only the people and government of Sierra Leone can provide this" (news.bbc.co.uk), he further contended.

Both petty corruption and grand corruption have become systemic in Sierra Leone. When corruption is systemic, "any anticorruption reform becomes risky for decision makers because it creates the possibility that it will undermine their political position. Even a highly committed leader may face opposition from entrenched interests in government. In the worst cases, anticorruption reforms undermine the personal security of leaders, if they provoke a violent reaction from beneficiaries of corruption." Such manifestations in the Sierra Leonean society whose government actors' political commitment to fight corruption has been questionable is as daunting as it is treasonable. Hilary Benn's call on Sierra Leoneans for a broad national consensus against corruption would therefore prove effective when "the public, often bearing the brunt of corruption, must expose wrong doing and leaders must listen. And wrongdoers must be brought to the courts, supported by a strong police force and legal system" (www.wider.unu.edu) and prosecuted for treason.

This action call against corruption is more relevant today than ever. Many surveys have confirmed that the "country's public sector is riddled with corruption. Two-thirds of users of public services, from telephones to banks to schools or hospitals, reported having to pay bribes to use the service. Forty-two percent of public officials have admitted to mismanaging their institutions, including misappropriating budgets, usually by drawing on international aid earmarked for [national reconstruction]" (www.odiousdebts.org). A perilous mismatch has opened up between the Sierra Leone government's national responsibility and its political inclination to fight corruption. As made clear by the A.C.C.'s inability to aggressively pursue culpable government actors and the office of the president and vice president's covert actions to protect party heavyweights from prosecution for crimes of corruption, the country's national program against corruption has no teeth. Without redress, the political pillars of a strong national consensus against corruption will continue to crumble, making the country chronically vulnerable to the perils of a conflicting and incomprehensible program against corruption.

Solomon Berewa, Ernest Koroma, and Charles Margai—any one of these presidential candidates who understands the resolve and dignity of working out the right balance between Sierra Leone's anticorruption purposes and its political instruments, is in a position to win twofold. The visionary candidate would likely draw solid national support; as in the 2004 municipal elections with A.P.C.'s (All Peoples Congress') Winstanley Johnson declared mayor of Freetown after running a campaign against "the poor state of the council's finances with staff remaining unpaid for months on end" (www.sierraleonedebate.com); in the 2007 elections, anticorruption ideas, unemployment, electricity, roads, health, water, food, and shelter are set to be decisive issues. The elected candidate would also drum up international support by considering a compelling strategy that is politically viable, thereby pacifying a nation that looks forward to its politicians to provide strong leadership.

Putting together a compelling strategy will require "the commitment of political leaders to reform—that is, their willingness to implement and sustain reforms" (www1.worldbank.org). Simultaneously, it will be critical to toughen the nation's anticorruption policy by garnering public support for a new direction of national action. Forcefulness is the conduit to addressing corruption. It is far better for the political leaders to seriously consider a clearer grand strategy that enjoys national consensus rather than being nervous that anticorruption reforms undermine their personal security as that would be as catastrophic as it would be unpatriotic.

Barren Alternatives

For Sierra Leoneans who lived through the idyllically stable era of Prime Minister Milton Margai, "who was neither corrupt nor did he make a lavish display of his power or status" (www.sierra-leone.org), the current conditions of corruption at the highest level is a damning aberration. Without a doubt, President Tejan Kabbah has been a grossly negligent president, for the most part due to his failure to "distance himself from corrupt officials or put them on trial" and him not serious about implementing measures necessary "in ridding the country of the corruption scourge" (www.odiousdebts.org).

Following the sudden death in office of the conservative but tolerant Milton Margai in 1964, came the "glamour and increased pomp and pageantry of the office of the prime minister" under Albert Margai, who led a government that was "racked by accusations of corruption in high places and of disregard for the interests of significant sectors of the population" (www.sierra-leone.org). In 1967, noncommissioned members of the military were worried that the new independent nation was in the throes of a civil war following the Brigadier Lansana and the Colonel Juxon-Smith coups. The Lansana coup was seen as a calculated attempt by a Mende-dominated military to sustain the nepotistic and ethnically based era of the flamboyant Albert Margai who was reluctant to concede defeat to Siaka Stevens whose A.P.C. party clearly won the 1967 elections. The counter coup by Col. Andrew Terrence Juxon-Smith two weeks after the Lansana coup also did not last long. The noncommissioned members thus favored staging another coup against the colonels who then coordinated the return of the exiled Siaka Stevens to power in 1968.

Siaka Stevens turned out to be an extraordinarily controversial leader. With some analysts remembering him as "the Huey Long of African politics: an avuncular figure, whose folksy pork-barrel deals kept everyone happy, [Stevens] was the architect of the plunge into lawlessness, kleptomania, and social immorality that have undermined the Sierra Leonean political system" (www.worldviewmagazine.com). Stevens had a "tough-guy" approach to politics. He pursued his enemies and conquered them. He squared scores with the "paramount chiefs he felt had been involved in Brigadier Lansana's short-lived coup." On economic matters, Stevens' leadership made easy a methodical "decline in per capita G.D.P. growth from 2.5 percent in 1960-70 to -0.5 percent." The people also accepted kleptocracy as a way of self-enrichment. "State-sponsored corruption manifested by public theft; illicit payments and bribes, and manipulation of access to diamond and other natural resources defined an era" (www.gdnet.org) that compromised the development and growth of the nation.

This national acceptance of widespread corruption saw the popularization of "the self-seeking ethos 'oosie dem tie cow nar dae ee go eat,' meaning a cow grazes wherever it is tethered. [This shift in the attitudinal composure of the people] retreated into a culture of fear, silence, and complicity, culminating in one party rule from 1978." Corruption became a life of choice for Sierra Leoneans. The Stevens-led A.P.C. was able to make Sierra Leoneans believe the party ideology of kleptocracy due to the party's monopoly on power, but the party's slogan of "A.P.C. Lives Forever" soon proved politically unsustainable. Starting with the extremely complacent President Joseph Saidu Momoh, Stevens' handpicked successor's declaration of failing the nation and his abandonment of state security, "with little resistance, disillusioned war front soldiers storming Freetown ostensibly to protest their neglect ended up overthrowing the A.P.C. government" (www.gdnet.org). It was clear that Momoh's self-destructive ethos and survival strategy justified the military's motivation to usurp the high-level responsibility of ruling the nation.

After the A.P.C.'s demise and the end of the N.P.R.C.'s (National Provisional Ruling Council's) yippee-ka-yay four-year orgasm with state power in 1996, the Kabbah-led S.L.P.P. (Sierra Leone Peoples Party) approach to politics wobbled clumsily between barren alternatives. President Kabbah's shoddy adventure with state power quickly chipped away the country's expectations for development. The S.L.P.P.-led administration was bedeviled with self-destructive machinations, which largely account for "the coup of 1997, the rebel re-invasion of Freetown in January 1999, and the government's generally weak war machine" (www.gdnet.org).

On security, the international community had embraced a path to an end in violence, preferring a stay of execution of the 24 members of the armed forces of the Republic of Sierra Leone who were "convicted before a court martial in Freetown for treason and failure to suppress a mutiny." But the S.L.P.P.-led administration, virtually blinded by implacable rancor, would have none of it. As the Human Rights Committee's special rapporteur for new communications reported, "They were deeply disturbed by the information that Abdul Karim Sesay [and 23 others] were executed by firing squad outside Freetown on Oct. 19, 1998" (www.law.wits.ac.za). Most Sierra Leoneans shunned the brutal and public execution of the 24 soldiers, including a female nurse in the military, Maj. Kula Samba, by "Nigerian soldiers of fortune" in 1998, instead favoring the illusive safety of national reconciliation advocated by the Human Rights Committee.

President Kabbah again tried "devious diplomacy," pretending to reconcile with his enemies through what he called a "government of national unity" by working with the rebel chief Foday Sankoh as second vice president of the republic and the A.F.R.C. (Armed Forces Revolutionary Council) boss Johnny Paul Koroma as an honorable member of parliament. But his strategy, though clever, still elicited the indignation of the state's party members who viewed his strategy as little more than capitulation to the interests of the R.U.F. (Revolutionary United Front) and A.F.R.C. ring leaders who had caused much collective suffering for the people of Sierra Leone. Apparently, President Kabbah had steered Sierra Leone toward a new kind of "reconciliation."

However, with the official end of the war in 2002 as a backdrop, Kabbah had flipped flopped to reach an agreement with the United Nations to establish the Special Court of Sierra Leone. The new direction mandated a commitment to both truth and reconciliation: "power to prosecute persons who bear the greatest responsibility for serious violation of international humanitarian law and Sierra Leonean law—committed in the territory of Sierra Leone since Nov. 30, 1996, including those leaders who, in committing such crimes, have threatened the establishment of and implementation of the peace process in Sierra Leone." This move, although disapproved of by the predominantly Southern members within his party because he had disowned their southern deputy minister of defense Samuel Hinga Norman whom Kabbah believed "exceeded his mandate in the struggle to restore his government" and was one of those who together with Foday Sankoh, Sam Bokarie, and Johnny Paul Koroma, bore the greatest responsibility for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, brought some closure to most Sierra Leoneans.

Remarkably, one of Kabbah's greatest feats was satisfying his indignant state party and many Sierra Leoneans to use the pretext of the Libyan-trained rebel leader's inability to control his rag tag army of rebel forces to arrest the rebel chief. "After 22 months in custody, facing charges at the international tribunal set up to try war crimes in Sierra Leone, [the demented Foday Sankoh] ended up as a shadow of his former self." The rebel leader "died [in July 2003] in a Freetown hospital while in the custody of the special U.N. war crimes court for Sierra Leone" (news.bbc.co.uk). Again, like the demented rebel chief who died while in the custody of the Special Court, the dishonored defense deputy minister, Samuel Hinga Norman, who stood as the first accused in the Civil Defense Forces (C.D.F.) case, died in February 2007 in a hospital in Dakar, Senegal.

On economics, Kabbah has the challenge of rekindling growth and reducing poverty. He has the support of the international community, which became committed to helping to address the problem of corruption in Sierra Leone. The commitment of the international community led by Britain, the former colonial master, instilled expectation, encouraging all Sierra Leoneans to unite around a common enemy—corruption. Moreover, the strategic adoption of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption on Oct. 31, 2003, demonstrated a sense of strong international consensus behind the struggle against corruption. Former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, upon adoption of the U.N. convention, recognized the compelling truth that "corruption hurts the poor disproportionately—by diverting funds intended for development, undermining a government's ability to provide basic services, feeding inequality and injustice, and discouraging foreign investment and aid" (www.canadafreepress.com).

Re-establishing government authority and rebuilding key institutions like the army, the police, education, health, and the minerals sectors was the outcome not just of strategic need but also of the shifts in the nation's expectations for the best to come out of the Kabbah presidency. But Kabbah's declaration of corruption as "a national security issue"—a declaration that was intended to underscore the gravity of the problem of corruption—was not good enough. Even his signing of the Anti-Corruption Act in February 2000, which established the Anti-Corruption Commission was not good enough either. President Kabbah knew that corruption was common in every sector of the economy—the allocation of scarce or donated resources to the wrong activities and persons, corruption in taxation, and bribing customs officials. Kabbah also acknowledged that it is the primary responsibility of government to create the conditions for ensuring the economic and social well being of its people. He even acknowledges that corruption is for African states as important a threat for survival as is terrorism for some of the largest world powers today. But he chose to be soft on corruption waiting for democracy to take its course. Kabbah believes that "in a democracy, authority rests on the pillar of popular support, good governance, and the rule of law" (www.statehouse-sl.org). He did not believe that authority is derived from force, where decisions can be imposed without the consent of the people, and he could, or should only do no more than follow the exact words of the constitution and carry out the laws of parliament. Kabbah was therefore a weak and negligent president who failed to do much to assert his leadership as a means to the end of winning the fight against corruption.

A Nation Neglected

It is common knowledge that the feebleness of the state in combating corruption did not start with Tejan Kabbah. Political discipline dropped sharply following the death of Prime Minister Milton Margai, reaching a post-independence low when Albert Margai stepped into his brother's shoes as prime minister. Repeated cases of corruption exposed in the government of Siaka Stevens that also followed only marked the scooping out of anticorruption legislations that did not have the force of law. The Kabbah administration then continued with the trends of the Stevens era, ensuring today's systemic corruption is every bit as wide as the corruption pervasiveness that haunted the flamboyant Margai and Stevens administrations. Parliamentarians are also aware of the gravity of the problem. On the most basic questions of Sierra Leone's grand strategy—severely punishing corruption—representatives of state power and parliamentary power could not balance the ends and the means.

When members of parliament met at the Kimbima Hotel in Aberdeen, Sept. 48, 2006, for a capacity building course on anticorruption, there were echoes of piling pressure on Kabbah's government to submit to parliament the African Union (A.U.) Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption and Related Offences for ratification. Three years after the A.U. convention was formally adopted by African heads of state in Maputo, Mozambique, in July 2003, the Kabbah administration had still not submitted it to parliament for ratification. With parliamentarians in partnership with civil society organizations opting for the ratification of the A.U. convention and the Kabbah administration choosing to be negligent on such a critical issue as combating corruption and ensuring that curative and penal actions are taken in established cases, the national consensus between power and parliamentary collaboration—the formula that created the Anti-Corruption Commission—has come undone.

Indisputably, the Sierra Leone parliament is still home to a few dedicated anticorruption crusaders, such as Bernadette Lahai (S.L.P.P. member of parliament for Kenema district) and Dauda Sulaiman Kamara (A.P.C. member of parliament for Kambia district). But they are isolated by the leaders with power. And some parliamentarians, especially those who wish to hold on to their seats in parliament, are keen to make evident their resolve on matters of combating corruption. But the parliamentary crusaders are being ignored by the increasingly powerful state machine. The philosophical overlap between state power and parliament is thus inconsequential, and the areas of shared aims are external at best. Most state leaders and parliamentarians still believe that they have national responsibilities, but there is little solidarity on how to balance means and ends. And on the pivotal issue of state power versus parliamentary power, the two power brokers are moving in opposite directions—with the escalating schism evident among the public and the politically privileged.

In the British Department for International Development (DfID) sponsored February 2005 Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (C.P.A.) Workshop to Strengthen Legislatures in Commonwealth Africa held in Freetown, all parliamentarians who attended the workshop maintained, among other key points, that "members should continually examine existing anticorruption legislation to determine if it is still relevant" (www.cpahq.org). A similar thought was echoed by the world organization of national parliaments, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (I.P.U.) maintaining that with national "parliaments empowered to establish the legal framework for the organization and management of public affairs and society, they should promote the inclusion in their national constitutions of the major principles of the probity of political figures, institutions and public servants and transparency in public administration" (www.ipu.org). This made clear that the interest in combating corruption is not just a national concern but has become a Commonwealth concern.

Nonetheless, a recent assessment recorded by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (T.R.C.) lamented that "Sierra Leone remains in the grip of pervasive corruption, which, if not arrested, will sap the country of its life force and lay the ground for further conflict." As for action the government is taking to combat corruption, other experts have grieved over the reality that "Sierra Leone is making little progress in tackling corruption and is squandering foreign aid, leaving its most vulnerable citizens as destitute as they were before its civil war ended five years ago." Similarly, former West Africa director for the International Crisis Group think-tank Mike McGovern commented that "things are as bad, if not worse, than they were when the war started in 1991. And Tony Blair's government bears a lot of responsibility for facilitating this state of affairs, precisely because they did not hold the government to account" (www.alertnet.org).

Fueled by these bleak assessments, a major development crisis has engulfed Sierra Leone. According to one widely used index (Index of Economic Freedom), "Sierra Leone ranks 126th out of 158 countries in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index for 2005" (www.transparency.org). The country today is more economically destitute and pitiful than at any time in the last 45 years. After Kabbah won the controversial 1996 elections and gained a majority in Parliament at the same time, many Sierra Leoneans anticipated that as having lived abroad for many years working for the United Nations he was going to use his international experience to foster development. Instead, cold-blooded corruption under his watch further ruined the nation. Kabbah, despite his initial pledge on his assumption of office to reverse the downward trend of a failing state, failed to assertively act as much as necessary to restore hope in a population that had been so demoralized and rendered desperate in decades of methodical plunder by government actors.

The sources of Kabbah's cold-blooded negligence might equally so be because of Sierra Leoneans self-destructive behavior patterns which he said made it hard for him to govern. Nonetheless, as he leaves the office of the president for good, Kabbah claimed to be content that he has played his part "in the progress and development of his country and has made a difference in his own humble way" (www.thepatrioticvanguard.com). There are speculations that Kabbah will retire to his new home in Conakry, Guinea, where he has built for himself a luxurious mansion, leaving Sierra Leone's economy more vulnerable than ever before. The problems created by Kabbah's negligence have proved too costly for Sierra Leoneans. Meanwhile, Sierra Leone's still unregulated corruption is causing more suffering and continues to decimate the population of the country as "several staggering indicators" are showing that Sierra Leone has "one of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world, two of the worst symptoms of the country's ailing health system" (www.mg.co.za). Likewise, at a recent launching ceremony of his organization at the Miatta Conference Hall, Youyi Building, the country director of ActionAid Sierra Leone, Tennyson Williams, has gone on record to confirm that "hunger is killing 16,000 children daily" (allafrica.com), again a testament of the country's pitiful state.

Visibly, the political conditions that once encouraged nationalism have weakened over 40 years of gross mismanagement of state power. The power brokers—state power and parliamentary power—do not seem to agree about what the nature of the country's anticorruption strategies should be as well as about issues such as roads construction, housing, and electricity. Reformers are in ever-shorter supply. Weak parliamentary oversight powers, a negligent executive power, and the set mentality of a corrupt population have all contributed to sustaining the status quo. A generational presence is taking its toll, too. Almost 75 percent of cabinet ministers in the Kabbah administration are recycled ministers who served in the Stevens and Momoh administrations. The "old generation" is slow to retire from political life, maintaining the status quo of a corrupt-minded service.

Restoring Common Sense Leadership

In the years immediately after the death of the great statesman Milton Margai, strong unpatriotic actions by the ambitious Albert Margai and the cunning Siaka Stevens produced erratic and perilous shifts in Sierra Leone's development obligations and ultimately led to ruining a nation of vast natural abundance. A similar dynamic has unfolded during the presidency of Kabbah. The negligent conduct of the Kabbah administration has proven politically and economically damaging. Eyeing the 2007 elections, the A.P.C. and P.M.D.C. (Peoples Movement for Democratic Change) are readying ambitious plans to breathe new life into state institutions. But they, too, will find their preferred grand strategy politically and economically unsustainable. The S.L.P.P., now led by Kabbah's surrogate, the determined Solomon Berewa, has little patience for free and fair elections—and will do whatever it takes to retain state power in S.L.P.P. hands. Especially taking clues from the April 2007 elections confirmed by Nigeria's leading election monitoring outfit, Transition Monitoring Group, and the United States-based monitoring group, the International Republican Institute (I.R.I.) as apparently flawed elections in Nigeria that benefited Umaru Yar'Adua (Obasanjo's surrogate), with an S.L.P.P. landslide victory in Sierra Leone, it could be argued that sustained corruption and negligence of state power could once again obstruct the dawn of a new nation, perhaps even provoking another civil conflict.

The Sierra Leonean electorate already seems to be heading in that direction. According to a recent independent research poll, 87 percent of Sierra Leoneans interviewed thought that Sierra Leone needs a new direction. If the incumbent party continues to pursue a grand strategy that goes beyond its political means, rebellious sentiment among Sierra Leoneans is sure to spew out again. Sierra Leoneans need to pursue a new grand strategy that is politically sensible. In today's politics of mediocrity, with state power being so appallingly misdirected and parliamentarians too weak to compel ethical and administrative codes of conduct, restoring common sense means bringing Sierra Leone anticorruption strategies back in line with political means. Finding a new national balance that guarantees responsible state and parliamentary leadership against Sierra Leone's systemic corruption requires an effort that is as compelling and direct as it is persistent.

First, a common sense strategy would entail the office of the president sharing more burdens with the house of parliamentarians. Developed countries have regularly closed the gap between state power and its obligations by devolving strategic responsibilities to congressional or parliamentary actors. The United States Congress and the British Parliament, for instance, do have certain mechanisms in place for balancing power. They uphold a principle of government under which "the separate branches are empowered to prevent actions by other branches and are induced to share power" (www.britannica.com). But the parliament in Sierra Leone finds it hard to engage with strategic priority-setting exercises, and the parliament is often too weak and lacks a formidable establishment to play a role in legislating applicable anticorruption policies. Parliament has always been the subservient arm of the executive. This has to change. Parliament has to be a versatile policy forum for debate and a framework that brings all parliamentarians and its partners into dialogue on the challenges of corruption. It has to be an important check on executive power. It should use its power and good offices to demand greater transparency in state power and the conduct of cabinet ministers of the various departments.

Parliament ought to build on pragmatic partnerships with civil society groups such as professional associations; the Chamber of Commerce and its member business entities; local nongovernmental organizations including national religious organizations; international agencies such as Transparency International, the USAID, the DfiD, the O.E.C.D. (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), and the Global Integrity Project; labor unions; housing associations; and the media, to coordinate an earnest fight against corruption. Parliament should be better prepared to engage in meaningful consultations with these local and international stakeholders as part of the legislative process to "ensure the existence of legislation with dissuasive sanctions which effectively and actively combat the offence of bribery of public officials" (www.adb.org).

Second, the Anti-Corruption Commission must rebuild its hard power capable of engaging crimes of corruption in A.C.C.'s terms. To do so, the commission must have the funds necessary to pursue crimes of corruption and the appointment of the commissioner and deputy commissioner of the commission should be run in an open fashion to the public. In September 2000, the Sierra Leonean veteran journalist Philip Neville suggested to Worldpress.org that "the only way that the A.C.C. can be viable, can be productive, is if it is staffed with independent people. We need expatriates leading that commission" (www.worldpress.org), he said. Parliament should consider this alternative of outsourcing the task of transforming the A.C.C. into a body with independence and international clout to foreign expatriates. Should the A.C.C. be run by foreign experts, its work will attract great international clout, and become monetarily appealing, full of autonomy, and well supervised. The experts will be in an unbiased position to maintain the best recruits and produce investigating officers dedicated to the tasks of ensuring that embezzlement and bribery offences are quickly investigated and prosecuted.

Third, another common sense strategy is taking effective measures to coordinate public awareness activities including national press club luncheons, student union debates, seminars, inter-departmental round-tables, face-to-face meetings with senior members of the state, civil servants and non-government aid groups to discuss corruption and to examine the relevance of existing anti-corruption legislation aimed at creating an anticorruption culture. Also, measures that provide for "a meaningful public right of access to information" on corruption matters should be put in place so that the general public, particularly the media, will have access to such information.

The final component of this grand strategy should be relevant use of traditional belief systems. The extent to which traditional belief systems in Africa help to stem corruption has never been entirely researched. However, the African management expert Mzamo Mangaliso's analysis of the centrality of the isangoma, or traditional healer in employee's well-being maintenance in South Africa disclosed salient facts. Some companies in South Africa are reported to have taken full advantage of the power of the isangoma as the following real-life case illustrates. "Faced with large-scale pilfering, one company tried everything—including peer monitors, fingerprinting, and police investigations—to stop it. After all efforts to stop the pilfering had failed, the C.E.O. finally called in an isangoma. The isangoma told the employees that the person who had stolen the goods would die from a spell cast on all employees if he/she did not confess within 24 hours. Within eight hours, an employee confessed. In this case, foreign-evolved management tactics, such as peer control, police investigations, and fingerprinting, did not work." Though management and the workers came from entirely different worldviews, the successful strategy engaged employees in their own worldview.

Far from being superstitious, if Sierra Leoneans believe in the existence of meso-cosmic spirits, it would be strategic to retain the services of traditional healers. By the A.C.C. retaining the services of traditional healers and all public servants including cabinet ministers told they would die from a spell if they steal public funds or accept bribes would result in easing corruption in public service that would be beneficial for the government and the people of Sierra Leone.

Taking the Bold Step

"Forty non-governmental and civil society organizations (N.G.O.'s/C.S.O.'s) from around the continent (including women's, grassroots, and labor organizations, churches, research institutions, and policy advocacy groups) [that met in Addis Ababa May 23-24, 2007, once claimed that] 'good governance is a process by which governments and people together identify shared values, needs and challenges, set priorities and develop programs to address those needs and challenges and jointly manage the implementation of those programs and the available resources, through a transparent and accountable process with shared responsibility for outcomes that are responsive, gender-sensitive and broad-based'" (www.un.org). They may have over worded their claim, but they articulated an enduring truth: good governance requires collaborative effort. Balancing the ends that justify the means would help rekindle the conviction of the Sierra Leonean public in promoting good governance. But implementing strict anticorruption policies will require hardening the A.C.C. and building an unwavering consensus behind it. The relative success demonstrated by "Botswana's Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (D.C.E.C.), [the equivalent of Sierra Leone's A.C.C.,] have attracted the attention of researchers and encouraged the view that, subject to certain conditions, the A.C.C. remains a viable vehicle for driving forward anti-corruption strategies in Africa" (www.u4.no).

The next president will have to take advantage of the distinct areas in which his executive branch and parliament can find solidarity and goodwill. The A.P.C., P.M.D.C., and S.L.P.P. members of parliament must work together on arming the A.C.C. for national development. Many parliamentarians, corporate executives, think-tank gurus, and academic social commentators, might support outsourcing A.C.C. functions to foreign expatriates if the president is willing to explain the need for foreign expatriates in the A.C.C. as necessary to maintain the unquestionable independence and fairness of the body. Having an understanding of the benefits of an independently and strictly administered A.C.C. would reconcile any differences that might play in the debate. So will more efforts to make the A.C.C. independent and more assertive—executive and parliamentary support for outsourcing A.C.C. functions, making the A.C.C. financially solvent, initiating public awareness campaigns, and making use of traditional belief systems. The next president should be qualified and tough to lead these efforts that constitute a grand strategy for a corrupt Sierra Leone that not only meets the country's anticorruption needs but also restores common sense leadership in Sierra Leone.

Kenday S. Kamara is a native of Sierra Leone, where he attended Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, 1982-1986. He is currently an educator in the Prince George's County education system in Maryland, an organizational development consultant for MedCall Staffing and Management Consultants, Inc., and a Ph.D. scholar-practitioner in applied management and decision sciences at Walden University specializing in leadership and organizational change.

China: Corrupt transport official goes on trial

2007-07-29T11:25:00.000-07:00

Corrupt transport official goes on trial in SW China
www.chinaview.cn 2007-06-06 13:21:26

KUNMING, July 6 (Xinhua) -- Hu Xing, former deputy director of Yunnan Provincial Transport Bureau, went on trial on Friday for charges including bribe-taking.
The trial was held at the Intermediate People's Court of Kunming, capital city of Yunnan.
Hu Xing, who fled to Singapore to escape police, allegedly abused his position to take more than 40 million yuan (5.2 million U.S. dollars) in bribes. He was also accused of taking advantage of his post to help his relatives profit from business activities, keeping a mistress, having "unlawful sexual relationships" with other women.
Hu disappeared in January while local authorities were investigating a major economic crime, in which he was suspected of involvement.
Hu, born in Oct. 1958, had served as deputy director of the Yunnan Provincial Transport Department since Nov. 2004, and previously served as vice mayor of Kunming.
His responsibilities in the provincial government mainly concerned roads and transportation, and he was in charge of city planning and construction during his tenure as vice mayor of Kunming.
Hu was captured in Singapore on Feb. 18.
Editor: Bi Mingxin

Bangladesh: Billions evaded by Voip racket

2007-07-29T11:21:00.000-07:00

Billions evaded by Voip racket
M Nuruzzaman

Telecommunication Regulatory Commission [BTRC] fined private land phone operator RanksTel TK 140 million for carrying out VoIP business illegally while it is yet to determine the amount of fine to be recovered from Western Network, which is owned by Helal Khan, a notorious leader of BNP’s cultural wing, who is considered to be the ring leader of illegal Voip network in Bangladesh. It may be mentioned here that, Rapid Action Battalion [RAB] recovered huge quantity of Voip equipment, calling cards etc from one of the outlets of Helal Khan in Dhaka on December 26 last year. Subsequently a criminal case was lodged with the Ramna Police Station on the same day. According to telecommunication experts, Khan evaded more than a few hundred million Takas by operating several illegal Voip call centers in Dhaka and other parts of the country.
Helal Khan, taking the advantage of BNP being in power, initiated Voip business in Bangladesh with the direct patronization of Harris Chowdhury, former political secretary to the Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in 2001. It is also alleged that, Harris was in fact one of the partners in Helal Khan’s illegal Voip business. It is also learnt that another front ranking leader of the cultural front of BNP, Babul Ahmed is another business partner of Helal in this illegal business. Babul Ahmed went into hiding as his name came in a number of serious corruptions, including making huge amount of money by monopolizing the supply of programs to state owned Bangladesh Television. Babul Ahmed’s name also came for trafficking people to various western countries in the name of cultural delegation.
Earlier the Bangladesh telecommunication Regulatory Commission [BTRC] fined two more cell phone companies in the country for operating illegal Voip exchanges. Talking to Weekly Blitz, one of the senior officials of BTRC said, it is now actively working to determine the amount of fine to be collected from Helal Khan’s Western Network.
“Helal Khan’s company has evaded more than 3 billion Taka during 2001-2006 periods. So, even if we decide to take a part of the entire amount, it should be something around a few hundred million Taka”, the official said.
The BTRC official said, it is already clear to them that Helal Khan is the ring leader of the Voip racket in the country. Now it is time for the government to determine a very serious action against this man.
A RanksTel senior official said that the land phone operator having licenses for four zones out of five across the country have already deposited the penalty money in order to clear it of charges.
Earlier, the Rapid Action Battalion raided the head office of RanksTel at Bijoy Sarani and confiscated its VoIP equipment. The battalion also filed a case against the company under Bangladesh Telecommunications Act 2001.
Voice over Internet Protocol business has been illegal in Bangladesh till now despite the cabinet of Khaleda Zia approved the legalization of the internet telephony in November 2003.
The interim government on July 14 approved the International Long Distance Telecommunications Services Policy 2007 which recommended that locally owned telecoms firms should be given preference for licenses to provide overseas calls through VoIP.
During the tenure of the past government, the number of illegal VoIP operators mushroomed and they earned more than TK 30 billion in five years, according to an unofficial estimate. The state-owned BTTB, which is solely responsible for overseas calls, incurred loss of about TK 6 billion a year in revenue.
According to the telecoms policy 1998, the telephone board is the sole provider of international calls to and from Bangladesh and other operators must carry their overseas calls through the international gateway of the telephone board.
The Rapid Action Battalion continued to raid on illegal VoIP centers. The elite force in its latest raid on Saturday seized VoIP equipment from landline operator Bay Phones in Chittagong.
RAB launched the drive in December last year and busted a dozen centers so far.
Posted on 26 Jul 2007 by Root

South Africa: Corrupt provider dodges accountability

2007-07-29T11:14:00.000-07:00

Mr Webster Ndodana , President of the South African Association of Consulting Engineers (left), in conversation with newly inducted Fellow Pepi Silinga (centre) and SAAE Executive Committee Member Trueman Goba (right).

Corrupt provider dodges accountability
Published in: Legalbrief Environmental
Date: Tue 24 July 2007
Category: Litigation
Issue No: 0020

A report in The Herald notes that two years after engaging a consultant to provide an audit of storm-damaged houses in Nelson Mandela Bay, the housing and land committee is still struggling to get the information from the service provider, who has already been paid.
Ndodana Consulting Engineers was awarded a tender in 2005 to conduct a technical investigation of structural defects and disaster-related damage to RDP houses in Nelson Mandela Bay, and to present a comprehensive report, with the numbers of the erven, the extent of the damage and other related issues to the housing and land committee so that it could arrange the funding for repairs. Two months ago, the consultant presented the committee with an incomplete report. The consultant did not stick to the briefing given by the committee and was asked to do the work again. This was after they had been already paid about R700 000.

Provider pockets council money but fails to deliver
By Max Matavire Metro Editor
TWO years after engaging a consultant to provide an audit of storm-damaged houses in Nelson Mandela Bay, the housing and land committee is still battling to get the information from the service provider, who has already been paid.
Ndodana Consulting Engineers was awarded a tender in 2005 to conduct a technical investigation of structural defects and disaster- related damage to RDP houses in Nelson Mandela Bay, and to present a comprehensive report, with the numbers of the erven, the extent of the damage and other related issues to the housing and land committee so that it could arrange the funding for repairs.
Two months ago, the consultant presented the committee with a report which was incomplete. The consultant did not stick to the briefing given by the committee and was asked to do the work again. This was after they had been already paid about R700 000.
Part of the briefing was for Ndodana Consulting Engineers to give proposals for identified houses by providing a specification in each case, to include in its report the corrective actions required where degradation had occurred as a result of topographical, geo-technical and infrastructure service conditions, to provide a cost estimate for such remedial repairs to both the houses and the infrastructure, and prepare a budget report.
A second consultant, Stemele Bosch Africa, was appointed in March this year as project manager for the rectification of the storm- damaged houses. However, it cannot proceed with its work as Ndodana has not provided all the required information.
The housing committee lashed out at Ndodana yesterday for not taking the ward councillors on board so they could help it identify the houses.
Committee chairman Melvin Manentsa said it was now three years that the committee had been battling with the matter.
The houses were damaged during the storms which swept across the Eastern Cape coast in 2002 and 2005. The committee was also angry that about R10-million given to the municipality by disaster management to repair the close to 600 identified houses damaged had still not been used.
“Some of the owners have already moved out of these houses because of the appalling conditions. We are talking about service delivery, but we are not doing it. Somebody somewhere is really not serious about what we are doing,” said Manentsa.
Councillor Elizabeth Trent said Ndodana must table the required report at the committee‘s next meeting, which is only next month.
matavirem@johncom.co.za

Philippines: judiciary world's 8th most corrupt, says report

2007-07-29T11:09:00.000-07:00

RP 8th most corrupt, says report

AN INTERNATIONAL group has ranked the Philippines as the eighth most corrupt country in the world—down from ninth last year—in a study that covered 163 countries.
In its Global Corruption Report 2007, Transparency International also ranked Haiti as the world’s most corrupt country while Finland, Iceland and New Zealand tied in first place as the world’s least corrupt.
The group ranked Singapore as the third least corrupt county next to Denmark. Iceland was the least corrupt last year followed by Finland and New Zealand.
The Global Corruption Report 2007 focused on corruption in judicial systems.
Transparency says a corrupt judiciary erodes the international community’s ability to prosecute transnational crime and inhibits access to justice and redress for human rights violations. Corruption also undermines economic growth by damaging the trust of the investment community and impedes efforts to reduce poverty.
“Corrupt courts deny victims and the accused the basic human right to a fair and impartial trial, sometimes even to a trial at all,” group chairman Huguette Labelle said.
“It is tempting to simply point an accusing finger at judges. The influence of a corrupt judge can be huge… But judicial corruption can extend to all players in the game. Court officials may seek bribes for services that should be free; lawyers may charge additional ‘fees’ to expedite or delay cases, direct clients to judges known to take bribes, collude with judges to lose a case, or even act as intermediaries for bribe-paying. Clerks may purposely lose certain files. Prosecutors may drop certain cases for a price.”
The report categorizes judicial corruption into two: political interference in the judicial process by the Legislative or Executive branch, and bribery.
The group’s latest global survey of attitudes toward corruption reveals that at least one in 10 households had to pay a bribe to get access to justice in more than 25 countries. In a further 20 countries, more than three in 10 households reported that bribery was involved in securing access to justice or a “fair” outcome in court.
Transparency says petty bribery and political influence in the judiciary erodes social cohesion in a society where there is one system for the rich and another for the poor.
“If money and influence are the basis of justice, the poor cannot compete,” said Akere Muna, the group’s vice chairman and president of the Pan African Lawyers’ Union.
“Bribery not only makes justice unaffordable; it ruins the capacity of the justice system to fight against corruption and to serve as a beacon of independence and accountability,” Muna said. Eileen A. Mencias

Editorials: Corruption as ‘two-way traffic’

DISTRICT Customs Collector Ricardo Belmonte complaining about the Bureau of Customs being considered the most corrupt government agency by respondents in a Social Weather Station (SWS) survey is expected.
This is because, in the final analysis, surveys like this are mostly perception, the contrary view of SWS’ Mahar Mangahas notwithstanding.
That survey reflected partly the experiences of businessmen-respondents and partly their perception; it was not a product of actual probe into government corruption.
To be fair to Belmonte, it is possible the customs bureau is not the most corrupt, although it would also be wrong to claim that particular government agency is clean.
Many-sided
But while the SWS survey on corruption in government is partly perception, it veered away from the usual one-sidedness of other similar undertakings, those that put too much stress on the bureaucracy and less on the other contributory factors.
Common sense tells us that corrupt government employees are able to do their thing because there are clients who oblige them or are forced to play along.
Or simply put corruption is a many-sided act.
Dishonesty
Smuggling, for example, does not start with the corrupt customs officials but with the smugglers, who are businessmen.
And the net is wide: the act could not be consummated and kept secret without law enforcers getting paid to look the other way, other businessmen knowing about it but keeping silent, and even media people hiding it from public view for a fee.
Survey or no survey, the public knows that only few businessmen follow basic honest practices, whether in issuing receipts which was one of the SWS survey’s findings, but more so in greasing the palms of corrupt government officials.
And this dishonesty extends even to the less powerful sectors of society.
Mechanism
Acting Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Virginia Palanca-Santiago is therefore correct in pointing out that fighting corruption is a “two-way traffic” that involves not just the government but also the public.
The problem is that no effective mechanism has been instituted to attend to the usually hidden aspect of the corruption process: the corrupt elements in the private sector.

Australia: Corrupt Policeman, Nigerian Scam Links

2007-07-29T11:04:00.000-07:00

Concerns on corrupt officer ignored
Geesche Jacobsen | July 2, 2007

A COLLEAGUE raised concerns about the fraud detective Con Kostakidis more than two years before he was charged by the Police Integrity Commission, but police dismissed his allegations.
Kostakidis, who was sentenced six weeks ago for fraud over a colleague's mortgage application, has since been allowed to resign.
But the commission is investigating further allegations against him, including those raised by a former colleague from the state crime command's asset confiscation unit nearly three years ago.
In 2004 the former colleague, who does not want to be named, wrote a report about perceived problems with Kostakidis's investigation of a Nigerian email scam.
Soon afterwards the officer alleged he was being harassed in the unit.
He has since left the police after a dispute about his contract. When applying for jobs he has been told his previous managers have accused him of disloyalty. He fears he is being victimised.
The whistleblower's claims included concerns about the seizure of assets in the investigation of the Nigerian scam, in which victims contacted by email paid a man, Nick Marinellis, processing or banking fees.
Kostakidis headed the investigation. After charging Marinellis, the asset confiscation unit said it had seized $1.5 million of his assets. But the whistleblower predicted many of these assets, including a house covered by a mortgage, could not be seized and would yield no money for police because they had not been bought with money from his victims. He said Kostakidis had failed to seize other assets bought with victims' funds.
The whistleblower said some of the dealings between Marinellis and a man called Viron Hondros should be investigated. The Herald previously revealed that, within days of Marinellis being sentenced, Kostakidis started business dealings with Mr Hondros and two of his daughters. Mr Hondros, a self-styled mortgage broker, is now bankrupt. Neither he nor his daughters have been charged.
Kostakidis ran an Oxford Street cafe believed to have previously been seized by the police. It is at this cafe that he claimed to have employed the wife of a colleague, who is yet to face court, to help their application for a mortgage.
The Police Integrity Commission is believed to be still investigating the handling of the Nigerian scam and other matters raised by the whistleblower. It is also overseeing an internal police investigation into the handling of his original complaints.
Five months after the original complaint to the professional standards unit, it dismissed concerns about the asset confiscation unit's management. But other concerns, including those about Kostakidis, were not addressed.
Nearly a year after the initial complaint - about seven months after Kostakidis established dealings with Mr Hondros - the concerns about the Nigerian investigation were referred to the fraud squad boss, Superintendent Col Dyson, who found no basis for them.
Five weeks later, in August 2005, Mr Dyson awarded the head of the asset confiscation unit the "outstanding performer award" for the seizure assets from the Nigerian investigation.
A spokeswoman for the state crime command could not tell the Herald how much money was recovered from the Nigerian scam. She said the whistleblower's original complaint did not contain allegations about that investigation. Because a new complaint was being investigated, police would comment no further.
A spokesman for the Police Commissioner, Ken Moroney, said there were no benefits that Kostakidis would receive through resignation that he might have been denied through being dismissed.

Ireland: Corrupt civil servants ordered to do community service

2007-07-29T10:56:00.000-07:00

Corrupt civil servants ordered to do community service

By Sonya McLean
Saturday July 07 2007

Liam Rainsford (43) of Cremore Heights, Glasnevin; Michael Byrne (51) of Parkwood Road, Old Bawn; and Alan Quinn (48) of Broadmeadows, Swords, all accepted payment from Dooley's Law Agents Limited, for speeding up the process by which the company received documents from the Land Registry.
Gerard Dooley (50), of Cranagh Park, Rathfarnham, of Dooley's Law Agents Ltd, admitted he corruptly gave cheques to Rainsford, Quinn and Byrne on dates between December 19, 2000 and September 1, 2003.
Rainsford pleaded guilty to corruptly receiving four cheques, drawn on Dooley's account, as a reward for the supply of copy folios and/or file plans in relation to the affairs or business of the Land Registry on dates between November 16, 2001 and May 30, 2003.
Byrne pleaded guilty to the same charge and to an additional charge of "making a false instrument" in relation to a land registry document between September 9, 2002 and June 30, 2003.
Quinn admitted also to corruptly accepting four cheques drawn on Dooley's account as a reward for fixing certificates to maps in relation to the affairs or business of the Land Registry.
Last February, Byrne received a six-month suspended sentence, Rainsford, Quinn and Dooley all got one-year suspended sentences and were fined €20,000, €10,000 and €20,000 respectively.
Judge Delahunt had adjourned the case to allow for preparation of probation reports to determine if the men were eligible for community service.
She ordered that Bryne carry out 80 hours' community service, and Rainsford, Quinn and Dooley all do 100 hours, which had to be served within 12 months or they would they be jailed for a year.
Judge Delahunt heard that the Land Registry lost €15,000 after Rainsford was personally paid €15.50 rather than the €25 registry fee each time he provided Dooley's with copies of folios and file plans. Rainsford got a total of €12,508, almost €100 per week, over 30 months for this service.
Byrne, a senior clerical officer, was paid a total of €300 after he photocopied legitimate copies of documents and signed another staff member's name to the document.
Quinn, an examiner in charge of the mapping section, received €2,400 after he also organised for the attachment of certificates to maps at a quicker rate.

- Sonya McLean

Afghanistan: police chiefs sacked

2007-07-29T10:49:00.000-07:00

On January 2, 2004, a clash took place between government army and robbers in western province of Farah in Afghanistan. 2 robbers were killed, one wounded and 2 others were arrested. The next day on January 3, 2004, government officials of Farah decided to hang the dead bodies in two different locations in the city of Farah. The dead bodies were hanged in a crowded square of city for over 8 hours and thousands of people including children watched the horrible scenes which reminded the era of terror under Taliban.

Afghan police chiefs sacked

July 28 2007 at 05:09PM
By Jon Hemming

Kabul - The Afghan government sacked two provincial police chiefs for negligence, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday, highlighting problems in a force often accused of corruption and which is key to security in Afghanistan.
Poorly paid, poorly trained and ill-equipped, the police are the frontline in the fight against Taliban insurgents. Often stationed in remote outposts, they suffer far higher casualties than the more mobile and better equipped Afghan army.
The Interior Ministry said it had sacked the provincial police chiefs of Dai Kundi in the centre of the country and Wardak just southwest of the capital, Kabul.
"These two people weren't able to provide proper services to the people and couldn't attract the support of the people, they weren't able to establish security and stability properly," ministry spokesperson Zemarai Bashary told a news conference.
The police chief in Wardak stands accused of pocketing officers' salaries, leading many in his force to abandon their posts.
"We are investigating him," said Bashary. Police officers earn only $70 (about R500) a month.
It was in Wardak that Taliban rebels kidnapped two German engineers and five Afghans last week. The body of one of the Germans was later found on the side of a road.
Wardak, only an hour's drive from Kabul, is among provinces previously regarded as safe which have witnessed a rise in Taliban violence in the last few months.
Only a few hundred Turkish troops from the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) are stationed there and they are not allowed by their government to conduct offensive operations. Security in the province therefore largely falls to the police.
It was a breakdown in law and order that allowed the Taliban to get a foothold in Wardak and this picture is being repeated across Afghanistan, analysts say.
"The big problem is not the lack of ISAF forces, it is the chaos surrounding the Afghan government national police assets there," said a senior Western diplomat who declined to named.
The problems also affect the Interior Ministry which appoints officers and controls the force.
The ministry "is notoriously corrupt, factionalised and an increasingly important actor in Afghanistan's illegal drug economy," said a report this month by the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, an independent think-tank.
A report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the World Bank last year accused elements in the Interior Ministry of an "increasing role" in organising "protection for criminal markets" and the facilitation of illicit activities.
From 2002 until this year, Germany led the training of Afghan police and contributed some $80-million to a total of around $200-million spent on the force in that time.
The European Union has now taken over Germany's role and the United States is ploughing more money in - $2,5-billion for 2007 alone. But deep-rooted remedies may be needed.
"Without comprehensive reform of the Ministry of Interior, police reform efforts will fail and the money spent on reform will be wasted," the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit said.

A US military Humvee speeds away under a hail of stones thrown by protestors in Kabul, Afghanistan. RAWA: Afghan police is accused of having links with those who misused people's demonstration in Kabul on May 29, 2006 to turn it to violence.

Institute for War & Peace Reporting, June 6, 2006

Afghan police part of the problem
Corruption in the law-enforcement service has become so endemic that a provincial governor has decided to speak out.

By Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi in Mazar-e-Sharif for IWPR

Corruption is a growth industry for Afghanistan's police. They stand accused of extorting money from drug smugglers, gun runners, brothel owners and gamblers, in return for looking the other way. Those who refuse to pay can be arrested as part of an apparently virtuous clean-up campaign, and then released once they hand over the cash.
The bribery and corruption surrounding the police force are just a fact of life for most Afghans. But it still came as something of a shock when the governor of the northern Balkh province took the region's law officers to task.
"Corruption increases day by day," thundered governor Atta Mohammad Noor, addressing police chiefs and rank-and-file officers in the provincial capital Mazar-e-Sharif last month. "You are partners with gamblers, bandits, brothels, alcohol dealers and even pickpockets.
"The criminals who are your partners are able to operate freely. The only ones who get arrested are those who are not your associates - and even they get released after paying bribes."
The governor said high-level corruption in the police force meant that the Balkh authorities were unable to provide security for residents.
He acknowledged that much of the new Afghan National Police is made up of former mujahedin, the forces who fought and ultimately triumphed over the Soviet invaders.
Atta, a former leading militia commander himself, said it was partly out of respect for their past record that he had been reluctant to remove them. "But if things keep going this way, I will not support anyone any more," he warned.
Human Rights Watch, the United States-based watchdog, issued a statement in early May calling on President Hamed Karzai to stop appointing known human rights abusers as law-enforcement officers.
"At least four of the current candidates for provincial police chief were barred from standing as candidates in last year's parliamentary elections for having links to illegal militias," said the Human Rights Watch report. "Other potential appointees are known human rights abusers, warlords, and drug-traffickers. Several of the candidates have been implicated in murder, torture, intimidation, bribery, government corruption, and interfering with police investigations."
The Afghan president is currently in the process of shifting district-level police chiefs, in some cases bringing in new blood and in others simply shifting people around, in a practice that has become characteristic of his appointments policy.
In response to the governor's criticism, Balkh police chief Khan Mohammad Mojahed promised to spare no effort to clean up his administration and ensure better security in the province.
His spokesman, Shir Jaan Durani, defended the police, telling IWPR, "Just because a few policemen may be involved with criminals does not mean they are all corrupt."
"At least four of the current candidates for provincial police chief were barred from standing as candidates in last year’s parliamentary elections for having links to illegal militias."
"... Kabul’s police chief, Jamil Jumbish, has been implicated in murder, torture, intimidation, bribery and interfering with investigations into misconduct by officers directly under his control."
HRW, May 4, 2006
But many Afghans would say the ratio of corrupt to honest police does not bode well for the country's security. Nor is the problem limited to Balkh.
"More than 90 per cent of the police are corrupt," said a Kabul businessman, interviewed while visiting Mazar-e-Sharif on a buying trip. "Last year my shop in Kabul was robbed. After the robbery I found the identity card of one of the local police in my shop. When I brought it to the police station, the commander took it off me, and warned me not to tell anyone or else my life would be at risk."
Mazar-e-Sharif resident Mohammad Rasul recalled how the police failed in their duties when armed robbers broke into his neighbor's house in late March, "The robbers came at one in the morning and we called the police. They didn't come for an hour, by which time the robbers had already killed a member of the family and fled."
The owner of the house managed to detain one of the thieves, and handed him over to the police, said Rasul. But the man was released after a few days.
"The police are protecting robbers as they steal," said Rasul.
Law enforcement officials argue that much has been done to improve the situation since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001. Over the past four and a half years, police academies have been established in all of Afghanistan's main provinces. International trainers from the United States, Britain, and Germany have been working with the Afghan police to improve their performance.
Police from the five northern provinces get their training at the Mazar-e-Sharif police academy, where they receive basic lessons in policing, human rights, penal law and traffic regulations.
"We cannot compare today's police with yesterday's," said Colonel Sayed Alam, head of the academy. "There has been a remarkable change in police structure."
Those who can read and write are trained for five weeks, he said, while those who are illiterate receive a nine-week course.
...new Kabul police chief, Amanullah Guzar... was appointed by Karzai. Documents circulating among diplomats allegedly link him to extortion, land grabbing and the kidnapping of three UN workers in late 2004.
The Guardian, June 13, 2006
According to an official at the interior ministry, which controls the police, the Bonn agreement, which underpinned Afghanistan's post-2001 development, stipulated that the national police force should number 62,000. As of March 2006, over 57,000 had been trained, with the rest due to graduate by September.
But Afghans brush aside the notion that trained police are any improvement over the old force.
"We have seen no difference between trained and untrained police," said Niaz Mohammad, from Sar-e-Pul province. "They are all just as bad."
"I find it funny when I hear that the national police are being trained," said the Kabul businessman. "They can train them one thousand times but they'll still be robbers."
Analysts tend to agree, saying that despite the best efforts of the international community, the police system is riddled with corruption and nepotism.
"The police are local militia commanders and members who have just changed their clothes," said Mohammad Aalam Rahmani, a political analyst in Mazar-e-Sharif. "Now they will do robberies and looting wearing police uniforms."
But an interior ministry official who did not want to be named insisted that things were getting better.
"In a country like Afghanistan which has just emerged from crisis, the police may not have the same capacity as those in developed countries," he said. "But at least we do now have police, and they will get better day by day."
The official pointed to the presidential and parliamentary elections, saying that the police succeeded in ensuring security during these tense and difficult periods. "That is one of their major accomplishments," he said.
A policeman trained at the Balkh police academy accepted that corruption was common among his colleagues, but he pointed to the low salaries they get paid as the major cause. Most police make between US$50 and US$70 per month.
"The training has nothing to do with stamping out corruption," he said. "Both trained and untrained police are fond of money. Salaries are too low, so police prefer money to law enforcement. They too have to make a living."
This article originally appeared in Afghan Recovery Report, produced by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR). Afghan Recovery Report is supported by the UK Foreign Office and the US State Department.

China: Corruption Leads to Stronger Labor Law

2007-07-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

Migrant workers cabins are where they stay after work.
Who Is Gonna Take Responsibility for 150 Million Unpaid Migrant Workers? Sophia Cao
Numbers:
- 10 billion yuan: the total amount of unpaid wages to migrant workers in mainland.
- 72.2%: the percentage of unpaid wages by construction companies.
- 6%: the percentage of migrant workers who can get paid monthly.

China Enacts Stronger Labor Law
New Rules to Protect Abused Migrant Workers

By Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, June 30, 2007; D01

BEIJING, June 29 -- The Chinese legislature passed a law Friday to provide more protection to the millions of farm youths who leave home and become cheap labor in the factories and construction sites that have mushroomed in China's booming economy.
The Standing Committee of the China People's Congress, in approving the law, presented it as a bulwark against widespread abuses of the often-uneducated migrant workers, such as forced labor, withholding of pay and unwarranted dismissal. The country was alarmed two weeks ago, for example, by the discovery that hundreds of Chinese were forced to work in conditions resembling slavery at dozens of brick kilns in Shanxi province while local Communist Party officials did nothing to stop it.
In reaction, lawmakers at the last minute added a provision to the long-discussed labor code to mandate punishment for officials who are shown to be negligent or corrupt in allowing entrepreneurs to abuse workers. This and the unusual public rollout of the new law seemed designed to show the Chinese public that the central government of President Hu Jintao is determined to crack down on corrupt officials and protect those left behind by the swift economic growth of the past 25 years.
"The law is meant to protect the workers and their rights," Xin Chunying, who heads the Standing Committee's labor committee, said at a news conference. The Standing Committee is a permanent body of the China People's Congress, a legislature whose hundreds of provincial delegates meet once a year to voice approval for government policies.
Hu and his premier, Wen Jiabao, repeatedly have ordered crackdowns on negligent and corrupt local officials based on existing law, most recently after the kiln workers were discovered. Laws and regulations have long been in place to protect workers. But as is frequently the case in China, the enforcement of the rules has often been frustrated by collusion between local entrepreneurs and party officials eager to promote economic development and supplement their own bank accounts.
China forbids independent labor unions. The official All China Federation of Trade Unions, tied to the same party bureaucrats, functions as an arm of the government -- and thus of economic development -- more than as a watchdog for workers.
Legislators said one feature of the new law that might help workers is reinforcement of the requirement for detailed contracts spelling out what workers are entitled to in return for their time on the job. Construction workers in particular have found that frequently, after six months or a year on the job, their employers refuse to give them their pay, arguing that development companies ran out of cash and did not provide money to the construction companies.
Migrant workers -- as many as to 900 million have left farms to find jobs -- typically get dormitory-style housing and basic food as part of their benefits. They often work without pay until just before the Chinese New Year, when they are supposed to receive their back pay to enable them to return home and shower their families with gifts.

Eighteen children pose for a picture at a village in Ziyun Miao and Buyi Autonomous County in Southwest China's Guizhou Province, January 22, 2006. Among them, twelve children's parents left the village to work in big cities in coastal areas. [Zhao Hui/Guizhou Metropolis Daily]

Migrant workers 'have 20m' kids back home
By Wang Shanshan (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-01-29 07:04

More than 20 million children live with their grandparents or other relatives because their parents have migrated to other provinces in search of work, with many among them being forced to live alone.
According to a recent China National Children and Teenagers' Working Committee report, in agricultural provinces like East China's Anhui Province, as much as 22 percent of the children's parents have migrated and the number is increasing.
The number of migrant workers was more than 140 million in 2005, according to Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' figures.
And many of these parents' children suffer from loneliness, perform poorly at school and are prone to juvenile delinquency, it said.
The local media often reports their tragedy. One such case was the death of a 12-year-old in Suzhou of Anhui. The boy killed himself by drinking pesticides last year because he had no one to advise him how to solve his problems, according to his suicide note.
Though the working committee has vowed to organize the children into clubs and find them "acting parents to tackle the problem," their huge number means it could take years before such an arrangement is possible throughout the country.
A survey in Chaohu, in Anhui last year showed that migrating parents had left behind 116,000 children. About 952,000 people, including 55,000 couples from the paddy cultivation area, have migrated from Chaohu, according to Yu Zupeng, an official of the provincial committee of the Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party, which carried out the survey.
About 1 percent, that is, more than 1,000, of these children have no guardians. Such children have little communication with their parents: most Chaohu migrants talk to their children over the phone just once or twice a month, and return home only during Spring Festival. Some don't even do that, the survey said.
Deprived of parental love, many such children prefer staying alone and often become rebellious. For instance, a girl in Chaohu set her grandparents' house on fire last year because she felt they couldn't understand her feelings.
They often feel frustrated at school, too. A recent survey on the 72 junior high schools in Wuwei County of Chaohu has showed that 80 percent of those who flunked the senior high school entrance exam in 2005 were such children, Yu said.
Another survey, conducted in Tangchi Town Junior High School of Lujiang County in Chaohu, showed that less than 1 percent of such children passed the senior high school entrance exam.
Also, only 4 percent always did well at school, whereas 64 percent remained at a mediocre level and 32 percent often failed in exams.
If the government wants to help these children, it should first make it easier for them to study in the cities where their parents work, Yu said.
(China Daily 01/29/2007

Congo: Corruption & dead gorillas

2007-07-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

Brent Stirton / Getty Images for Newsweek. Villagers help to carry the gorillas out of the forest and down the nearby hills

New Threats to World's Majestic Animals
Last week four gorillas were slaughtered in Congo. With hunting on the rise, our most majestic animals are facing a new extinction crisis.
By Sharon Begley
Newsweek

Aug. 6, 2007 issue - On the lush plains of Congo's Virunga National Park last week, the convoy of porters rounded the final hill and trooped into camp. They gently set down the wooden frame they had carried for miles, and with it the very symbol of the African jungle: a 600-pound silverback mountain gorilla. A leader of a troop often visited by tourists, his arms and legs were lashed to the wood, his head hanging low and spots of blood speckling his fur. The barefoot porters, shirts torn and pants caked with dust from their trek, lay him beside three smaller gorillas, all females, who had also been killed, then silently formed a semicircle around the bodies. As the stench of death wafted across the camp in the waning afternoon light, a park warden stepped forward. "What man would do this?" he thundered. He answered himself: "Not even a beast would do this."
Park rangers don't know who killed the four mountain gorillas found shot to death in Virunga, but it was the seventh killing of the critically endangered primates in two months. Authorities doubt the killers are poachers, since the gorillas' bodies were left behind and an infant—who could bring thousands of dollars from a collector—was found clinging to its dead mother in one of the earlier murders. The brutality and senselessness of the crime had conservation experts concerned that the most dangerous animal in the world had found yet another excuse to slaughter the creatures with whom we share the planet. "This area must be immediately secured," said Deo Kujirakwinja of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Congo Program, "or we stand to lose an entire population of these endangered animals."
Back when the Amazon was aflame and the forests of Southeast Asia were being systematically clear-cut, biologists were clear about what posed the greatest threat to the world's wildlife, and it wasn't men with guns. For decades, the chief threat was habitat destruction. Whether it was from impoverished locals burning a forest to raise cattle or a multinational denuding a tree-covered Malaysian hillside, wildlife was dying because species were being driven from their homes. Yes, poachers killed tigers and other trophy animals—as they had since before Theodore Roosevelt—and subsistence hunters took monkeys for bushmeat to put on their tables, but they were not a primary danger.
That has changed. "Hunting, especially in Central and West Africa, is much more serious than we imagined," says Russell Mittermeier, president of Conservation International. "It's huge," with the result that hunting now constitutes the pre-eminent threat to some species. That threat has been escalating over the past decade largely because the opening of forests to logging and mining means that roads connect once impenetrable places to towns. "It's easier to get to where the wildlife is and then to have access to markets," says conservation biologist Elizabeth Bennett of the Wildlife Conservation Society. Economic forces are also at play. Thanks to globalization, meat, fur, skins and other animal parts "are sold on an increasingly massive scale across the world," she says. Smoked monkey carcasses travel from Ghana to New York and London, while gourmets in Hanoi and Guangzhou feast on turtles and pangolins (scaly anteaters) from Indonesia. There is a thriving market for bushmeat among immigrants in Paris, New York, Montreal, Chicago and other points in the African diaspora, with an estimated 13,000 pounds of bushmeat—much of it primates—arriving every month in seven European and North American cities alone. "Hunting and trade have already resulted in widespread local extinctions in Asia and West Africa," says Bennett. "The world's wild places are falling silent."
When a company wins a logging or mining concession, it immediately builds roads wide enough for massive trucks where the principal access routes had been dirt paths no wider than a jaguar. "Almost no tropical forests remain across Africa and Asia which are not penetrated by logging or other roads," says Bennett. Hunters and weapons follow, she notes, "and wildlife flows cheaply and rapidly down to distant towns where it is either sold directly or links in to global markets." How quickly can opening a forest ravage the resident wildlife? Three weeks after a logging company opened up one Congo forest, the density of animals fell more than 25 percent; a year after a logging road went into forest areas in Sarawak, Malaysia, in 2001, not a single large mammal remained.
A big reason why hunting used to pale next to habitat destruction is that as recently as the 1990s animals were killed mostly for subsistence, with locals taking only what they needed to live. Governments and conservation groups helped reduce even that through innovative programs giving locals an economic stake in the preservation of forests and the survival of wildlife. In the mountains of Rwanda, for instance, tourists pay $500 to spend an hour with the majestic mountain gorillas, bolstering the economy of the surrounding region. But recent years have brought a more dangerous kind of hunter, and not only because they use AK-47s and even land mines to hunt.
The problem now is that hunting, even of supposedly protected animals, is a global, multimillion-dollar business. Eating bushmeat "is now a status symbol," says Thomas Brooks of Conservation International. "It's not a subsistence issue. It's not a poverty issue. It's considered supersexy to eat bushmeat." Exact figures are hard to come by, but what conservation groups know about is sobering. Every year a single province in Laos exports $3.6 million worth of wildlife, including pangolins, cats, bears and primates. In Sumatra, about 51 tigers were killed each year between 1998 and 2002; there are currently an estimated 350 tigers left on the island (down from 1,000 or so in the 1980s) and fewer than 5,000 in the world.
If a wild population is large enough, it can withstand hunting. But for many species that "if" has not existed for decades. As a result, hunting in Kilum-Ijim, Cameroon, has pushed local elephants, buffalo, bushbuck, chimpanzees, leopards and lions to the brink of extinction. The common hippopotamus, which in 1996 was classified as of "least concern" because its numbers seemed to be healthy, is now "vulnerable": over the past 10 years its numbers have fallen as much as 20 percent, largely because the hippos are illegally hunted for meat and ivory. Pygmy hippos, classified as "vulnerable" in 2000, by last year had become endangered, at risk of going extinct. Logging has allowed bushmeat hunters to reach the West African forests where the hippos live; fewer than 3,000 remain.
Setting aside parks and other conservation areas is only as good as local enforcement. "Half of the major protected areas in Southeast Asia have lost at least one species of large mammal due to hunting, and most have lost many more," says Bennett. In Thailand's Doi Inthanon and Doi Suthep National Parks, for instance, elephants, tigers and wild cattle have been hunted into oblivion, as has been every primate and hornbill in Sarawak's Kubah National Park. The world-famous Project Tiger site in India's Sariska National Park has no tigers, biologists announced in 2005. Governments cannot afford to pay as many rangers as are needed to patrol huge regions, and corruption is rife. The result is "empty-forest syndrome": majestic landscapes where flora and small fauna thrive, but where larger wildlife has been hunted out.
Which is not to say the situation is hopeless. With governments and conservationists recognizing the extinction threat posed by logging and mining, they are taking steps to ensure that animals do not come out along with the wood and minerals. In one collaboration, the government of Congo and the WCS work with a Swiss company, Congolaise Industrielle des Bois—which has a logging concession near Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park—to ensure that employees and their families hunt only for their own food needs; the company also makes sure that bushmeat does not get stowed away on logging trucks as illegal hunters try to take their haul to market. Despite the logging, gorillas, chimps, forest elephants and bongos are thriving in the park.
Anyone who thrills at the sight of man's distant cousins staring silently through the bush can only hope that the executions of Virunga's gorillas is an aberration. At the end of the week, UNESCO announced that it was sending a team to investigate the slaughter.

With Scott Johnson in Virunga Park and Julie Scelfo in New York

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20012317/site/newsweek/

UK: Killer denies corrupt police link

2007-07-29T10:26:00.000-07:00

Gunn is accused of using a corrupt detective to evade police

Killer denies corrupt police link

A convicted killer from Nottingham has gone on trial accused of using a corrupt detective to get sensitive police intelligence.
Colin Gunn, 40, is already serving a life sentence for conspiring to murder Lincolnshire couple John and Joan Stirland, Birmingham Crown Court heard.
The prosecution said the jury needed to know about the previous conviction to help them understand the case.
Gunn was not in court having sacked his legal team. He has denied the charge.
'Sinister attempt'
Opening the case on Thursday, Graham Wood QC, prosecuting, said the trial was about "a sinister attempt by a man who sees himself above the law to steal a march on law enforcers".
It is alleged Gunn used an intermediary to contact a corrupt detective, Charles Fletcher.
Colin Gunn was at the apex of a complex pyramid of individuals, most of whom have already admitted their responsibility in obtaining ... police intelligence
Graham Wood, QC
Fletcher was jailed in 2006 after he admitted making regular searches of police computers for information that the prosecution said would help Gunn lay low.
The jury was told that Gunn sent orders to Fletcher through Jason Grocock - a friend and associate who ran Limey's clothing store in Nottingham city centre.
Grocock would then send Gunn's demands to Fletcher, 27, who had worked in the shop before joining Nottinghamshire Police as a trainee detective constable in 2001.
Fletcher, Grocock, and Phillip Parr, another Nottinghamshire Pc have already admitted their part in the conspiracy.
"The prosecution say that in this conspiracy of corrupt practice, he, Colin Gunn, was at the apex of a complex pyramid of individuals, most of whom have already admitted their responsibility in obtaining and disseminating police intelligence," Mr Wood said.
The jury was told that Gunn claimed in police interviews the searches were done without his knowledge.
Murdered jeweller
The court heard that Gunn first allegedly sought information the day after Michael O'Brien - Joan Stirland's son - shot dead Marvyn Bradshaw in a Nottingham car park in August 2003.
His requests allegedly picked up pace in August 2004, the month the Stirlands were killed, and continued into 2005.
The prosecution also allege that Gunn was behind searches made by Fletcher into intelligence surrounding the murder of Nottingham jeweller Marian Bates.
Mrs Bates, the jury heard, was shot dead during a robbery at the Time Centre in Arnold, Nottingham on 1 October 2003.
Gunn, the court was told, had a particular interest in this high-profile investigation as he was once suspected of involvement in the robbery.
At one point detectives also discovered two sheets of paper containing seven intelligence reports about Gunn at his mother's address which, Mr Wood alleged, had been passed from Fletcher to Gunn, through Grocock.
The trial continues.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/nottinghamshire/6906524.stm
Published: 2007/07/19 17:31:23 GMT
© BBC MMVII

India: Sacred Cows Become Tool of Corruption

2007-07-29T10:18:00.000-07:00

Municipal workers making a cow swallow microchip

India's Sacred Cows Become Tool of Corruption

New Delhi
25 July 2006
VOA
Like many developing nations, India contends with endemic corruption. Even the management of one of India's most enduring symbols - the cow, which Hindus consider sacred - is rife with corruption and fraud. The country is trying to tackle the problem with small steps, such as putting microchips in cows to make tracking them easier, and enabling Indians to obtain information on how government money is being spent.
In a government-run shelter in India's capital, New Delhi, cows are undergoing what may seem a strange procedure, they are being forced to swallow microchips which remain permanently in one of their four stomachs.
With the use of special scanners, municipal workers can read the numbered microchips, identifying the cows and their owners.
In India, the cow is sacred as part of the Hindu religion's story of creation. But they are also a source of currency or collateral in the society, and being able to count and track them is vital to some businesses.
But these protected animals tend to be allowed to roam freely through Indian cities, often causing public nuisance such as traffic jams and eating garbage, which taints the milk that ends up going to market.
Municipal authorities routinely round up the stray cows but have not been able to identify owners, who would be fined for breaking the law by letting them wander off approved grazing lands.
The microchip system is changing that.
Ashish Anand came up with the microchip idea, and his company, Everest Enterprises, is now under contract by the New Delhi government to provide tracking for cows.
"They used to put an ear-tag for identification and control, but these farms and other vested interests just used to tear the tag off of the animal. It's like a vehicle without a number plate," he said.

Cows eating garbage from a dumpster

One benefit to controlling cattle is cleaner milk. United Nations health experts say about 50 percent of India's milk supply is sold informally, without any processing or pasteurization. If a cow has been eating garbage, this can lead to health problems for consumers, and a subsequent drain on health services.
But cow problems go even further than that.
Farmers often use cows and other livestock as collateral for government loans and subsidies. By borrowing cows from each other, the farmers can fool officials about the number of cattle they own, and obtain larger loans, which get wasted. Anand says that type of fraud has prevented India's agricultural sector from developing.
"The amount the government has spent giving loans to farmers across the countryside to purchase animals, if those really existed, the milk production would have been doubled or tripled by now," he noted. "Milk production has remained more or less stagnant, while the number of animals keeps increasing on paper. So that, in itself, shows the total ramifications and the total volume of fraud that you're talking about. It should not be less than half a billion of dollars every year."
Manoj Dagar, 15, is one of many Indians who feels the effects of that type of fraud. His family owns 21 dairy cows and buffalo on a farm in the village of Meerut, outside the capital. The family is struggling to send Manoj and his brother to college.

Cow roaming streets of New Delhi

Massive fraud has now made loans less available to farmers like the Dagars who want to expand their business.
Dagar says if the government passes new loan schemes, if they provide us with more property and land, we could have farms like the ones in America, with 100 cows and machines to milk them. He says that if the government were to help his family, they could really increase their profit.
A related problem, analysts say, is that government funds intended for agricultural development sometimes end up in the pockets of corrupt officials. The World Bank estimates that 60 percent of India's population, of about one billion people, works in agriculture, while the sector only represents about 20 percent of India's gross domestic product.
So fraud on cows and development aid is seriously hampering growth. But it goes far beyond agriculture and farmers.
The Indian office of the corruption watchdog, Transparency International, says Indians paid an estimated $4.8 billion in petty bribes in 2005, simply to receive standard services, such as utilities, health care and police protection.
About 62 percent of Indians surveyed admit to paying bribes, and 75 percent say the problem is getting worse.
That is why India recently launched a national anti-corruption campaign. A consortium of dozens of organizations is using the campaign to publicize what many see as groundbreaking legislation: India's Right to Information Act.
Man seeks help in filing a corruption complaint through Right to Information Act
The legislation, signed last year, aims to counter endemic corruption. Now, anybody can petition the independent Information Commission to investigate how public funds are being spent, or why a service has not been rendered. The new law requires that information be supplied within 30 days.
Even with the new legislation, one of the challenges will be to change the mentality that paying petty bribes is the easiest way to get things done.
Bhaskara Rao is with the Centre for Media Studies, an independent organization in New Delhi that promotes good governance.
"Our slogan is, instead of [paying a] bribe, the Right to Information may work better and faster," he said. "Even if you pay a bribe, there's no guarantee that you'll get it within 24 hours. We need to see how much that potential will be unleashed in the coming months."

Municipal worker with cow scanner

It may be some time before India fully turns the corner and makes corruption the exception rather than the rule.
But with innovations such as the microchipping of cows and the new laws on making public where government funds actually go, progress may be on the way.

India: Bribery & Corrupt Police

2007-07-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

Man seeks help in filing a corruption complaint through Right to Information Act

‘Trap corrupt pollution control board officials’
Prashant Hamine
Thursday, July 26, 2007 13:27 IST
Minister admits officials frequently accept bribes from polluting firms

Minister for Environment, Ganesh Naik, on Wednesday admitted that some officials of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board were accepting bribes from industries resorting to air and water pollution. His admission came while replying to supplementary queries, raised on an original starred question by Arjun Khotkar (Shiv Sena) and others during the question hour. The minister urged members to trap such officials. Gulabrao Gawande (Sena) disclosed that MPCB officials had sought money from him for his petrol pump in Jalgaon district.

RS Sharma lambasts ‘corrupt’ SIT
DNA Correspondent
Wednesday, July 04, 2007 09:07 IST
Days after he was discharged by the Special Court in Pune for lack of evidence, former Mumbai police chief RS Sharma is fuming at the injustice meted out to him in the fake stamp paper scam case.

Sharma on Tuesday accused the Special Investigating Team (SIT) under SS Puri of corrupt motives for failing to arrest those who knowingly purchased fake stamp papers.
“Considering you have a case where fake stamp paper worth crores of rupees have been sold, the aim should be to find the person guilty in abating the crime. The SIT incredulously believes all the receivers (purchasers) are innocent. Rather, they have been cheated by Telgi or his associates. What kind of investigation was this? I strongly believe it was nothing but a corrupt motive of the SIT in not arresting any receiver,’’ said Sharma. Puri refused to comment on the issue and said that the case was taken over by the CBI.

The entire case against Sharma primarily rested on the alleged inaction against two policemen - Assistant Police Inspector Dilip Kamat and Assistant Commissioner of Police MC Mulani. Sharma pointed out, “It was on the very day that the order of suspension was passed against them that stamps worth lakhs of rupees were seized from a godown at Bhiwandi. If I had any ulterior motive, would I have allowed this? Don’t forget it was during my tenure as the Commissioner of Police, Pune that we recovered fake stamp papers worth Rs2,200 crore.’’

The case came to light after Sharma was told that 12 people arrested for carrying fake stamps and stamp papers has been released.

Sharma’s arrest had been carried out by the SIT a day after he retired on November 30, 2003.

“It was nothing but a calculated move. They knew I would have filed a case against them for making such allegations. There was not a single statement by a witness against me till the time I was arrested. In fact, it was on the basis of information I had provided that the scam was unearthed,” he said

Environment Minister Judeo was caught on tape allegedly taking a bribe
INDIAN EXPRESS

Sunday, Nov. 23, 2003
Teflon Government
By Alex Perry | New Delhi

Corruption scandals in India carry the same capacity to shock as revelations of a Mafia presence in Sicily. So when a videotape surfaced last week allegedly showing a government minister holding a fistful of cash to his forehead, uttering "money isn't God, but by God, it's no less than God" and promising his benefactor mining concessions, it created a stir in the press�but nowhere else. Environment and Forests Minister Dilip Singh Judeo first issued an outright denial, then resigned but maintained his innocence, then admitted accepting money but compared himself to Mohandas Gandhi, saying he needed the funds for a struggle to save India from a shadowy international Christian conspiracy.
Displaying equal nonchalance were Judeo's masters in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who suggested the tape was doctored and urged police to discover who entrapped the minister into taking a bribe. (The bribe payer, who claimed to represent an unnamed foreign mining company, has yet to be identified.) Instead of banishing Judeo, the BJP bigwigs said he would still lead the party's campaign for Dec. 1 polls in the state of Chhattisgarh in central India. Defending Judeo, BJP Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani took defiance to daring new levels, declaring he once campaigned while facing charges of receiving $140,000 from the hawala system, an informal and illegal paperless banking network, and it hadn't done him any harm. He won the elections. "We stand on a high moral pedestal," proclaimed Advani.
Advani's political rhetoric might be suspect, but his calculation to stand by Judeo is probably sound. Keeping Judeo means preserving his sizable caste-determined Chhattisgarh voter bloc. Besides, observers say voters simply don't care about another ministerial scandal when they already view all politicians as thieves. Citizens' daily routines involve such a catalog of bribes that official corruption has ceased to be controversial. "Corruption is part and parcel of Indian politics and Indian life," says V.B. Singh, an analyst for the New Delhi-based Center for Study of Developing Societies. "People expect politicians to steal. They don't really mind it unless it affects national security." Even members of the opposition Congress Party say that, in the same situation, they would have done the same. "The BJP has done the best it could under the circumstances," says Congress spokesman Jaipal Reddy. "They didn't want to lose their guy and their reckoning is probably right. This is the kind of thing you can get away with in Indian politics."
Getting away with it, or what sociologist Ashish Nandy calls "following the law of the jungle," is now the dominant mantra of India's social and economic life. Economists estimate that the true size of India's GDP would be double the official $481 billion if the country's vast black economy were also taken into account. And while the nation fares slightly better than adjacent Pakistan and Bangladesh in terms of corruption, this is hardly an upstanding neighborhood. Each year, Transparency International (TI), an anticorruption watchdog, evaluates the world's countries according to how graft-free their societies are. This year India ranked 83rd, Pakistan 102nd, and Bangladesh, at 133rd, was dead last. With the world's second largest population and Asia's third largest economy, the size of Indian officialdom's graft is staggering. According to a TI 2002 report, police, doctors, teachers, judges, taxmen, land-registry employees, railway workers and utilities regulators make off with petty bribes amounting to $6.2 billion a year, or 1.3% of the country's GDP. In Bangalore, for example, TI documented how half of all expectant mothers must pay on average bribes of $22 for a doctor to attend the birth, while 70% of new mothers give hospital staff $4-$6 just to immediately see the gender of their newborns. (Staff play on fears that they might swap babies.)
The scandals are only more spectacular higher up the ladder of public life. In India's central government, Judeo is the latest in a long line of ministers of every political hue to stand accused. The allegations against him pale in comparison with the disclosures of 2001, when journalists from Tehelka.com, an Internet news service, posed as arms dealers and recorded themselves paying bribes to the then BJP president, Bangaru Laxman, and Jaya Jaitley, friend of Defense Minister George Fernandes. Fernandes resigned but returned to office months later.
In the states, too, few chief ministers are untarnished by scandal. Perhaps most notorious today is Mayawati, who resigned in August as chief minister of India's largest state, Uttar Pradesh, to fight charges that her freewheeling administration threatened to undermine the very foundations of the country's national symbol, the Taj Mahal. According to charges drawn up by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Mayawati and others in the state government flouted rules on the environment and competitive tendering in their plans for a $60 million tourist mall, positioned uncomfortably close behind the marble mausoleum. The construction required the Yamuna River to be diverted on a course that seemed set to undercut the ground on which the Taj Mahal rests. Mayawati denied any wrongdoing, saying there was a political conspiracy against her.
The police, the supposed law enforcers, are also tainted. What could turn out to be India's biggest-ever corruption case emerged this month when Bombay's top policeman, Commissioner R.S. Sharma, went on leave after he was accused by a court-appointed investigator of mishandling the case of Abdul Karim Telgi. A small-time businessman, Telgi is suspected of printing and selling counterfeit government documents, called stamp papers, that can be used as legal tender in India. Telgi's stamp-paper revenue�estimates range from $750 million to $7 billion�was a loss to the National Treasury; it allegedly ended up in his 68 bank accounts and 16 properties. A court in Bombay ordered a special investigation into the case, which found evidence that no fewer than 37 of Telgi's 50 co-accused were policemen.
The average Indian voter may have learned to live with corruption. But many Indian businessmen, faced with extortion by bureaucrats and competitors using bribery to achieve unfair advantage, have not. Former CBI director turned antigraft campaigner Joginder Singh says his research shows that the typical Indian entrepreneur faces 65 different inspections from various officials before he can open shop. "And these officials are not there to help," says Singh, "but to extort." As a result, many enterprises shut down in their first few weeks or fail to get beyond the drawing board.
The United Nations Development Programme estimates that state corruption costs Indian business $7 billion a year, cutting GDP growth (on average 6.1% a year over the past decade) by one-quarter.
There are some reasons to hope for progress. With politicians "scrabbling for the low ground," says Tehelka.com founder Tarun Tejpal, there are plenty of opportunities for India's free and increasingly enterprising media to "cover itself in glory" with expos�s. The judiciary, too, has begun to play a much more active role. The Supreme Court last week ordered the transfer of a long-stalled $15.5 million graft case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalitha across the state border to Bangalore, saying there was a "strong indication that the process of justice is being subverted."
To date, however, few politicians, bureaucrats or policemen exposed by the media or courts have been called to account. Corruption trials sometimes take 10-20 years to complete; the conviction rate for graft is just 6%. "There has to be some retribution," says Tehelka.com's Tejpal. "Otherwise we have no system." To some, the system is already down. "We've come to accept that for the time being, there's no way out," says anticorruption campaigner Singh. "We're into the abyss and we're only going to sink further."
With reporting by Aravind Adiga and Sankarshan Thakur/New Delhi and Meenakshi Ganguly/Bombay

Africa; corruption survey

2007-07-29T09:53:00.000-07:00

Corrupt leaders a big problem - poll

July 25 2007 at 02:30PM

A plurality of Africans polled in 10 sub-Saharan countries say they are better off than they were five years ago, but a majority sees corrupt political leaders as a big problem, The New York Times said on Wednesday.
"Many said they faced a wide array of difficult and sometimes life-threatening problems, from illegal drug trafficking to political corruption, from the lack of clean water to inadequate schools for their children, from ethnic and political violence to deadly disease," the Times said.
The poll by The New York Times and the Pew Global Attitudes Project was based on face-to-face interviews in April and May with 8,471 adults in Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.
"The survey sampled nationwide adult populations, except in South Africa, where the sample was completely urban, and Ivory Coast, where it was disproportionately urban and tended to be in areas sympathetic to the government," the Times said. The margins of error were plus or minus three or four percentage points.
Ghanaians and Tanzanians were most satisfied with the way democracy worked in their countries, while Nigerians and Ethiopians were the least satisfied among those surveyed.
Except for Ivory Coast, Tanzania and Uganda, a plurality of those polled said their financial situation had improved in the last five years, the Times said.
Overall gross domestic product growth in Africa last year was 5.7 percent, it said, helped by the rise in the prices of oil, iron ore, copper and timber.
About 25 million of the 40 million people infected with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa, and a large majority in every country polled saw the spread of AIDS and other infectious diseases as a big problem, the Times said.
But few said they had been tested for HIV - ranging from four percent in Ghana to 27 percent in Kenya and Ethiopia.
About half or more in eight countries said they had been unable to pay for medical care, but a majority in all the 10 countries except Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania said they had enough money to buy food for their family, the paper said.
Getting access to clean drinking water was also seen as a big problem by a majority in all 10 countries, the Times said, as were poor-quality schools.
When it came to politics, "a majority in each country said corrupt political leaders were a big problem," it said.
In Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, two out of three said their presidential election was not conducted fairly.
Eighty-seven percent of Nigerians polled said they were dissatisfied with the way things were going in their country, the paper said.
"Yet Nigerians were the most optimistic of all the nations surveyed - 69 percent said they expected that children growing up in Nigeria would be better off than people today," it said.

Brazil: Corrupt policemen arrested

2007-07-28T09:42:00.000-07:00

RIO DE JANEIRO

Rio de Janeiro police arrested two fellow officers this week, accused of extorting money from two American tourists who happened to be San Francisco cops on holiday.
"One of the victims identified the officers and they are under administrative arrest for now," a police spokesperson in Rio said. The crime-ridden city is swarming with tourists for the Pan American Games, which end tomorrow.
The US tourists were leaving a nightclub in Rio's Copacabana beach neighbourhood before dawn on Wednesday, when two uniformed police officers approached them and searched them for drugs. At night, the neighbourhood is a red-light district with several brothels and strip joints. Although no drugs were found, the officers told the tourists they would have to pay a bribe or be arrested.
One of the Americans went back to their hotel to fetch the equivalent of some $2 200 (R15 700) in local and foreign currency. The Brazilian policemen then took off with the money and an MP3 player.
Corruption is rife in Rio's police force despite the authorities' efforts to root out bad cops. Officers, who often have to confront well-armed drug gangs, complain they are underpaid and many have to moonlight as private security guards to make ends meet.
Policing in Rio has been heavily reinforced in the last three weeks during the Pan American Games. No major incidents have been reported after months of daily gunbattles in the city's sprawling hillside slums. - Reuters

US: FBI Corruption

2007-07-28T09:40:00.001-07:00

GLOBE EDITORIAL
Framed by the feds

July 28, 2007

IN 1968, FBI agents in Boston framed Joseph Salvati, Peter Limone, Louis Greco, and Henry Tameleo for a mob-related murder they didn't commit and rubbed out any chance the men might have had to pursue even a semblance of normal life. This week, US District Judge Nancy Gertner did what she could to make them whole when she ordered the government to pay $101.7 million to the wrongfully imprisoned men and their families.
Gertner could barely hide her contempt for the government's claim that the FBI had no duty to tell state prosecutors that a key witness in the case, Joseph "The Animal" Barboza, had falsely implicated the four men while protecting one of the true killers, FBI informant Vincent Flemmi. Gertner called the government's position "absurd." The question now is whether the US Justice Department will drag out its clown show by either pursuing an appeal or attempting to whittle down the judgment, which may be a record award for a suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
If federal law enforcement has learned anything from this case, they will apologize to the parties and pay the judgment.
In the 1960s, corruption oozed out of the Boston FBI office. It was the perfect operating environment for former FBI agents Dennis Condon and H. Paul Rico, who cared more about collecting informants than solving crimes. In these cases, and cases to follow in the 1970s and '80s, FBI agents would prove to be without conscience when it came to cutting bargains with criminals and covering their tracks. Former FBI agent John Connolly was a product of this toxic culture. In 2002, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for protecting two mobsters, including fugitive mobster James "Whitey" Bulger, who is a suspect in 19 murders.
The public is under no illusion that the four wronged men were choirboys. Tameleo and Limone were alleged members of the mob. Salvati and Greco were known to police. But the only relevant point is that the men spent decades in prison for a crime they didn't commit, and all because the FBI deliberately withheld evidence and covered up the injustice. And vindication came too late for Tameleo and Greco, who died behind bars in 1985 and 1995, respectively.
There is some comfort in knowing that the Boston breakdown led to new guidelines for federal law enforcement agencies on the handling of informants. And it should also be noted that the exculpatory evidence supporting Gertner's judgment was uncovered in 2000 by a diligent FBI task force working to trace the corruption in the Boston office. As required of sworn agents, they quickly turned over the material to defense attorneys.
The sad part is that such an honest act would be noteworthy at all.
© Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

China: Health department corruption

2007-07-28T09:38:00.000-07:00

New moves to guide buying of medical equipment
By Shan Juan (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-07-28 10:03

The Ministry of Health will get professional advice in the purchase of medical equipment in a bid to clean up the corruption-plagued healthcare sector.
A 800-member team of medical and healthcare experts has been formed by the China Medical Equipment Association (CMEA), under the ministry.
The team is tasked with securing quality medical equipment at reduced costs.
"The team will draw up a recommended list of medical equipment after examination of information provided by manufacturers about their products," said CMEA Director Li Banling.
The assessment will take into consideration the practical needs of all involved partners, including the government, hospitals and medical equipment manufacturers, Li said.
To guarantee an open, fair assessment, members of the team will be randomly selected for each task.
"No medical institution above county level will be allowed to evade the purchasing conducted by the medical authorities," said Zhao Zilin, director of the ministry's Budget and Financial Planning Department.
Each item of equipment bought by hospitals must be on the recommended list, he said.
"The ultimate goal is to benefit the general public in terms of a reduction in health expenditure," Zhao said.
China's total medical health expenditure was more than 800 billion yuan in 2006, according to official statistics. About half of it was shouldered by patients.
Healthcare insiders said many medical institutions purchase unnecessary state-of-the-art equipment, to realize fat profits from patients.
To relieve the burden on the public from over-priced health services, the government has kept capping the price of a variety of medicines, but not the fees for physical check-ups.
The government will invite bids and use competitive negotiations in its collective purchasing of equipment, to be undertaken by the Ministry's International Communication and Cooperation Center.
"All stakeholders, the government and the producers alike, should practice self discipline to jointly contribute to 'transparent purchasing'," said Li Hongshan, director of the center.
Gerard Kleisterlee, Philips' president and chief executive officer, said he expects the market to grow about 10 per cent over the next three years, making it the third-largest medical equipment market, after the United States and Japan.
In the next five to seven years, the Chinese market is expected to surpass Japan to become the world's second-largest medical equipment market.

US: Philadelphia Corruption & Mayor Gives Up iPhone Wait Confronted With 200th Murder Statistic

2007-07-28T07:23:00.000-07:00

Former Philadelphia Treasurer Corey Kemp was among three people convicted Monday. Joseph Kaczmarek, AP

Ex-Philly treasurer gets 10-year sentence

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The city's former treasurer was sentenced to 10 years in prison on corruption charges Tuesday in a federal investigation that came to light when an FBI bug was discovered in the mayor's office.
Corey Kemp was found guilty in May of taking part in a scheme to trade city contracts for gifts, favors and cash.
The case hinged on telephone calls, secretly recorded by the FBI over nine months, in which Kemp and Democratic fundraiser Ronald A. White talked about shaking down businessmen for contributions and other payments.
The FBI also bugged Mayor John F. Street's City Hall office, but the device was discovered shortly after it was put into place. Prosecutors said they unearthed no evidence that Street committed a crime, and he was not charged.
U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson's sentence for Kemp was harsher than even what prosecutors were seeking — about eight years in prison. Kemp's attorneys had asked for no more than about three years.
Two Commerce Bank executives also were convicted in the case and will be sentenced in September.
A series of related federal probes of government officials have resulted in convictions of more than a dozen people. White died while awaiting trial.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.

Three found guilty in Philadelphia corruption case

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia's former treasurer was convicted Monday of more than 20 counts for taking free trips, Super Bowl tickets and other lavish gifts from people seeking city contracts.
Jurors reached the verdicts on their 19th day of deliberations in the case, which stemmed from a wide-ranging federal probe of municipal corruption.
Corey Kemp, the former treasurer, was charged with corrupting his office by accepting thousands of dollars worth of gifts from a lawyer and prolific Democratic fundraiser named Ronald A. White. Investigators said Kemp got a new deck for his house, an all-expenses paid trip to see the 2003 Super Bowl, free meals and parties in his honor, along with $10,000.
The investigation made headlines on Oct. 7, 2003, when city police discovered a listening device that FBI agents had hidden above the desk of Mayor John F. Street. The mayor was not charged.
Two Commerce Bank executives, Stephen Umbrell and Glenn Holck, were accused of participating in the scheme to corrupt Kemp by arranging for their bank to overlook his bad credit history and give him a mortgage equal to 100% of the value of his new home.
All three were convicted of the main conspiracy charge. Two other co-defendants, Detroit businessman La-Van Hawkins and White's mistress, Janice Knight, were acquitted of that charge but convicted of lesser charges.
Hawkins was convicted of perjury and Knight was found guilty of misusing public welfare-to-work money and making false statements.
The jury had signaled last week that it was having trouble reaching agreement on all counts.
On Thursday and Friday, jurors asked U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson and his staff a series of questions, culminating with a note that said, "What do we do if we have exhausted deliberations on one count and cannot reach unanimity?"
White died of cancer in November while awaiting trial.
The bugging came in the waning weeks of Street's hotly contested re-election campaign, but didn't hurt his standing in the polls. Street defeated his Republican opponent.
This spring, FBI agents revealed that they had placed the bug in an attempt to learn whether Street and White had conspired to trade city contracts for campaign contributions.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Philly prosecutors indict 12 in corruption probe

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A former city treasurer, a powerful city lawyer and 10 others were indicted Tuesday in a municipal corruption investigation that became public when a bugging device was discovered in the mayor's office.
It is the second round of indictments to come out of the investigation.
The latest indictment alleges that in 2002 and 2003, attorney Ronald A. White gave cash and gifts worth tens of thousands of dollars to then-Treasurer Corey Kemp to influence which financial services companies were selected to handle bond transactions for the city.
The gifts included a $10,350 deck for Kemp's house and a trip to the 2003 Super Bowl in San Diego, prosecutors said. White collected more than $630,000 in fees for his work on city bond deals during Kemp's tenure, prosecutors said.
The probe became public in October, when police conducting a security sweep discovered an FBI listening device in the City Hall office of Mayor John F. Street. Street has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
However, the mayor is mentioned several times in the indictment and U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan said Tuesday that Street "allowed White to wield the power, the corrupt power, that he did. That's not to say that the mayor committed a crime."
According to the indictment, Street told his staff that if White or companies he touted appeared to be qualified for city work, "the staff members should award the city business White sought and provide White with inside information ... regarding the operations of city agencies otherwise unavailable to the public."
Street said he never instructed anyone to give sensitive information to White or anyone else, and disavowed any knowledge of criminal activity by White or Kemp.
"I've been careful not to do anything wrong and I've tried very hard to guard against even the appearance of any impropriety," the mayor said.
"I said at the time that the bug was found in my office that I was very, very comfortable that I had done nothing wrong, and that they would find no corruption, no sex and no profanity, and I stand by those statements."
Kemp was charged with 46 counts, while White faces 34 counts. Each faces hundreds of years in prison if convicted on all counts.
Two Commerce Bank-Pennsylvania officials were also charged with making improper loans to Kemp, and two former J.P. Morgan executives were charged with arranging for White to submit an invoice for $50,000 for phantom legal work.
Attorneys for White, Kemp and Commerce Bank did not immediately return calls.
On June 2, a federal grand jury indicted five people, including the wife of a politically connected Muslim cleric, on fraud charges. They allegedly stole about $224,000 through a sham adult-education program.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Mayor John F. Street

Street chided as Philly murder rate rises

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA - Mayor John F. Street drew cheers during his first months in office, dispatching squadrons of beeping tow trucks and helmeted demolition crews to clear out thousands of abandoned cars and dilapidated buildings.
But as his second and final term draws to a close, the sound of progress has been drowned out by the noise of gunfire and a chorus of critics who say the mayor has seemingly disappeared in the face of a rising murder rate.
"In the second part of his tenure, he didn't come out to do what you have to do," said Elsie Wise, the head of a community council in West Philadelphia. "He's not putting his best foot forward now. He's out."
In interviews with nearly two dozen community leaders, The Associated Press found abundant discontent with the mayor. Some critics said he appeared fatigued after nearly 30 years in politics. Others wondered whether his administration had been hurt by a long corruption investigation that ensnared some of his closest associates.
Street, 63, was once a fiery community activist and then served nearly 20 years on the City Council before being elected mayor in 1999.
The spike in public criticism helped draw him out Monday for a rare appearance at a crime scene - a triple homicide at a West Philadelphia bar.
What started as a plea for witnesses to step forward turned into a nearly hourlong defense of his efforts to deal with almost daily gunfire, including an astonishing 36 shootings in a 72-hour period this past weekend.
"I think I have to do everything that's reasonable that a city can do to deal with these problems," Street said. "We'd like to think this is one of those silver bullet things. It isn't."
Last year, the city had 406 homicides. With more than 235 already recorded this year, the city is on pace to set a high for the decade. Street said it would have been worse if not for his initiatives, including opening 11 centers for processing curfew violators and hiring truancy officers and 200 additional police.
Supporters say the mayor's hands are tied by the Legislature's refusal to let Philadelphia impose tougher gun laws, including a one-handgun-a-month sales limit.
"Certain things are beyond his control," said Bilal Qayyum, a co-chairman of Men United for a Better Philadelphia.
But most other community leaders describe the mayor as distracted or aloof and believe he can do more, even if gun laws cannot be changed.
Tom Peters, co-owner of three popular downtown bars, is among those stuck on the much-publicized image of Street spending hours waiting in line for an iPhone, starting in the middle of the night. At one point, the mayor left the line when a heckler challenged him about the spike in violence.
"He's sitting in line waiting to buy a new iPhone when we have the highest murder rate that I hope we're ever going to have," Peters said.
Some observers believe Street's troubles began after his primary policing effort ran into funding problems. That program, dubbed Operation Safe Streets, helped close more than 300 open-air drug markets, but eventually proved unfeasible because it required millions of dollars in police overtime.
Perhaps the best evidence of widespread frustration with Street came in May, when a Democratic mayoral candidate running largely on an anti-Street platform swept to victory over four other candidates.
Former City Councilman Michael Nutter, a longtime Street foe, will be the overwhelming favorite against Republican Al Taubenberger in November.
Nutter said he will use "stop, question and frisk" searches to fight crime in violent neighborhoods. He said Street never laid out a clear crime plan and instead issued "a series of uncoordinated announcements responding to the overnight news."
Others believe Street is languishing in part because of fallout from the corruption scandal uncovered on the eve of his re-election in 2003, when an FBI bug was found during a security sweep of his City Hall office.
The mayor was never charged, but nearly two dozen people were convicted, including the mayor's treasurer, a close associate and a top fund-raiser.
"He has too much of a cloud of corruption over his head to be an effective mayor," said Marvin Pixley, owner of Ten Stone Bar & Restaurant downtown. "People don't trust him, people don't believe him."
Street insists he has not received enough credit for his behind-the-scenes work - including visits to each of the city's police districts and efforts to work with mayors in other cities to seek tougher gun laws.
"We are fighting an attitude," he said.

Mayor Gets iPhone, Earful Over Campout,
Street waited in the rain for the hottest new gadget

Mayor Street greets a fast food advertising mascot passing by the line outside the AT&T store this morning. The mayor was third in line to purchase Apple´s new iPhone, which goes on sale at 6 p.m. Tom Gralish / Inquirer Staff Photographer

Street in and out in quest for latest phone
By David O’Reilly and Katie Stuhldreher
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

Mayor Street greets a fast food advertising mascot passing by the line outside the AT&T store this morning. The mayor was third in line to purchase Apple's new iPhone, which goes on sale at 6 p.m.
The mayor has left the sidewalk. Now, he's returned for 45 minutes. Then gone at 2 p.m. for a meeting at City Hall.
And so it goes for Mayor John Street in his quest for an Apple iPhone, which he said he plans to buy with his own money.
Street said he will return around 5 p.m. depending upon on how long his business obligations at city hall take.
After sitting and standing in line since 3:30 a.m., waiting for the device to go on sale at 6 p.m. today at an AT&T store, he responded to critics who lambasted him for wasting city time.
When asked whether he was concerned about perceptions that he was shirking his duties as mayor of the nation's sixth-largest city, Street replied:
"No, I wasn't worried that people think that. People need to be more educated. There's a time when people had to be at a certain place to do their jobs and now you can be almost anyplace and work somewhere else."
Street said his staff "knows how to reach me."
He also said he didn't want to "pull strings" to get a phone.
A member of Street's security staff is now camped out on Ranstead Street near 16th Street, saving a spot for the mayor. He was third in line from the doors to the store.
The line itself was modest - at 2 p.m. it numbered slightly more than than 20.
People in line said it was "cool" that the mayor was waiting in line just like everyone else.
Leonard F. Johnson, first in line since 6 a.m. Thursday said: "Everyone deserves a personal day. Next people are going to be asking him to account for his bathroom breaks."
Johnson said Street is "a lame duck. He isn't even running for office anymore."
At 11:30 this morning, just before he left his station for the first time, Street declared: "I'm taking care of my business. By 4 a.m., I sent my first e-mail to my chief of staff. I was doing my job while the city was sleeping. I have my Blackberry with me."
Street, an unabashed fan of new technology, said he had sent about 30 e-mails while waiting outside the store.
"I think it's not a bad thing for a person who needs that device to sit and wait. I could have used influence to get one, but I don't work that way."
Just before his remarks, 22-year-old city activist Larry West of Mount Airy confronted the mayor.
"How can you sit here with 200 murders in the city already?" West asked.
Street announced: "I'm doing my job."
He then left for City Hall, returned to his post on the street for about 45 minutes, and then left for City Hall again. He said he would be back before the doors opened for the iPhone sale.
The aide, meanwhile, declined to be identified.
"I'm just holding a spot for the mayor," he said.
Contact staff writer David O'Reilly at 215-854-5723 or doreilly@phillynews.com.

Alejandro A. Alvarez/Daily News

Editorial | Waiting for an iPhone
Mayor Wi-Fi sends a mixed signal
By camping out for an iPhone, Mayor Street put Philadelphia on the world's radar screen last week - even as he was pilloried in his own town.

At one point in Street's 15-hour wait for an Apple phone, a passer-by asked how the mayor could lust after a gadget while the bodies of the city's murder victims piled up. Democratic nominee Michael Nutter even joined in, unwisely, saying, "There are a few things that are critically important to being mayor of the city of Philadelphia vs. getting a phone."
In print and online, though, readers as far away as Australia were told of Street's iPhone quest - mostly without the dose of Negadelphia attytood. In a blog posting, AppleInsider.com applauded, "Kudos to Mr. Street."
How was it that the farther you got from Philadelphia, the better Street's early-adopter status looked? One theory: For some folks, the often-prickly mayor can do no right. Doesn't matter that Street has put in many a long, long day at City Hall.
But other Philadelphians could have been won over had Street done a better job of framing the whole affair, and making it fit into a positive narrative about his city.
In that sense, this incident encapsulated a key failing of the Street team: assuming public relations is just fluff. No, it's how a mayor tells his city's story and gets people to buy into its future.
In this case, Street's love of gadgets is not just a personal quirk. It has led him to spearhead the nation's most ambitious municipal Internet initiative. He plans to cover the city's 135 square miles with a low-cost wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) signal. Not only that, the Wireless Philadelphia project is mounting a stellar effort to bridge the digital divide by getting computers and training to low-income residents.
Who better than Street to grab an iPhone and demonstrate how he can surf the Web from any street corner? He missed a chance to more clearly link his iPhone purchase to the Wi-Fi initiative, blunting criticism.
For his part, Nutter may come to regret piling on, once he experiences firsthand how readily Philadelphians indulge in armchair criticism of a mayor's every move.
This, as Michael Jack Schmidt once put it, is the city where you experience the thrill of victory - and then the agony of reading about it the next day.

Philadelphia Mayor Gives Up iPhone Wait After Being Confronted With 200th Murder Statistic
By RUBINA MADAN
Associated Press Writer

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Mayor John F. Street abruptly ended his wait in line for an iPhone Friday after a passer-by asked him about the city's murder rate.
Street, who showed up outside an AT&T store at 3:30 a.m., left shortly after a 22-year-old sporting a mohawk asked him, "How can you sit here with 200 murders in the city already?" The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on its Web site.
Street told the man: "I'm doing my job," the newspaper said.
Street had planned to stay in line for most of the day, waiting for Apple Inc.'s iPhone to go on sale at 6 p.m. When he left at 11:30 a.m., Street said he planned to return to his spot.
The mayor said he wants the new device because he loves trying out the latest technology. Apple's new handheld would allow him to work some of the day outside the office, he said.
"We don't have to be sitting in City Hall to be conducting city business," he said.
Philadelphia recently had its 200th slaying of the year. Its murder rate is up from last year, the deadliest in nearly a decade.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Zambia: Anti-drug chief probed

2007-07-28T07:12:00.000-07:00

Zambia probes anti-drug chief

15:29, July 28, 2007
Zambia is investigating commissioner of the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) and his deputy for alleged abuse of authority of office concerning financial misappropriation, Zambia Daily Mail reported Saturday.
It quoted Nixon Banda, director general of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), as saying here Friday that the ACC is indeed investigating allegations of suspected abuse office against DEC chief Ryan Chitoba and his deputy Jacob Koyi.
He also said they are investigating Southern province Minister Joseph Mulyata for alleged abuse of authority of office involving the release of an overloaded bus impounded by the Road Development Agency.
During the second quarter of this year ACC received 523 corruption reports with Lusaka recording the highest at 271, while Mongu, capital of Western province, recorded the lowest at 17, he said.
He said complaints against officials in the government ministries, departments and agencies have reached 444 this year while complaints against the private sector are 222.

Source: Xinhua

Australia: AWB scandal and the Iraq war

2007-07-21T09:26:00.000-07:00

Day of judgement: John Howard became the first prime minister in 23 years to give evidence to a major federal inquiry. Photo: Glen McCurtayne

Howard's day in the hot seat

By Dan Silkstone, Sydney
April 13, 2006

PRIME Minister John Howard called an independent inquiry last October to investigate whether AWB had breached Australian laws by paying kickbacks to Iraq. Yesterday, the inquiry called him.
At 10am today, in a crammed hearing room in central Sydney, Mr Howard will appear before the Cole inquiry. He will be the first Australian prime minister to front a top-level commission since Bob Hawke testified at the Hope royal commission on intelligence agencies in 1983.
Mr Howard has consistently said he is happy to appear if sought by the commission, stressing he has nothing to hide and knew nothing about the $290 million in kickbacks that the United Nations says AWB paid to Iraq.
In a brief statement issued yesterday, Mr Howard said: "The Cole commission of inquiry has requested that I appear at its hearings. As I have said previously, I am happy to do so."
When he appears today at the commission, Mr Howard will come face to face with an old acquaintance. He attended law school at Sydney University in the 1950s alongside commissioner Terence Cole.
Although the two men were not close, they were keen debaters. But while Mr Cole captained the debating team, sources say Mr Howard was in the second-string line-up.
The Prime Minister's oratory skills have improved since then, and he will need them when he is examined by counsel assisting the inquiry, John Agius SC.
Mr Agius has shown during examination of Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer that he will not hesitate to ask probing questions of the nation's most powerful men
Terry Forrest, QC, appearing for a string of AWB executives, has also applied for permission to cross-examine Mr Howard.Unlike Mr Vaile and Mr Downer, who both had direct ministerial responsibility for overseeing AWB's dealings, Mr Howard is unlikely to be quizzed to the same degree about why he and his staff failed to identify kickback payments and stop them continuing.
But the Prime Minister will face awkward questions about whether he received several warnings about Iraq's rorting of sanctions and allegations that AWB might be involved, which were cabled to his office by diplomats or supplied by intelligence agencies.
Both Mr Downer and Mr Vaile struggled to explain to the inquiry this week why they had not seen the intelligence data or 21 crucial cables sent to their offices. Mr Vaile said he had no recollection of seeing the warnings and no idea why he had not seen them. Mr Downer gave a more considered defence, offering several reasons why he missed the warnings and saying his staff "did a good job".
Cables sent to Mr Howard's office include the January 2000 warning from a Foreign Affairs and Trade employee at the UN, Bronte Moules, that the UN had received allegations from Canada of AWB kickbacks and asking the Australian Government to investigate "at a high level".
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley repeated calls for Mr Howard to expand the inquiry's powers to allow findings against the Government, suggesting the Prime Minister might have seen some of the warnings that passed through his office.
"Cables that dealt with Iraqi sanctions are cables that should have ended up on the Prime Minister's desk," Mr Beazley said. "And I've got to tell you I think they did."
Mr Howard's office was also sent intelligence material in 2002 warning that Iraq was charging 10 per cent fees on all imports under the UN oil-for-food program and fees were paid through Jordanian bank accounts.
The Government department Mr Howard oversees was sent even more extensive intelligence. The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet was told in 1998 that trucking company Alia was owned by the Iraqi Government and was involved in breaching UN sanctions. It received intelligence in 2000 that kickbacks were being disguised as "transport fees".
The UN's Volcker report last year revealed AWB as the largest supplier of kickbacks to Iraq — funnelling $290 million disguised as transport fees, through Alia, to Saddam Hussein.
The Prime Minister is also likely to be quizzed about the apparently cosy relationship between the Government and AWB.
The commission has heard that the Government repeatedly defended the wheat exporter against allegations of improper dealings and coached its executives on how to respond to the Volcker inquiry investigators.
According to notes tendered to the commission, former AWB managing director Andrew Lindberg stated last year that a foreign policy adviser to Mr Howard, Paul O'Sullivan, had advised him to keep AWB's answers to UN investigators "narrow" and "technical".

PRIME Minister John Howard

Probe on wheat sales to Iraq
By Caroline Overington
New York Correspondent

April 29, 2004

The Australian Wheat Board's long and lucrative relationship with Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq will be examined as part of a United Nations investigation into the discredited and defunct oil-for-food program.
The UN will consider whether any of the money Iraq paid Australia for wheat was "kicked back" illegally to Saddam's regime by third parties who helped facilitate the deals - in Australia's case, by a Jordanian trucking company.
An AWB spokesman in Melbourne, Peter McBride, said the Wheat Board was "completely unaware of any corruption. Our contracts were completely under the terms provided by the UN."
Mr McBride said the UN insisted the Wheat Board's contracts with Iraq include the use of a third party to provide "inland transport" - that is, trucks to get the wheat around Iraq.
Saddam's Iraqi Grains Board (now defunct) provided the AWB with the name of its "preferred company" and the AWB used that company - a Jordanian trucking company - for all its contracts.
Mr McBride said questions about the legitimacy of this company were "questions for the UN".
The UN Security Council last week named a three-person independent panel to investigate allegations that UN officials mishandled the oil-for-food program, allowing Saddam to pocket billions of dollars illegally.
The allegation is that Saddam's government used the program to extract billions of dollars from companies that wanted to do business with Iraq, leaving his people short of food and medicines, while blaming the UN sanctions for those shortages.
One of Saddam's schemes was to order vendors to inflate their prices by 10 per cent and "kick back" the excess to his government.
The Age this week obtained some of the contracts that the AWB signed with Iraq under the oil-for-food program, which began operating in December 1996 to enable Saddam to sell oil to buy food and humanitarian goods, such as medicine.
One of those contracts shows that, three months before the war, the AWB signed a deal to provide 525,000 tonnes of wheat to Iraq for €280 ($A455) a tonne.
US wheat industry sources who examined the contract said the price was about $US30 ($A41) a tonne higher than world wheat prices at the time.
Mr McBride said the price "might seem" high because it included the cost of paying a third party - the unnamed Jordanian trucking company - to transport the wheat to mills around Iraq.
Contracts that involve third parties are of particular interest to oil-for-food program investigators, since an Iraqi Oil Ministry official, Faleh Khawaji, has
told The New York Times that Iraq would make a deal with a supplier, then say: "Give us another 10 per cent."
"The Western companies would say: 'I can't do it. I've got a board, how do I get around the auditors?' " Mr Khawaji said. "And somebody would tell them there are companies in Jordan willing to do this for you."
Mr McBride said the AWB had never agreed to kick back money to Saddam's regime, directly or indirectly. "We used a Jordanian trucking company to do that (transport wheat) on our behalf." He said he was "unaware of any relationship between them and the Saddam regime. I actually do not know what their relationship was. All we did was pay them a reasonable fee to transport the grain in Iraq."
He said the trucking company had "the approval of the UN".
After Saddam was deposed, coalition forces examined outstanding oil-for-food contracts and asked many vendors to take 10 per cent off their prices.
Mr McBride said Australia had been asked to renegotiate some of its wheat contracts, "but they are commercial in confidence, so we don't discuss (what happened to the) price".
Congressman Chris Shays, who is leading a US House of Representatives investigation into the oil-for-food program, told reporters on his return from Iraq this week that Saddam skimmed $US10 billion from the program. Mr Shays said he had evidence that "everyone who participated in this program benefited. You were not a player unless you were giving something to Saddam."
A member of the Egyptian Parliament, Emad Geldah, also said businesses had "no choice" but to follow Iraq's instructions. "If you wanted to do business with Iraq, these were the conditions you had to abide by," he said.
In September 2002, the Coalition for International Justice in Washington named the Australian Wheat Board as "the main exporter to Iraq, with contracts worth more than twice those obtained by any other single company". The second largest supplier was the Vietnam Northern Food Corporation, which supplied rice to Iraq.
At least three other bodies are investigating alleged corruption and fraud in the oil-for-food program, including the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the House of Representatives Committee on International Relations and the Iraqi Governing Council in Baghdad.
The scandal over the program erupted in January when the Iraqi newspaper Al-Mada named 270 dignitaries, officials and journalists from 46 countries who allegedly received bribes under the program.
Program director Benon Sevan, who has been accused of being directly involved in the corruption, is due to retire from the UN, but Secretary-General Kofi Annan says he will co-operate with any investigation.

The Australian Wheat Board scandal and the Iraq war
By Mike Head
28 February 2006

After seven weeks of damning evidence from the Howard government’s Cole inquiry, the real issue in the scandal over the Australian Wheat Board’s payment of $300 million worth of bribes to Saddam Hussein’s regime is not whether Prime Minister John Howard and his ministers knew about the kickbacks. That has certainly proved to be the case.
Testimony and documents presented to the inquiry have revealed nearly 20 occasions on which Australian Wheat Board (AWB) executives and various officials told senior government ministers or their advisors of the payments. Last week came the most incriminating document so far—a now-declassified secret cable sent from a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) officer attached to the UN in New York warning that AWB had been asked by Iraq to pay “port fees” of 50 US cents a tonne and that such fees would breach UN sanctions.
Sent in April 2001, the cable was addressed to Prime Minister John Howard, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, Trade Minister Mark Vaile and a raft of senior public servants from the Defence Intelligence Organisation and several government departments, including Defence and DFAT. The briefing, which the government deliberately hid from the public for five years, made clear that the illegal “port fees” was “linked to wider concerns about circumvention of the sanctions regime”.
Yet Howard, after initially saying last week he did not recall seeing the cable, then declared there was nothing in it that should have raised alarm bells in his office. He also insisted that the cable did not actually prove that the government knew illicit payments were being made. The truth is that Howard and his ministers had no intention of doing anything that would jeopardise lucrative Australian wheat sales to Iraq.
Howard’s response is in line with his government’s standard modus operandi—leave the implementation of the government’s dirty work in the hands of senior officials (in this case AWB executives) and make sure that no paper trail is left of its involvement. Responsibility can then be denied on the basis that government ministers knew nothing.
Whatever evidence ultimately emerges, the real issue in the AWB case—on which the mass media is totally silent—is what it further demonstrates about the utter hypocrisy behind the official fabrications brought forward to justify the invasion and occupation of Iraq. All the time that Canberra was falsely accusing Saddam Hussein of breaching UN resolutions, it was systematically violating the UN oil-for-food program to maintain its long and profitable relations with the Baghdad government.
For the Howard government (like the Hawke Labor government in the first Gulf War of 1990-91), the paramount consideration in joining the Iraq war was securing the strategic, diplomatic and commercial interests of the Australian corporate elite. That meant, first and foremost, lining up closely with the United States, the military and economic power on which Australian ruling circles have relied for protection since World War II. But it also meant grabbing every possible slice of the lucrative Iraqi cake—oil rights, construction contracts and agricultural markets—sometimes in fierce competition with US rivals.
As the World Socialist Web Site reported in May 2003, as soon as US-led troops took control of Baghdad the Howard government moved to claim the rewards of its participation in the illegal invasion. In late May 2003, Trade Minister Vaile led a delegation of executives from 10 major Australian construction, engineering, and oil and gas companies to the US for talks with American officials and corporate executives.
The delegation, which included senior figures from BHP, Santos, Multiplex, Clough Engineering, Australian Power and Water, and Woodside Petroleum, held discussions with American firms awarded reconstruction contracts from USAID (Agency for International Development). Vaile was quite unabashed about the money-making prospects. “Ultimately there’s going to be billions of dollars spent in the whole rehabilitation and reconstruction process,” he noted.
When it came to wheat, the government was under strong pressure from Australian farming groups to ensure that the valuable Iraqi market was not lost to the US. Before the first Gulf War, the US exported almost one million tonnes of wheat annually to Iraq, but these shipments were cut off under the sanctions imposed on Baghdad. Australian growers then took advantage of the 1996 oil-for-food program to recapture two-thirds of the Iraqi market, worth $A839 million to Australia in 2002.
For all the cynical rhetoric about rebuilding Iraq and establishing democracy, the US-installed Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was largely concerned with carving up the spoils of war, while it suppressed resistance to the occupation. When the Bush administration appointed Dan Amstutz, a former senior executive of Cargill Corporation, the largest grain exporter in the world, and former president of the North American Grain Export Association, to lead the CPA’s agricultural section, the Howard government countered by nominating two senior AWB executives.
Both the Australian appointees—former AWB chairman Trevor Flugge and AWB executive Michael Long—had been in leading positions in the AWB when it paid bribes to the Saddam Hussein regime. Their top priority in occupied Iraq was to make sure that outstanding contracts worth more than $US250 million signed by the AWB before the invasion were honoured and that the AWB retained its place in the Iraqi market.
Their activities extended to Long using his posting at the Iraqi Ministry of Trade to save the position of Yusef Adbul Rahman, the former head of the Iraq Grains Board with whom the AWB had arranged its previous kickbacks. With the help of the Australians, Rahman survived the initial “de-Baathification” drive by the US to purge the Iraqi administration of all Baath Party officials.
Howard was fully aware of the purpose of the tasks undertaken by his representatives. He admitted in parliament last week that Flugge was sent to Iraq “because our principal concern at that time was to stop American wheatgrowers from getting our markets”.
It is little wonder that the Howard government, through its aid agency AusAID, paid Flugge almost $1 million for his eight-month stay in Iraq. The stakes were high, with nearly $US10 billion in contracts, including the wheat deals, up for renegotiation by the CPA.
AWB contracts worth about $US270 million were directly threatened by a June 2003 memorandum that went around all Iraqi ministries asking them to “identify which [food-for-oil] contracts have a kickback or surcharge (often 10 percent)”. Documents unearthed in the Iraqi ministries after the invasion had confirmed in detail the kickbacks paid to the old regime disguised as “trucking fees”, “port charges”, “after sales service fees” and “surcharges”.
The last two contracts that AWB signed before the war contained the biggest kickbacks of all, worth a total of about $US73 million: $US45.50 per metric tonne for “trucking fees” and another 10 percent “surcharge” of the whole value of the contract. In part, these contracts were designed to siphon a further $US8 million out of the UN-held funds and deliver it to Tigris Petroleum, a company linked to BHP, one of Australia’s largest transnationals, which had sent wheat shipments to Iraq in breach of UN sanctions in 1995, seeking to secure oil drilling concessions.
One exchange of correspondence about these contracts illustrates the intimate relationship between the AWB and the government. For the record, DFAT, which reports to Foreign Minister Downer, wrote to the AWB in mid-2003 asking politely for comment on the Baghdad documents showing the extent of the AWB and other bribes. AWB executive Chris Whitwell replied by asking for the department’s assistance to get the contracts honoured as a payoff for joining the “Coalition of the Willing”. He asked: “Not too much to ask for a Coalition member?”
But in September 2003, a report by the US Defence Contract Audit Agency cited evidence that “illicit surcharges/kickbacks were standard practice for oil-for-food contracts”. The report named Australia and estimated “overpricing” in one AWB contract at nearly $US15 million. The US wheat lobby then launched a letter-writing campaign to President Bush and other politicians, charging that “AWB reaped an additional $US56 million gold mine at the expense of the Iraqi people, on top of their already excessive prices”.
Nevertheless, with the help of the Howard government and its representatives in Baghdad, the AWB managed to salvage its contracts. UN World Food Program authorities inflicted a 10 percent cut of $US27 million but allowed the $US45 million worth of “trucking fees” to survive. When AWB managing director Andrew Lindberg announced in September 2003 that the million-tonne shipments were finally going ahead, he gave “great credit to the unfailing support and assistance from ministers Vaile and Downer, officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and international government representatives”.
The wheat, paid for by the World Food Program, was shipped to Iraq throughout the following year, while AWB executives put aside a share of the proceeds for Tigris. Thus, with the government’s “unfailing support and assistance”, AWB not only salvaged its own contracts but also recovered the cash that BHP spent in its 1995 bid to evade the UN sanctions.
This sordid episode sums up the essential character of the AWB’s dealings in Iraq. It was an operation backed at the highest levels of the Howard government to ensure that AWB and other major Australian companies profited, at the expense of the misery inflicted on the people of Iraq by two US-led wars.
Throughout the 1990s, Australian naval ships, aircraft and troops helped enforce the sanctions that caused widespread starvation in Iraq, leading to an estimated two million deaths. After 1996, once these sanctions were modified to permit profitable “oil-for-food” deals, the Howard government was among the first in line to collaborate with the Baghdad regime, via the AWB, even as it prepared to go to war against Iraq. Having joined the invasion, Howard and co did not skip a beat—their immediate concern was to secure the contracts that AWB had signed with the ousted regime.

China: School administrators given corruption lesson in court

2007-07-21T09:05:00.000-07:00

School administrators given corruption lesson in court
20/7/2007 9:27 Xinhua

China's school administrators have been given a lesson in commercial corruption, which revealed "kickbacks" is the term to learn when it comes to publishing English textbooks.
The Ministry of Education announced on Tuesday that it had dealt with 577 cases of commercial corruption involving schools and universities in the past six years.
The corruption extended to 657 people, 414 of whom faced criminal prosecution, involved a total sum of 70 million yuan (US$9.22 million).
In most cases, the accused took kickbacks from textbook stores or publishers, producers of school instruments and suppliers of daily items to students, the ministry said.
Some were also bribed by companies tendering for construction projects at schools, it added.
According to earlier reports, 109 of the 115 colleges and universities in east China's Jiangsu Province were involved in commercial bribery.
Last year, Jiangsu's prosecutors, after two years of investigations, identified about 20 million yuan (US$2.63 million) in illegal earnings by college officials as kickbacks from publishing houses or bookstores.
Textbooks were sold to students at the cover prices, but schools usually got kickbacks worth 15 to 25 percent of the price from bookstores and even took 35 percent if the books came directly from publishers.
English textbooks were the most "lucrative", as the language was a compulsory course at college and many students wanted to improve their language skills.
Each student usually bought at least 200 yuan (US$26.3) of English textbooks at college and Jiangsu had about 1.2million college students. If schools took a 15-percent kickback, they would get up to 36 million yuan (US$4.7 million), Wu Jianchun, deputy head of the Jianye District People's Procuratorate, Nanjing City, was quoted as saying.
Schools were forced to tighten supervision of their purchasing departments and improve accounting systems, the ministry said.
The government launched a sustained drive against commercial corruption in the public sector in 2006.
Last year prosecutors investigated 9,582 commercial corruption cases involving 1.5 billion yuan (US$195 million) in illicit earnings.
The China Banking Regulatory Commission revealed Wednesday that it found 17.66 million yuan (US$2.33 million) implicated in commercial corruption in banks and financial institutions.
Last week the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council announced 76 commercial corruption cases involving large state-owned enterprises and about 18 million yuan (US$2.4 million).

China: UK & US Deadly toothpaste linked to corruption scandal

2007-07-21T08:58:00.000-07:00

Deadly toothpaste linked to corruption scandal

Lancashire Trading Standards fear there may be links between potentially deadly toothpaste and a Chinese corruption scandal.
The fake Sensodyne toothpaste, which contains an ingredient used in anti-freeze, has been seized across Lancashire, with investigating officers saying it could be circulating in Preston.
Residents have been warned not to use the toothpaste, which is likely to be on sale in discount stores, markets and car boot sales.
The toothpaste contains the same deadly chemical found in batches of contaminated toothpaste from China. The chemical, diethylene glycol, was also found in cough syrup blamed for the deaths of 50 people in Panama last year.
The warnings follow the execution of the former head of China's State Food and Drug Administration, who was convicted of taking bribes which led to tainted medicines and goods entering the world market.
Steve Brimble, Trading Standards' lead officer for safety, said: "We are making enquiries to find out where this has come from. It is possible this could have originated in China. But that is speculation.
"If consumers have purchased the counterfeit toothpaste they should stop using it immediately. Any retailers who have the counterfeit toothpaste in stock should ensure that it is removed from sale and must not sell it."
The fake toothpaste is in Sensodyne Original and Sensodyne Mint 50ml tubes. They have a batch code of 'PROD 07 2005/EXP 08 2008' and are labelled in English livery with Arabic text.
Genuine Sensodyne Mint paste is white, while the fake paste is green. In both the genuine Sensodyne Original and the fake, the paste is pink.
Genuine Sensodyne toothpaste only comes in English only with no Arabic text. Sensodyne Original bears a product licence number of PL 0036/5011 and is supplied in tubes of 45ml and 75ml.
Genuine Sensodyne Mint bears the product licence of PL 0079/0225 and is supplied in tubes of 45ml and 75ml and a 100ml pump pack.
The fake packs have no connection with the manufacturer of Sensodyne, GlaxoSmithKline. Legitimate Sensodyne, labelled only in English and sourced from authorised suppliers, is not defective and the public can continue to purchase and safely use these products.
leptv
Last Updated: 20 July 2007 3:30 PM

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/05/23/china.toothpaste.reut/index.html

U.S. checking all toothpaste imports from China

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. health officials are beginning to check all shipments of toothpaste coming from China, following reports of tainted products in other countries, a government spokesman said Wednesday.
The Food and Drug Administration has no evidence that contaminated toothpaste has made its way into the United States but is taking the step as a precaution, agency spokesman Doug Arbesfeld said.
China is the second-largest exporter of toothpaste to the United States behind Canada, according to the FDA.
The FDA's action comes after the lethal chemical diethylene glycol was found in toothpaste sold in the Dominican Republic and Panama.
It follows a wave of concern over pet food from China containing another toxic chemical, melamine, thought to have sickened thousands of U.S. cats and dogs and made its way into livestock feed.
"We are going to be sampling and testing all shipments of toothpaste that come from China," Arbesfeld said. "We're doing this as a precautionary measure. We have no evidence that toothpaste containing diethylene glycol has entered the country."
Tests on product pulled from shelves in Panama showed they contained high levels of diethylene glycol, used in engine coolants. Investigators in that country said two toothpaste brands were imported illegally from China through a free-trade zone.
Tainted toothpaste has also been reported in Australia, Arbesfeld said.
It was not immediately clear which brands of toothpaste sold in the Unites States are made in China.
Representatives of Colgate-Palmolive, maker of Colgate toothpaste, and Johnson & Johnson's McNeil-PPC Inc., which makes Rembrandt toothpaste, could not be immediately reached.
A Procter & Gamble spokeswoman said Crest brand toothpaste was American-made. A spokeswoman for GlaxoSmithKline Plc's consumer unit, which makes Aquafresh, had no immediate comment.
Chinese officials have said they plan to strengthen domestic food safety even as worries grow about its manufacturers' use of toxins and fake ingredients.
Earlier Wednesday, China called for an investigative team to probe the toothpaste incidents.
FDA's Arbesfeld said the U.S. agency is beginning its work immediately and will continue for 90 days, although that could be extended.
Arbesfeld added that the agency has been in contact with health officials in the other affected countries as well as China.

France: Chirac finally faces corruption allegations

2007-07-21T08:42:00.000-07:00

Chirac finally faces corruption allegations

· Ex-president questioned as immunity comes to end
· Party officials said to have been on Paris city payroll

Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
Friday July 20, 2007
The Guardian

The former French president Jacques Chirac was yesterday questioned by a judge over a party financing scandal dating back to his time as Paris mayor, the first time in modern France a former president has been quizzed in a corruption investigation.
Two months after he stepped down and his presidential immunity ended, Mr Chirac finally faced investigators who have been waiting for 12 years to question him over allegations that money was siphoned off the Paris city hall budget to pay workers for his own political party. It is the most serious of a string of potential legal problems facing the 74-year-old ex-president.
Mr Chirac has been haunted by sleaze allegations throughout his presidency - ranging from party funding to free air flights for his wife - but he has denied any involvement in or knowledge of the cases and could not be questioned due to his immunity as head of state.
An investigating judge arrived at Mr Chirac's new offices in Paris yesterday morning for more than four hours of questioning over the issue of improper party financing. The former president was questioned as a material witness. This means he was not formally under investigation but could later face charges if judges find signs of a criminal offence.
Mr Chirac also took the unusual step yesterday of publishing a column in Le Monde newspaper "clarifying" his position for the French people and explaining the ins and outs of party funding. He wrote that he would tell investigators that party financing had been in a legal no man's land for much of the period in which he was running Paris and all parties had been affected by this. "The politicians in charge at the time acted with integrity and with the general interest at heart," he said.
Dubbed the "fake jobs" affair, the scandal dates back to Mr Chirac's time as mayor of Paris between 1977 and 1995. During that period he was also leader of the Rally for the Republic party (RPR). Investigators believe workers for Mr Chirac's RPR party were put on the Paris city payroll for fake jobs, in an illegal scheme to help finance the party with taxpayers' money. They say the equivalent of millions of euros in salaries and fees were paid out to the party under the guise of fictitious jobs.
The inquiry has already claimed the scalp of one of Mr Chirac's closest allies. In 2004, Alan Juppé, the former prime minister and Chirac protege was convicted and given a 14-month suspended sentence and a year-long ban from politics.
The investigating judge, Alain Philibeaux, yesterday questioned Mr Chirac to establish how much he knew of the affair and determine any involvement. The judge's investigation has turned up a letter written in 1993 in which Mr Chirac requested a pay rise for a secretary who was paid by Paris city hall - but who actually worked at party headquarters.
Mr Chirac's lawyers described the interview session as "calm and courteous".
It remains unclear whether the former president will ever be tried in this or other legal cases, but they have already provided an unhappy postscript to his 40-year political career.
Further questions
Bogus advisers: A judge is investigating allegations that paid adviser posts were created while Mr Chirac was mayor, but no work was done.
Euralair: An inquiry into whether Bernadette Chirac - and possibly Mr Chirac himself - received free flights worth over €40,000.
Sempap: An investigation launched in 1997 into the alleged misuse of funds at Paris city's printers.
Mr Chirac has refused to be questioned over an alleged 2004 smear campaign against Nicolas Sarkozy, and allegations of a French state cover-up over the murder of a French judge in Djibouti in 1995.

UK: British 'Cash for Honors' Probe Ends; No One Charged

2007-07-21T08:13:00.000-07:00

British 'Cash for Honors' Probe Ends; No One Charged

By Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, July 21, 2007; A09

LONDON, July 20 -- British prosecutors said Friday they would not charge anyone in a high-profile campaign finance probe in which former prime minister Tony Blair became the first sitting British head of government to be questioned by police in a criminal investigation.
The 16-month investigation turned up "insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction," said Carmen Dowd, a top Crown Prosecution Service official, closing out the "cash for honors" probe into allegations that Blair's government offered seats in the House of Lords and other perks in exchange for large loans to the ruling Labor Party.
The investigation was a significant factor, along with the Iraq war, in Blair's sharply declining popularity in the final year of a decade-long tenure that ended with his resignation last month. Blair, who was interviewed by police three times, consistently maintained that the allegations of sleaze in his administration were groundless.
Four people were arrested and released without charge in the matter, including Michael Levy, Blair's chief fundraiser, and Ruth Turner, a close aide to the prime minister. Blair's chief of staff and other top aides were also questioned as the investigation shifted to whether Blair aides had tried to hinder police.
Prosecutors said Friday that they had found no evidence of a coverup or attempts to block the investigation.
Blair issued a statement saying that the case had ended "as I always expected it would."
"Those involved have been through a terrible, even traumatic time," Blair said. "Much of what has been written and said about them has been deeply unfair, and I am very pleased for all of them that it is now over."
Levy, smiling broadly, told reporters, "I think my face tells how I feel."
The investigation began in March 2006 with a police complaint filed by Angus MacNeil, a Scottish National Party legislator, alleging that the Labor Party had agreed to nominate several people to the House of Lords, the upper house of Parliament, in exchange for loans to the party.
Labor acknowledged that month that it had received about $28 million in undisclosed loans from donors before national elections in 2005. The Conservative Party also acknowledged that it had received about $32 million in undisclosed loans before those elections, and the Liberal Democrats said they had accepted nearly $1 million.
Although the loans were legal and there was no requirement to disclose them, the news caused opponents to question whether donors had been offered favors. In the subsequent probe, police said that they were looking at all parties, not just Labor.
In their decision Friday, detailed in a nine-page written statement, prosecutors said that in October 2005 the Blair government nominated to the House of Lords four people who had lent money to Labor before elections the previous May. But prosecutors concluded that there was "no direct evidence" that the nominations were made in return for the loans. They also said that each person nominated "was a credible candidate."
"This whole affair has diminished politics and politicians in the eyes of the public," said Menzies Campbell, leader of the Liberal Democrats.
Tony Travers, a professor at the London School of Economics, said in an interview that Friday's decision "certainly removes part of the shadow from Blair's legacy." But, he said, the British public still has a "general sense of sleaze" in politics and "collapsed trust in the political system." Many Britons would probably view the prosecutors' decision not to file charges as a "whitewash," he said.
Vernon Bogdanor, a professor of government at Oxford University, said the episode proves the need for public financing of British political parties, which is minimal under current law. "As long as the political parties rely on handouts from millionaires, there are going to be problems," he said in an interview.
Bogdanor said Blair worked hard to reduce Labor's reliance on trade unions, which once provided more than 70 percent of the party's political funds.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, speaking in Paris at a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said he hoped the decision would end "months of speculation" and vowed to "move ahead" with campaign finance law reform, without offering specifics. Under Blair, the government closed a loophole that exempted loans from campaign finance disclosure regulations.

'Cash for honours' ends: the corruption begins

By Charles Moore
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 21/07/2007

From start to yesterday's finish, the cash for honours row has always been about timing. For the whole history of peerages - that is to say, for more than 700 years - money has tended to help when you want a title. It may be naughty, but it is not new.
Tony Blair was unusual - and foolish - to get so personally involved in these matters, but in essence he did nothing unique. Why, then, did the Metropolitan Police decide to step in early last year? Some hailed the police involvement as a sign that not every institution in our society was under the thumb of the Blair junta. To me, it marks the moment when that thumb slipped.
The other Blair in this saga, Sir Ian, is now and was then the head of the Metropolitan Police. After the police shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube station in July 2005, Sir Ian's position became vulnerable.
Politically correct and politically astute, Sir Ian had devoted much time to expressing the right New Labourish sentiments at the expense of supporting his officers on the beat. His career had prospered. But after the July bombings, his language of appeasement no longer suited the grim mood. On his watch, more Londoners had been killed than in any terrorist incident ever. He could not now rely on the total support of Number 10.
A police investigation of the Prime Minister and his cronies was a guarantee of Sir Ian's job security. Number 10 could not push him out while Scotland Yard was probing them. The media, most of whom started life at Mr Blair's feet, had by now crawled up his body and found his throat. How they would have howled if the top copper had been removed at such a moment.
The police did not have to take seriously the obviously politically motivated complaint from an SNP MP that set their inquiry in motion. They could have taken refuge in the fact that Commons Public Administration select committee was looking into these matters. Instead of which, they effectively interrupted the committee's work.
Last November, deputy assistant commissioner John Yates wrote to the committee to explain why he was getting in their way. He spoke of "major developments". These have now vaporised.
By taking ages, conducting a dawn raid, arresting promiscuously and leaking dark suggestions of amazing evidence, the police gained control of the process. In a Blair versus Blair contest, it was Ian, and not Tony, who suddenly had time on his side.
You may remember that, although Tony Blair was very careful what he said in public about the case, the one thought he kept pushing was that he hoped the inquiries would end as soon as possible. He said this because he understood that, so long as they continued, he could not really run the country.
His opponents understood that, too. Brownites had extracted a public promise from Mr Blair in September 2004 that 2005 would be his last election, but they had long experience of Tony and promises. They wanted him out, on a timetable. So long as the investigation continued, he could not fight back.
Of course I am not suggesting that supporters of Mr Brown and officers of Sir Ian Blair conspired to pursue Tony Blair from office. Our political culture is neither so corrupt nor so obvious. My point is simply that their interests coincided.
In the same way, their interests coincide over the dropping of the case now. The work, after all, is done. What is the point of trying to get an ex-Prime Minister, or even an ex-Prime Minister's associates, into court?
The evidence of cash for honours appears to have been circumstantial, not direct: curry king/property developer gives/lends pile of dough to cash-strapped party, gets recommended for peerage. Scrutiny committee blocks peerages. This leaks. People draw their own conclusions, but you need much more than that in front of a jury.
And besides, as people seem to forget, the four lenders who were put up for peerages did not get them, so the whole thing feels hypothetical anyway.
But if a court case had gone ahead, everything would certainly have turned very nasty indeed within the Labour Party. Desperate people with nothing to lose would have been horribly frank. Pots would have shouted insults at kettles. The Blair-Brown feud would have gone on beyond, as it were, the grave. And which sane Prime Minister wants a precedent set in which prime ministers' careers end with wigs and gowns and handcuffs?
Now the case is dropped. Again, I am not suggesting that Mr Brown and Sir Ian, or Mr Brown and the Crown Prosecution Service, or anybody acting for any of these, have had a quiet word. I am just saying that it suits everyone pretty well.
What is the upshot of it all? I may be in a small company here, but I feel sorry for some of the victims along the way. There was Lord Sainsbury, who forgot to declare a party loan and stepped down as science minister. It was a sour end for a man who has actually given a very good example of the sort of philanthropy and public service we always say we need more of.
There was Des Smith, the unfortunate headmaster who was incited by a newspaper to brag that money for the city academy programme would get you ermine, though he had no power in the matter at all. It was absurd that he was arrested. His career was ruined by nothing more than showing off. There were also the aggrieved four lenders who really only did what was asked of them.
And then there was Lord Levy. His double-fault seems to have been that he was too brash, and that he liked telling people that he played tennis with the Prime Minister. He was Tigger, and people wanted him "debounced". But experience suggests that, where raising money is concerned, brashness is not a vice, and tennis at Chequers may help a bit too.
Lord Levy's efforts moved the funding of Labour away from dependence on the trade unions. That was a public service, one which the cash for honours row has now undone.
I was about to say that I even feel sorry for Tony Blair. It was, after all, his good idea to try to match the Tories in money power. But no, I don't feel sorry for him. If it had not been for his persistent belief that everything is morally good just because he does it, this whole row would never have blown up, and this whole outburst of self-righteous hypocrisy could have been avoided.
The real conspiracy, the real corruption in all this will be if we now get state funding of political parties, supported by all those parties who will benefit from it. That is what is threatened, as Gordon Brown made clear with statesmanlike oiliness in Paris yesterday.
On the radio, one of Mr Blair's now exonerated cronies said that there is a "public interest in having political parties which campaign". Perhaps there is, but what sort of a political party is it which cannot persuade people to back those campaigns with their own money?
The argument of the politicians goes like this: we behave so badly with the money we raise that we must be excused from having to raise it ever again and you must be forced to give us your money instead.
Labour, I believe, owes the bank about £30 million. Yet it concludes that it is we, the public, who owe it a living. This is surely an issue on which the currently beleaguered David Cameron should stand up, as he says he does, for a strong society, not a strong state.

US: Belabor the Point - union corruption

2007-07-20T09:19:00.001-07:00

Belabor the Point
Democrats find one government office they want to cut back. It's the one that exposes union corruption.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT

The new Democratic Congress has finally found a government agency whose budget It wants to cut: an obscure Labor Department office that monitors the compliance of unions with federal law.

In the past six years, the Office of Labor Management Standards, or OLMS, has helped secure the convictions of 775 corrupt union officials and court-ordered restitution to union members of over $70 million in dues. The House is set to vote Thursday on a proposal to chop 20% from the OLMS budget. Every other Labor Department enforcement agency is due for a budget increase, and overall the Congress has added $935 million to the Bush administration's budget request for Labor. The only office the Democrats want to cut back is the one engaged in union oversight.

Although Congress has long insisted on copious reporting by corporations, including the burdens of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, lawmakers have been relatively nonchalant about union reporting. Unlike the quarterly filings of corporations, unions must only file once a year with the Labor Department using a free software program. They don't have to get an independent certified audit, are only rarely audited by the government, and don't have to follow standard accounting methods.

OLMS, the Labor office that watches over union disclosure forms, says that last year 93% of unions met its reporting requirements. But the other 7% deserve scrutiny. Union members deserve to know how their dues are spent. They might want to know that in 2005, the National Education Association gave more than $65 million to Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, and dozens of other liberal advocacy groups that have nothing to do with the interests of teachers. In 2006, 49 individuals employed at the national AFL-CIO headquarters were paid more than $130,000. "Union members are also discovering the extent to which their dues money is funding lavish trips for union officials to luxury resorts and other expensive perks unrelated to collective bargaining," says Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.

The OLMS reporting requirements date back to the Landrum-Griffin Act of 1959, the last major revision of federal labor law. The American Law Encyclopedia notes that then-Sen. John F. Kennedy "was instrumental in inserting title I of the act, which has been dubbed the union bill of rights." It mandated that union votes be by secret ballot, that unions file reports on large payments and loans to union officers, and that all members have access to union financial records and the right to recover misappropriated union assets. Its provisions led directly led to the creation of the Labor Department office that Democrats now consider the lone example of bloated government.

Far from oppressing unions with burdensome reporting requirements, the Office of Labor Management Standards is doing what governments often do best: provide information and punish people who abuse the public trust. It has posted an impressive array of data on union governance at its Web site, unionreports.gov, where any dues-paying member can access it.

Investigations conducted by OLMS also have led to an impressive list of successful prosecutions of union officials. Just last week Willie Haynes, a member of the Saginaw, Mich., City Council who also served as a United Auto Workers financial secretary, pleaded guilty to falsifying his union local's reports. In May, Chuck Crawley, a former Teamster's local president in Houston, was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison for stuffing a ballot box so he could be elected president of his union local and embezzling dues money.

GOP Rep. John Kline of Minnesota will offer an amendment Thursday to restore $3 million of the $11 million planned cutback in OLMS's budget, so its budget would merely be restored to its 2007 level. Whatever sums are spent on union disclosure reports appear to be a good investment. Unions held $22 billion in assets in 2005, and you'd think that a modest enforcement budget, representing less than 0.003% of that amoun,t shouldn't be the only target for cuts by budget appropriators.

Union officials have publicly stated that they believe many of OLMS's requirements are burdensome and unnecessary. Since unions helped elect the current Congress, they are now seeking action on their agenda, which ranges from holding fewer secret ballot elections to cutting back on the oversight that is at the heart of the 1959 union "bill of rights" that JFK championed.

Germany: Notorious Mobster to Testify at German Trial

2007-07-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

Mafia boss Giuseppe Bellocco was arrested in Calabria on Tuesday

Notorious Mobster to Testify at German Trial

A German court will hear evidence Wednesday from infamous Italian-German Mafioso Giorgio Basile. For 10 years, his testimonies, in exchange for his freedom, have helped police crack down on organized crime.
If the three Italians on trial in Düsseldorf for cocaine-trafficking are found guilty, it won’t be the first time that evidence supplied by mobster-turned-police informant Basile puts suspected Mafiosi behind bars.
Before he was even 40, the man they called "Angel Face" had murdered up to 30 people. After being arrested in the Allgäu region of southern Germany in 1998, he was allowed to go free. In return for his new life in a witness protection program, he has helped police lock up over 50 criminals.
Now 47, Basile, who will testify Wednesday via video from a secret location in Italy, was once one of the most redoubtable top dogs within the Carelli clan, which belongs to Calabria's notorious 'Ndrangheta.
Among the most powerful and ruthless Mafia-like organizations in Italy, 'Ndrangheta cells are loosely based on blood relationships. The organization is believed to rake in some $30 billion (22 billion euros) annually, mostly from illegal narcotics, but also from ostensibly legal businesses such as construction, restaurants and supermarkets. Allegedly, it is also involved in counterfeiting, gambling, fraud, theft, labor racketeering, loan sharking, people smuggling and kidnapping.
The 'Ndrangheta‘s family ties are believed to be closer and their vows of silence more strictly observed than other Mafia clans, such as Cosa Nostra and Camorra. So when Giorgio Basile decided to break them, it marked a watershed in Germany's fight against the Mafia.

Becoming numero uno

With all the ingredients of a classic "Godfather" film, it comes as no surprise that Basile's story has attracted the attention of a Munich film company which has worked in the past with German star movie director Oliver Hirschbiegel (The Downfall).
Born in Corigliano Calabro in 1960, Giorgio moved one year later to Mühlheim an der Ruhr in Germany, where his father made a living as a "guest worker." In 1966, his parents separated when his father realized his mother was having an affair. Her lover was Antonio de Cicco, local boss of the 'Ndrangheta in Corigliano and every bit the Latin stereotype in his sharp suits with slicked-back hair and gold chains. Giorgio spent two years in Italy with his new family, but returned to Germany when his mother got pregnant.
He lost touch with his adopted father until 1979, when at the age of 19, Giorgio was persuaded by de Cicco to leave the dull, industrial trappings of western Germany and work as his driver back in Corigliano. As a fledgling 'ndrinu, he enjoyed the attention his association with de Cicco afforded him and soon became versed in the ways of the clan. But when he discovered his adopted father had been abusing his sister, he resolved to avenge her. In 1973, he made his first killing, when he murdered de Cicco.
By now, he was one of the most powerful cocaine dealers in Tuscany, and a recognized uomo d' onore (man of honor). It was during these years that he met his wife, who bore him a daughter. He extended the business further afield, and in the 1980s, played a key role in building up Mafia influence in Germany.

Betrayed by the organization

Arrested in 1998, he opted to break the Omertà, the Mafia‘s "code of silence". Within Mafia culture, this made him a "stool pigeon" -- a violation punishable by death.
According to Andreas Ulrich, author of "Angel Face," a biography of Giorgio Basile, he agreed to name names because "he felt betrayed by the organization."
"It never comes good on its promises," he said. "It lures young men with promises of power, money and women. It uses them, then kills them as though they were ants."
Basile has said he lives with the knowledge that the Mafia will hunt him down and kill him. "The Mafia bosses are behind bars because of what I did," he told Ulrich. "They can‘t do anything to me any more, but their sons will avenge them."
Eighteen months ago, he told the online version of German news magazine Der Spiegel that the Mafia's influence was stronger than ever.
"The Mafia will continue to expand," he said. "The enlarged Europe will allow it to spread even further. For someone with the same criminal energy as I had, it's even easier in Germany than it is in Italy. You can get away with anything."
Basile said the German authorities had failed to recognize the extent of the criminal energy that exists within the underground Italian community.
"I couldn’t put a figure to it, but Germany is home to many sleepers. Go in to any pizzeria and you might find the cook is a hitman just waiting for a call," he said.

Giorgio Basile

The mob in Germany

The extent of mob influence is definitely underestimated in Germany, said Mafia expert Jürgen Roth.
"When Berlusconi was in power there was very little information coming out of Italy," he explained. "The Mafia took the opportunity to get a foothold in Germany. There is now barely any knowledge of the Mafia's criminal structures here. It is active mainly in the area of money laundering, drug and weapons trading, protection racketeering and prostitution."
While the biggest 'Ndrangheta presence is in eastern German states such as Thuringia and Saxony, Roth says Cosa Nostra has a higher profile in Baden-Württemberg, where CDU state premier Günther Oettinger has even been accused of ties to a leading 'Ndrangheta member. The state's premier between 1978 and 1980, Lothar Späth, was also accused of contacts to Mafia kingpin Vito Palazollo, Cosa Nostra's top money launderer.
Earlier this month, Italy’s leading Mafia hunter, Piero Grasso, warned Germany in the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung daily that the mob was even beginning to penetrate legitimate business circles in Germany.
"The size and profit potential of German markets, as well as German law, makes the country highly attractive to organized criminals," he said. "Their goal is to infiltrate legal financial circles in order to invest illegally gained funds with a long-term aim of dominating price wars and creating monopolies."

Jane Paulick

Germany: Zoo Embroiled in Scandal Over Illegal Meat

2007-07-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

German Zoo Embroiled in Scandal Over Illegal Meat

It all started when an eagle-eyed employee noticed declining animal stocks at Erfurt Zoo. It ended with a scandal, sackings and a criminal investigation into an illegal meat operation.
Some zoos aren't as lucky as the one in Berlin. Most don't have superstar polar bear cubs and the potential to exploit cuteness through marketing deals and promotions which would make even David Beckham seem like a media-shy hermit with no business sense.
There are no tie-ins, no plush toys flying off the shelves, no hordes of expectant children and insatiable paparazzi stampeding through the turnstiles.
For those zoos lacking star-quality, life is bleak. The future is under-funded and the staff and animals suffer accordingly.
However, some animals -- like those at Erfurt Zoo -- suffer more than others. For these poor creatures, their suffering was not caused by a reduction of enclosure space due to a budget cut or an enforced diet due to spiraling feed costs. No, it came courtesy of those unscrupulous members of staff who, instead of looking after the beasts, were killing them and shipping their carcasses out the back door as meat.
While other establishments were relying on merchandise to boost income, the evil workers at Erfurt were lining their own pockets with a grisly sideline in exotic animal flesh.
Bambi steaks could be tip of meat iceberg
Apparently, the staff responsible had been turning petting zoo deer into venison as part of a clandestine business for a number of years. Now it is feared that Bambi steaks will turn out to be just one specialty on the macabre menu.
"We are worried this is only the tip of the iceberg," said Wolfgang Apel, president of the German Animal Protection League, who also called for a thorough review of controls at the zoo and at all other institutions with animals in the eastern state of Thuringia.
The secret meat trade was revealed after an anonymous zoo employee noticed that the number of animals was declining. "It was high time something was done about it," the whistleblower said, as quoted in a report in Die Zeit newspaper.
After hearing of the scandal, Erfurt's mayor filed charges against workers at the zoo and fired the zoo's director. "The case is now being handled by state prosecutors," said a spokeswoman for the mayor's office in a statement to the press, declining to give further details.

Article based on news reports (nda)

2007-07-19T20:11:00.001-07:00

Russia: Hands Official Stiff Bribery Sentence

2007-07-19T20:06:00.000-07:00

Itar-Tass: Viktor Timashov

Hands Official Stiff Bribery Sentence
The Moscow Times
In an unusually harsh ruling, a senior Chelyabinsk official Thursday was sentenced to 10 years in prison for accepting bribes totaling around $260,000.
The Chelyabinsk Regional Court convicted Deputy Governor Court
of organizing a system of extortions and bribes from the heads of companies looking to use the region's natural resources, Interfax reported.
In addition to the 10-year sentence, which he will serve in a maximum security prison, Timashov was fined around $30,000 and banned from public service for three years.
The court cleared Timashov on counts of abuse of office and money laundering.
Timashov was not expecting such a harsh sentence and plans to appeal the verdict, his lawyers told Interfax.
Prosecutors had pushed for the maximum sentence -- 12 years -- and a $40,000 fine.
Following the investigation, authorities froze about $1 million of Timashov's assets and $180,000 in a relative's account, Interfax reported.
Two other officials were tried in the same case. Senior natural resources official Eduard Vagin was acquitted on all counts.
Alexander Losev, the deputy chief of a company called Prodmontazh, pled guilty and was handed a five-year suspended sentence.

UN: Prostitutes for Procurement Go Barely Mentioned, Corruption Off the Map

2007-07-19T18:24:00.000-07:00

Andrew Toh and Louise Frechette

At the UN, Prostitutes for Procurement Go Barely Mentioned, Corruption Off the Map

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN

UNITED NATIONS, July 18 -- Where can two procurement officials get suspended for procuring prostitutes in exchange for public contracts, and neither themselves nor their wrongdoing be named? Answer: in the UN in 2007.
On July 17, Ban Ki-moon's Deputy Spokesperson read out a cryptic, seemingly off-handed announcement:
"from time to time, we keep you updated on the ongoing issues regarding disciplinary matters relating to procurement. Yesterday, two procurement officers were charged following the investigations conducted by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) and following testimony in the trial of former UN procurement officer Sanjaya Bahel. The two individuals have been suspended and placed on special leave with pay. The UN disciplinary process is ongoing. Until this process is over, however, no further comments can be made."
The wheels of justice at the UN turn slowly, if at all. Back on May 22, in the federal trial of Sanjaya Bahel, witness Nishan Kohli testified that he bribed not only Bahel but two other UN procurement officials, including by providing them with "$3000 prostitutes."
Perhaps the half-upheld (so far) scenario of UN Peacekeepers trading guns for gold in the Congo overshadowed UN telecommunications contracts being given out in exchange for sex. Because press reports about the suspension of the two officials, eight weeks after the call girl testimony, barely reported what they were being disciplined for -- the wire story has no mention of prostitution. Nor were the individuals named.
Hours after her cursory July 17 announcement, Inner City Press asked the Deputy Spokesperson, "Would it be incorrect to publish that the two individuals being suspended are Walter Cabrera and Brian Streb?"
"I don't know," was the answer. "We are not given that information."
Well, we are. Informed UN sources tell Inner City Press that Mr. Cabrera, in particular, had long been under investigation by OIOS and the UN Department of Management. Supporters of Messrs. Cabrera and Bahel have told Inner City Press that on at least one of the UN procurement deals he was alleged to have fixed, Mr. Cabrera was out of the country. But they say the evidence was firm, especially in the prostitution tale recounted in Bahel's trial.
At a June 7 press conference at the UN, the head of the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services Inga-Brit Ahlenius spoke about Bahel's conviction but deflected some other questions about investigations to her staff. Current Under Secretary General for Management Alicia Barcena did not attend the press conference, and has had little to say on the issue. (Similarly, there has been no follow-through on previous projections of the UN enacting a freedom of information procedure, something Ms. Barcena had said would be taken seriously.)
The whispers are growing louder that Ms. Barcena is considering renouncing her Management post; one well-placed source said that if and when she does, "Ban Ki-moon will not try to talk her out of it, as Kofi Annan talked Louise Frechette out of resigning." The relative merits we'll leave for another time. Ms. Barcena, it is said, left Monday for Bangkok. Mr. Ban will be in Europe again on Thursday. Meanwhile contracts are being awarded, for example prospectively the outsourcing of over $9 billion from the UN Pension Fund. One wonders who is now leading the charge, if there is one, to prevent corruption in the UN.

US military corruption behind weapons in PKK hands, Gül reveals

2007-07-19T18:20:00.000-07:00

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül, who visited his hometown of Kayseri for an election campaign on Thursday, met with journalists later in the day.

US military corruption behind weapons in PKK hands, Gül reveals

The US Department of Defense has launched an investigation into US-registered weapons sent to the Iraqi army ending up in the hands the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) based in northern Iraq, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül said on Thursday.
It has been revealed that certain US soldiers were involved in corrupt acts related to the issue of weapons ending up in PKK hands, Gül told reporters at a press conference during an election campaign trip to the central Anatolian province of Kayseri.
“The US side is saying they have launched an internal investigation at the Department of Defense; a corruption incident in which some soldiers were involved has emerged, and the necessary administrative procedures [concerning these soldiers] have been implemented. We are now having discussions with the Iraqi side to determine how the weapons given to the Iraqi army ended up in the hands of terrorists,” Gül said in remarks aired live on NTV.
Former members of the PKK escaping from mountain camps in northern Iraq recently gave testimony in which they told security authorities and prosecutors they had seen US trucks delivering arms to PKK camps. Turkish officials suggested there was other evidence indicating the one-time terrorists’ charges could be accurate, without elaborating.
Gül has already requested a formal explanation from the US over the allegations in a telephone conversation with his US counterpart, Condoleezza Rice. US Ambassador Ross Wilson was also summoned to the Foreign Ministry and shown documents relating to the allegations.
Speaking at a daily briefing earlier this week, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack denied the allegations and declined to comment on contact between Wilson and Turkish authorities, saying he did not know whether he was summoned to the Foreign Ministry or not.
US Embassy Press Attaché Kathryn Schalow, speaking with Today’s Zaman on Thursday following Gül’s latest remarks over the issue, first stressed that Washington considered both the PKK and its offshoot, the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PEJAK), to be terrorist organizations, saying the US would not get involved in any kind of contact or relation with terrorists.
“We take very seriously reports concerning US weapons being found in possession of terrorists. We’ve been working closely both with Turkish and Iraqi authorities to investigate the reports,” Schalow said, refusing to comment on an ongoing investigation.
Underlining the importance attributed by the US to “close and effective dialogue with Turkey on this as well as on other issues,” and the US commitment for fighting against PKK “on all fronts,” Schalow did note: “For dialogue to remain frank and effective, it is best not to have them carried out in public forums.”

20.07.2007
Today’s Zaman Ankara

Bangladesh: Former PM held on corruption charge

2007-07-19T18:16:00.000-07:00

Police escort … the former prime minister of Bangladesh Sheik Hasina Wajed arrives at court in the capital Dhaka to face charges of extortion. Photo: AFP

Former PM held on corruption charge

Shafiq Alam in Dhaka
July 17, 2007

THE former Bangladeshi prime minister Hasina Wajed was arrested on corruption charges yesterday, setting off an angry showdown between police and her supporters.
The doyenne of Bangladeshi politics, who led the country from 1996 to 2001, was ordered to be held in custody while police investigate allegations of extortion against her.
"She has been arrested on … charges of extortion and the law will take its own course," Mainul Husein, an adviser to the army-backed interim Government and the head of the law and information ministries, told reporters.
Hundreds of police and elite security forces descended on her Dhaka residence at dawn, cutting off telephone lines and sealing all roads in the vicinity.
"A couple of hundred people held a procession as the police were escorting Sheik Hasina to jail," said Deen Mohammed, an assistant commissioner of Dhaka police. "We fired rubber bullets and tear gas shells at the unruly supporters and we have arrested several people."
Police filed two cases against Sheik Hasina in June for extorting 80 million taka ($1.36 million) from two businessmen; she was arrested in relation to one of the cases yesterday.
Sheik Hasina was also accused of corruption and misuse of power during her term in office. She has denied the claims.
Sheik Hasina's lawyers have made no comment. "We will come out soon with all the details," one lawyer said.
One leader of her party, the Awami League, earlier said she had been ordered to be remanded in police custody for a month, but court officials later said she had been sent to jail and the period of detention had not been specified.
"It's a sheer conspiracy to expel me from politics. Neither myself nor my family were ever involved in any sort of corruption," a lawyer quoted Sheik Hasina as telling the court.
The nation has been in political turmoil since January, when an army-backed emergency government took power after violent protests by supporters of Sheik Hasina and her arch-rival, Khaleda Zia, forced elections to be cancelled.
The new authorities have vowed to clean up the country's notoriously graft-ridden politics before holding new elections in December next year.
Sheik Hasina's son, Sajid Wajed Joy, condemned the arrest.
"It is a conspiracy against her and against democracy," he told the private Bangla Vision television network by telephone from the US.
"We need to fight like we did in 1971 against this Government to free her and establish democracy in the country," he said, referring to Bangladesh's war of independence against Pakistan.
Sheik Hasina is the daughter of Bangladesh's independence leader and its first prime minister, Sheik Mujibur Rahman, who was killed with most of his family in a 1975 military coup.
A string of charges have been filed against her in recent months, including murder in relation to the deaths of four people in a protest last October.
More than 150 high-profile politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats have been arrested in the corruption crackdown. A handful have been convicted by special courts and sentenced to between three and 13 years.
The crackdown has targeted members of both Sheik Hasina's Awami League and Begum Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
In April the Government tried to exile Sheik Hasina by barring her from returning to Bangladesh from the US, where she had been visiting relatives.
The murder charges and some corruption charges were also filed against her in her absence. But the Government backed down and on her return she was welcomed by thousands of supporters.
Agence France-Presse, Reuters

Facing the music
* Sheik Hasina, leader of the Awami League Party, was prime minister from 1996 to 2001.
* In April the military-backed caretaker Government tried to ban her from returning from London and tried to exile another former prime minister Khaleda Zia to Saudi Arabia.
* Sheik Hasina overturned the ban and returned to Dhaka on May 7.
* She now faces charges of extortion, corruption and murder.

Namibia: "Severe blow" to corruption fight

2007-07-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

"Severe blow" to Namibia's corruption fight

afrol News, 19 July - The national anti-corruption agency of Namibia has decided not to investigate further the controversial awarding of bidding to top officials in the Office of former Namibian President Sam Nujoma. Human rights activists call the decision a "severe blow to Namibia's anti-corruption crusade."
Namibia's National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) yesterday said it was "deeply dismayed, though not necessarily surprised," by last week's decision by the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). The ACC reportedly declared that corruption had not been the case in State House regarding its controversial awarding of bidding to top officials.
The ACC reportedly found that the country's state oil corporation, NamCor, had followed "proper" bidding procedures and that such bidding had been "correctly" awarded to a Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) outfit called Namibia Liquid Fuel (NLF). NLF is a joint venture by top former State House officials and other persons politically well connected to former President Nujoma's office.
ACC Director Paulus Noa reportedly confirmed that as far as his agency was concerned, nothing prosecutable could be found in terms of the Anti-Corruption Act when ACC investigated the three-year multi-million dollar deal to import from South Africa 450,000 tonnes of fuel per year. The deal is said to have led to instant self-enrichment on the part of a small number of politically well-connected officials in the Office of ex-President Nujoma. There is widespread public perception that corruption has become endemic in the country under Mr Nujoma's 15-year rule between 1990 and 2005.
Mr Noa reportedly also said that former Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab had approved the NLF deal. NLF reportedly earns slightly more than US$ 110 million profit per annum and a small group of highly placed former State House officials shares more than US$ 55 million of the said profit. Ex-PM Gurirab is said to be a close Nujoma confidante.
"Our whole governance is based on political patronage and thus can be considered as inherently corrupt with the result that many of the laws that have been passed since Namibian independence are also inherently corrupt and should be referred to as legislated corruption," noted NSHR director Phil ya Nangoloh. "Hence, ACC reportedly based its findings on legislation that is inherently corrupt and or that institutionalises corruption," the prominent human rights activist added.
"We wish to point out categorically clear that we are not at all blaming ACC as such for not finding corruption in the said fuel deal. Rather, we lay the blame squarely at the feet of a state of legalized or institutionalized corruption, which has been prevailing in the country since Namibian independence in 1990," added Mr ya Nangoloh.
According to the Berlin-based corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI), however, Namibia is one of the least corrupt states in Africa. Namibia ranks 55th on TI's annual Corruption Perceptions Index for 2006. The list comprises of 163 states.

By staff writer

© afrol News

Business: Hong Kong Corruption Tars Dow Jones

2007-07-19T18:12:00.000-07:00

Hong Kong Corruption Tars Dow Jones
Shu-Ching Jean Chen, 07.19.07, 3:10 AM ET

HONG KONG -

David Kwok-po Li, Hong Kong’s top native-born banker and the scion of its most storied business dynasty, has long embodied the cozy business and political culture that he and his family helped foster over the decades in this former British colony.
The sort of backroom wheeling and dealing prevalent among Hong Kong’s upper crust may have gotten the 68-year-old head of Bank of East Asia in trouble with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which suspects him of playing a part in an insider-trading sideshow to the takeover of Dow Jones by Rupert Murdoch.
Li, who is a member of Dow Jones’ board, has received a notice from the SEC indicating its investigators intend to recommend that the agency file a civil lawsuit against him in connection with the case of a Hong Kong couple, Charlotte Wong Leung Ka-On and her husband Wong Kan-King, who allegedly pocketed an $8.2 million gain through trading in Dow Jones shares in the days before and after news of the $5 billion bid by Murdoch’s News Corp. became public May 1. (See: “Hong Kong Hanky Panky In Dow Jones”)
The link from the couple to Li can be traced through his close friend Michael Leung, who is the father of Charlotte Wong.
``I have broken no laws and deny the apparent allegations being made by the staff of the Commission,'' Li said Thursday in a statement issued by Bank of East Asia, the city’s largest local bank.
When the SEC initiated its probe in May, Li told The Wall Street Journal, "I did not disclose to anyone, not even my wife, any information about Dow Jones."
SEC action could force Li to step down from Dow Jones' board, which he has served on since 1993 as its first non-American director.
That the figurehead of Hong Kong’s banking industry, who has represented it in Hong Kong’s de-facto parliament for more than a decade, might face charges of insider trading in the U.S. is arguably a reflection of the weak regulatory regime in Asia’s top financial capital. The accusations do not come as a surprise to many longtime observers.
Insider trading has run rampant in Hong Kong, as evidenced by the sharp swings of many stocks ahead of breaking news. Investigations usually take years to conclude and charges are seldom levied. Insider trading only became a criminal offense in 2003 and no one has been convicted under the new law.
Li is a highly regarded speaker on varied subjects relating to Hong Kong’s future and the campaign manager of the city’s top politician, chief executive Donald Tsang, he is active both in Hong Kong’s social and political scenes.
His stature has been amplified by the accomplishments of close relatives — his brother Arthur K.C. Li served as Hong Kong’s education minister till the Cabinet was reshuffled this summer and cousin Andrew Kwok-nang Li is the chief justice of Hong Kong’s highest court.
The Li clan built its fortune on rice trading and shipping more than a century ago, and in 1918 founded the city’s first local bank, Bank of East Asia. The bank is among the most aggressive and perhaps the most successful local bank in the mainland market; its success there has allowed Li to entertain the idea of a listing in Shanghai, which would be the first nonlocal offering on the exchange.
The London-born Li is among the rare few of Hong Kong billionaires who went so far as to renounce British citizenship to prove his patriotic credentials and qualify for an appointment in 2005 as a Cabinet member at the Executive Council. That, however, did not require him to give up the knighthood conferred on him in 2005 by Britain for his contributions to British education.
In May, he topped the list to receive Hong Kong’s highest government honor, the Grand Bauhinia Medal, for his political and financial contributions. It was an award meant to cap his political career as one of Hong Kong’s longest-serving legislators since 1985, a career that may now be tarnished by the alleged passing of an illicit stock tip.

Montenegro: Action Plan to Fight Corruption and Organized Crime

2007-07-19T18:10:00.000-07:00

Action Plan to Fight Corruption and Organized Crime in Montenegro
Podgorica, Montenegro, 19 July 2007

Action Plan for the implementation of the Programme for Fight against Corruption and Organized Crime, adopted by the Government at the session held on August 24, 2006, represents a unique document that defines accomplishment of priorities in the area of fighting corruption. These priorities result from the obligations defined by the European Partnership.
The Action Plan itself includes a set of systemic reforms and a large number of specific measures for strengthening capacities of the state institutions that are implementers of the fight against corruption and organized crime.
Considering that the fight against corruption has been recognized as one of the European Commission’s priorities, the implementation of the Action Plan is of crucial importance for the European integration process, which is why MANS has been monitoring the implementation of the Action Plan measures since the beginning of September 2006 using the Law on Free Access to Information.
During the monitoring period, the competent institutions have been sent over 1200 requests for information and according to the obtained information from relevant public institutions, 27% of the Action Plan measures were implemented, 26% were partly implemented, and 44% were not implemented.
Within the period, September 2006-May 2007, the largest percent of the planned measures were fully or partly implemented by the Directorate for Anticorruption Initiative, followed by the Police Administration, Tax Administration and the State Auditing Institution.
Of all the institutions tasked with the implementation of anti-corruption measures, the Privatization Council has the lowest percentage of implemented measures, and has only partly realized one single measure. In this negative respect, it is followed by the Conflict of Interest Commission, Prosecution, Judiciary and the Public Procurement Commission.
Most of the planned measures related to political and international obligations of acting were not implemented, which poses a significant obstacle to the implementation of other measures defined by the Action Plan, since its first part defines the framework for their implementation, especially regarding the adoption of the new laws and the amendments to the current ones, in compliance with the conventions and recommendations of the relevant international organizations.
The crucial measures related to efficient criminal prosecution that is aimed at combating corruption and organized crime were not implemented. Institutions claim that, within what they monitored, there were no misuses of secret supervision measures, but, at the same time, the control of the measures implementation was not conducted.
Neither the exchange of the information between the judiciary, prosecution and police that was supposed to improve the efficiency of proving corruption cases was established, nor the assessment of the needs for the staff training and the analysis of the human resources situation were performed.
Most of the institutions adopted Codes of Ethics, which were promoted to a certain extent within the institutions, but not among the citizens.
There is no investigation of police corruption, or procedures for reporting corruption of civil servants. Objective employment criteria were not adopted either. The Department for the Internal Control of the police work was reorganized, but neither the training was conducted nor the facility and equipment were provided. The unit for the supervision of the work of the Ministry of Interior’s Police Administration has not started working yet.
Majority of public officials submitted registration of revenues and properties that are publicly available, but the Conflict of Interest Commission did not assess the value of the reported gifts.
The training of civil servants and employees regarding implementation of the Law on Public Access to Information has started, but the Law is implemented with difficulty in the areas of privatization and public spending, and the judicial proceedings tend to last for several months.
Competent state institutions did not conduct public campaigns to fight corruption, and the cooperation among state bodies, media and NGO was not improved. Only one institution developed the integrity plan.
Educational institutions sporadically organize lectures on corruption. NGO sector conducted the training of the media, but the Law on Unlawful Media Concentration has not been adopted yet.
The Ministry of Economy neither conducted the activities related to improvement of fair and competitive business and investment nor did it make the “black” list of the companies sentenced for criminal offence of corruption.
Action plans for fighting corruption at a local level related to competencies of the local government were not adopted.
Incomes of prosecutors and judges were increased, while the training of holders of judicial office is conducted with difficulty. The capacities of the prosecution human resources were not enhanced, and the information system to connect all prosecution offices in the country was not established.
The Police Administration structure was reorganized, but the majority of organizational units have still not been provided with adequate working space and necessary equipment, and the trainings were only partly performed. The Interpol office was opened, but not all the necessary working conditions were provided. The police are not trained to protect persons who report corruption and organized crime, and the mechanisms to protect police employees are not established. The link between the Police Administration and the data bases of institutions and business entities is not provided. The operational fund for providing money for secret supervision measures is not formed.
The independent court budget is not established; the criteria and procedures for appointment of judges are not established, and there is no improvement in the cooperation between the judiciary, prosecution and police. The Court Council has not been established yet, so there is no information on the implementation of the provision on disciplinary responsibility of judges. The electronic system of encoding and distribution of cases has not been established yet, and the Ministry of Justice has partly conducted the supervision of judicial authorities.
The State Auditing Institution still has not conducted the auditing of the Final Budget Statement for the last year. Only a few individual audits were conducted, and the Ministry of Finance did not conduct internal auditing of the budget funds that belong to budget users. The training of the State Auditing Institution staff was partly conducted, but neither the citizen education was conducted nor did the SAI informed the public on the spending of the budget funds.
The procedures for reporting conflicts of interest in privatization were not established; the reports on corruption in privatization were not prepared; the procedures for reporting corruption were not established, and the discretionary authorizations of the Privatization Council members were not defined. The Government formed the working team for citizens’ suggestions and complaints relative to privatization process, but there are no data on its work. The system for control of investments in privatized companies is not established, and the minor shareholders and citizens are not involved in the privatization process. The Privatization Council did not establish the web site, nor did it define the specific procedures for achieving transparency within the appointment of privatization consultants, nor did it organize public debates on privatization. The institutions in charge of privatization process breach the Law on Free Access to information.
The Directorate for Prevention of Money Laundering did not perform reorganization; the new staff was not recruited; the current staff participated in the seminars organized by international institutions. The list of indicators for identifying suspicious transactions was completed, but the seminars and consultations for obligor’s authorized persons and employees who have direct contact with clients were not organized. The individual agreements on cooperation with regional institutions were not innovated, but several meetings were held, and the Agreement on Cooperation with the Central Bank was concluded.
The manual on public procurement is not finished, nor the comparative analysis of the protection of bidder’s rights in the public procurement process. The bylaws were developed and a partial training of the public procurement officers was conducted. The telephone for reporting irregularities was not established, nor were the competent bodies provided with the information on corruption. The electronic public procurement system was not established. The Commission did not make the report on the state of the public procurement system. A few new officers were employed.
The new Law on Conflict of Interest was not adopted, and the definition of a public official does not comply with the provisions of the UN Convention against Corruption. The system for penalizing the breach of the Law was not introduced, and the prescribed sanctions for submitting false data on incomes and properties were not implemented. The Law does not provide the obligation of the Commission to check and determine the validity of the data on reported incomes and properties.
The Tax Administration established the telephone line for reporting corruption, but there are no reported cases. The internal control did not identify any case of corruption within the Tax Administration. The Code of Ethics was adopted, but not a single case of violation was identified. No special investigations on corruption in the tax administration were conducted. No staff rotation in the Tax Administration was performed. The Tax Administration signed agreements on cooperation with the Supreme State Prosecutor and the Police Administration, but it did not provide the police a direct access to the data base and its use.
The Customs Administration established the telephone line for reporting corruption, but the manual for the citizens was not prepared. The researches on the perception of the public were conducted, but not the researches on corruption causes and methods in the customs profession. The training of the officers employed in the Department for Internal Control was not conducted, nor was the Rule Book on its work prepared. The Code of Ethics for customs officers was not adopted. The rotation of the Customs Administration officers was not performed. The consolidated information system was established, but the police are not provided direct access to the data base.
Little has been done about strengthening capacities of the Directorate for Anticorruption Initiative. The informational-promotional activities of the Directorate were based on sporadic publishing of announcements in the printed media. The draft analysis of the consistency of the legislation with the UN Convention against Corruption was prepared, but there was no adjusting of the laws to the international conventions and standards, and only a small number of the GRECO recommendations were implemented.

Business: Swiss prosecutors blocking over US$83 mln (€60 mln) in Siemens corruption probe: official

2007-07-19T18:08:00.000-07:00

Swiss prosecutors blocking over US$83 mln (€60 mln) in Siemens corruption probe: official

The Associated Press
Wednesday, July 18, 2007

BERN, Switzerland: Federal prosecutors are blocking more than 100 million Swiss francs (US$83 million; €60 million) on accounts held by Germany's Siemens AG as part of a corruption investigation, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.
Jeanette Balmer told The Associated Press the figure had increased since prosecutors announced in November they had ordered funds belonging to the Munich-based technology company frozen while allegations of bribery were investigated.
At the time, Swiss prosecutors said they had blocked an amount in the upper tens of millions of francs (dollars; euros). Balmer declined to say when and by how much this freeze was extended.
Swiss prosecutors launched an investigation in 2005 to determine whether Siemens channeled money into secret accounts, used to pay bribes to secure lucrative contracts.
Balmer said the investigation, which centers on five persons — two of them former Siemens employees — was extremely complex because of the international nature of the investigation.
Investigators in Italy, Germany and the United States are also looking into bribery and corruption allegations against the company totaling approximately €420 million (US$570 million).

Russia: Presidential hopeful charged with corruption

2007-07-19T18:07:00.000-07:00

Russian presidential hopeful charged with corruption
Published: Friday, 20 July, 2007, 01:50 AM Doha Time

MOSCOW: The mayor of a Russian city, who has declared he will run in the 2008 presidential elections, was charged with corruption yesterday in a case denounced by critics as “political”.
Alexander Donskoi, 37, mayor of the port city of Arkhangelsk in northern Russia, “was formally charged with abuse of office today”, a spokeswoman for the Arkhangelsk prosecutor’s office told AFP.
Donskoi was detained for using some $157,000 in city budget funds to pay for bodyguards for himself and family members, the Arkhangelsk prosecutor’s office said in a statement earlier.
During his arrest hearing yesterday, Donskoi accused prosecutors of waging a “political” campaign against him linked to his presidential candidacy, the website of the mayor’s office said.
“I did not plan a coup d’etat, I just said that I wanted to run for president,” Donskoi said at his arrest hearing yesterday, a statement on the website said.
His wife, Marina, told AFP in a telephone interview that Donskoi was recovering at home from stress.
The prosecutor’s office spokeswoman said that Donskoi had been checked by doctors and was fit to face court hearings. He will be held in a pre-trial detention centre until the hearing, she said.
“All these problems are of course linked to his presidential candidacy,” said Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group and a former Soviet dissident. “This story shows that there’s no democracy here,” she said.
Marina Litvinovich, a campaigner from the opposition movement The Other Russia, said the detention fits a wider crackdown by the authorities “against anyone who doesn’t agree with them”. – AFP

Tanzania: Corruption in the judiciary denies me sleep - Samatta

2007-07-19T18:06:00.000-07:00

Corruption in the judiciary denies me sleep - Samatta

2007-07-19 10:25:29
By Siphay Nyakunga, IJMC and Gideon Kivanda, SAUT
Outgoing Chief Justice Barnabas Samatta explained yesterday how his life was characterised by sleepless nights as he thought of ways to tackle rampant corruption in the country�s judiciary.
In a rare show of criticism targeting the very system he served for years in one of the most senior positions, Samatta said corruption in the judiciary is deep-rooted and urgent measures are needed to bring things back to normal if justice is to be done and be seen to be done to all.
The long-serving judge, who made the remarks when briefing journalists in Dar es Salaam on his experience in one of the major pillars of the State, explained that corruption in the judiciary has roots that run very deep and only combined efforts by the State and wananchi could solve the problem.
``What I have always found surprising is that some of the corrupt elements were top officials in the judicial system. Obviously, it is very difficult to address this issue definitively and comprehensively enough unless each of those concerned has fear of God,`` he observed.
He recommended an overhaul of the country�s judicial system ``to enable it to meet the current demand for quality legal services``.
Elaborating, Samatta mentioned several issues that he said should be addressed in an attempt to help the judiciary deliver as expected of it by the public.
``Improving practical education for law scholars, higher salaries and generally better working conditions to judiciary staff are sure ways to make the (judicial) system perform more effectively, efficiently and ethically,`` he pointed out.
He said lawyers and law scholars would benefit from being more conversant with the demands of their profession and public expectations as well as having wider general knowledge of the realities of the lives of the people affected by the operations of the judiciary.
``Law students must be competent in the use of modern-day technological gadgets and operations like computers and the internet that will help them in performing their duties more knowledgeably,`` Samatta stated further, adding that the measure was crucial in facilitating and enhancing the dispensation of justice.
He said most courts in Tanzania still depend on poor working tools, with judges and magistrates taking long-hand notes that take long to transcribe.
``In some developed countries cases are solved through video conferences, with no demands that the accused physically appear before the court,`` he noted.
The outgoing Chief Justice saw the acute countrywide shortage of primary court magistrates as enough reason for measures to be taken to improve the services provided by the Lushoto-based Institute of Judicial Administration so as to make available 400 additional magistrates needed.
Dr Sengondo Mvungi, a senior law lecturer with the University of Dar es Salaam, hailed Judge Samatta as an illustrious legal expert and practitioner ``who has helped shape the judicial sector in Tanzania and during whose tenure as Chief Justice the country�s judiciary has witnessed substantial improvements``.
``Part of the proof of Justice Samatta�s sterling contribution lies in the increase in the number of judges in the country as well as the comprehensive restructuring of the entire court system.
These days you cannot find notes on court proceedings written on khaki sheets as used to be notoriously the case previously,`` explained the don.
The University of Dar es Salaam Vice Chancellor, Prof Rwekaza Mukandala, meanwhile thanked Justice Samatta ``for extending invaluable co-operation to the university�s law faculty`` and said they would still need his assistance even while he will be in retirement.
Justice Samatta has wrapped his seven-year tenure and was on Tuesday succeeded by another distinguished legal expert and practitioner, Justice Augustine Ramadhani.

* SOURCE: Guardian

U.S. sues for $110 million forfeiture in Italian corruption case

2007-07-19T18:04:00.001-07:00

U.S. sues for $110 million forfeiture in Italian corruption case

The Associated Press
Monday, July 16, 2007
Click here to find out more!
MIAMI: The U.S. Justice Department is asking a federal judge in Miami to approve forfeiture of $110 million (€79.8 million) from U.S.-based financial institutions that were allegedly used to launder money from an Italian corruption case.
The civil complaint filed last week seeks the money from 19 bank or brokerage accounts that U.S. officials say were used to funnel ill-gotten proceeds from a scheme orchestrated by late businessman Angelo "Nino" Rovelli to pay bribes to Italian judges.
The assets subject to forfeiture are held by several major U.S. firms, including Atlas One Financial Group, Citibank, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Wachovia Securities, UBS Paine Webber and First Allied Securities, among others. The complaint does not accuse the institutions of any wrongdoing.
Any money that is recovered would be returned to potential victims who file a petition for their share, according to a statement issued Monday by Miami U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta.
Rovelli died in 1990, but the lawsuit involving the bribes ultimately netted his heirs some $400 million, according to court documents. One of Rovelli's sons and a family financial adviser, Pierfrancesco Munari, were arrested in January by Italian authorities on money laundering charges.
Acting at the request of the Italian government, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Miami helped trace a series of transactions between 1998 and 2007 intended to conceal some of the money in the U.S.
Under U.S. law, that money is now subject to forfeiture as process of a crime. The case is pending before U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro-Benages, who has not yet scheduled a hearing.
Italian authorities initially learned of the Rovelli bribery during the mid-1990s investigation of several well-connected lawyers, including Cesare Previti. Previti had once been Italy's minister of finance and was a close associate of former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi.
Testimony in that investigation indicated that the attorneys regularly paid bribes to fix cases. Among those was a lawsuit Rovelli had brought against Banco Instituto Mobilaire Italiano, or IMI, over its refusal to honor a bailout of a chemical company Rovelli controlled.
Three Italian lawyers and several judges were convicted of public corruption offenses, although convictions against two judges were later overturned on appeal.

UK: Ex-cop's cocaine and corruption earns time behind bars

2007-07-19T18:03:00.001-07:00

Ex-cop's cocaine and corruption earns time behind bars
BY ROB GIBSON
A former Milton Keynes police officer has been sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to drug offences including possession of cocaine.
An investigation by the Forces Professional Standards Department (PSD) led to the arrest of 24-year-old Emma Wheatcroft on August 1 last year.
Wheatcroft, of Barbers Mews, Neath Hill, was convicted of offences relating to misconduct in a public office, obtaining personal information from a police computer system, concealing criminal property, money laundering and possession of cocaine.
Miss Wheatcroft resigned from Thames Valley Police while under investigation.
Her then boyfriend, 24-year-old Matthew Nyack, who is also from Milton Keynes, was convicted of conspiracy to supply cocaine, concealing criminal property, money laundering and aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office.
He was sentenced to six years imprisonment.
Following the sentencing Deputy Chief Constable Alex Marshall said: "I'm very pleased with the outcome of this case and it should send a very clear message that Thames Valley Police can and will deal decisively with any criminality within the Force.
"The PSD Operations Team conducted a well managed covert operation which has rid the organisation of a corrupt officer and removed a link with serious crime.
"I am encouraged by the fact that the intelligence which started this operation came from our own staff.
"I am constantly impressed by the professionalism and enthusiasm shown by the overwhelming majority of our people and acutely aware of the potential damage that one or two rogue officers and staff can cause so it is good to see that they will not be tolerated.
"Whilst I believe that the scale of police corruption is very small, we have established methods of obtaining information about police misconduct and have a dedicated team which is tasked with eradicating it totally."

Malaysia: Aide to Anwar warns of controls on bloggers

2007-07-19T17:56:00.000-07:00

A poster demanding for Nathaniel Tan's release circulated over the Malaysian blogosphere. see wiki page on Nathaniel Tan

Aide to Malaysia's Anwar warns of controls on bloggers

July 20, 2007 - 4:05AM

An aide to former Malaysian deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim on Thursday accused authorities of unlawful detention and discriminatory controls on bloggers after he was released by police.
Nathaniel Tan, 27, was arrested last Friday under the Official Secrets Act on allegations, according to his lawyer, that he had secret documents relating to corruption allegations against the country's deputy internal security minister, Johari Baharom.
Tan, who was released on Tuesday, has denied the claim and said he was repeatedly questioned by police over an anonymous posting on his blog that had referred to the corruption.
"I have no information on the documents. I cannot make sense of this arrest," Tan said, noting that police failed to follow proper procedures when detaining him and also restricted contact with his lawyer.
Tan, who blogs under his own name, said he had later deleted a part of the anonymous comment as he felt it contained detailed allegations that could not be substantiated.
"The government and police appear to be sending a signal that while irresponsible bloggers roam free, responsible bloggers who moderate their comments and put a name to their writing are more likely to end up as targets," Tan said.
"This policy could not possibly be more ill-informed and counter-productive," he added.
Tan was arrested two days after authorities closed their investigations into allegations that Johari took bribes to free gangsters, saying there was no evidence of corruption.
"I unfortunately cannot rule out completely that the sub-standard and rushed nature of this investigation is the result of political meddling and pressure in police affairs," Tan said.
Tan was released on bail and is required to meet with police at the end of the month. He has not been charged with any offence.
Anwar is adviser to Keadilan, or the People's Justice Party, and has criticised Tan's arrest. Keadilan is led by Anwar's wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
Tan's case comes amid attacks on bloggers and Internet users by ministers, including Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who accuse them of spreading lies about the government.
Two prominent bloggers, Ahirudin Attan and Jeff Ooi, are also being sued for defamation by the government-linked New Straits Times Press group, a move criticised for attacking freedom of expression.
The Bangkok-based Southeast Asian Press Alliance protested Tan's arrest and said it was concerned that it "may be symptomatic of an emerging clampdown on online expression in Malaysia."

© 2006 AFP

Philippines: Local corruption level still high

2007-07-19T17:54:00.001-07:00

Manila - Roxas Boulevard

Local corruption level still high

DEMAND AND SUPPLY
By BOO CHANCO

It is obvious that there is still a lot of work to do in the area of governance. But then again, leadership by example is the most effective means for making everyone in the bureaucracy toe the line on good governance.

The Philippine Star

So, you might ask, what else is new? Well… it is just that our fears have been confirmed by two recent studies: one from SWS and the other from the World Bank. In its 2007 Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI), the World Bank measured six components of good governance—voice and accountability, political stability and absence of violence, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption. Overall, we didn’t do that well.

Yet, countries around the world, including some of the poorest in Africa, have made “significant progress” in improving governance and fighting corruption over the decade, the new “Worldwide Governance Indicators” (WGI) study by the World Bank Institute shows. In our case, the study noted the Philippines has yet to post marked improvements in the six indicators when compared to other East Asian countries like Singapore and now, Indonesia.

But if we are looking for something in the study to make us feel a little better, study co-author Daniel Kaufmann, Director of Global Governance at the WBI said “on average, there is no evidence that governance in the world at large has improved markedly over the past decade.” In other words, we are not too bad. Just don’t compare us with our neighbors in the region because our progress pales in comparison. Indonesia, in particular, was cited for remarkable improvement under its current President Yudhoyono.

Kaufmann said “many countries have stayed behind or even deteriorated.” But even “some of the poorest ones in Africa, are deciding to move forward, and are showing to the world that it is possible to make substantial inroads in improving governance over a relatively short period of time — in less than a decade.”

Good governance, the study emphasized, matters. “Policy makers and academics agree that good governance matters for economic development. Scholars have discovered that high-quality institutions have the power, over the long run, to raise per capita incomes and promote growth in all parts of the world. And the ‘development dividend’ paid by good governance is large.”

In other words, “good governance and corruption control are fundamental for long-term growth and reducing poverty. Improving governance helps fight poverty and improves standards of living. Ten years of research show that improved standards of living are largely the result of improved governance, and not the other way around.” Citing specifics, the study found out that “when governance is improved by one standard deviation, infant mortality declines by two-thirds and incomes rise about three-fold in the long run.”

There is another dimension to good governance and this has to do with democracy. Data from the same World Bank study show that democratic accountability and clean government go hand in hand. “Countries such as Chile, Botswana, and Canada all are vibrant democracies with very little corruption, while countries with voice and accountability challenges such as China and the Russian Federation, or, more extremely, Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea, tend to have much more corruption.”

That makes sense. Consider how our government has ignored public opinion in the matters of political killings and corruption, negating the value of a free press, a revered democratic institution. Doing so breeds the perception of increased instability, a factor political risk analysts take into account in grading our investment worthiness.

So, now we know why we are what we are. It is no surprise the WB study noted that perceptions of the country’s political stability have deteriorated over the last 10 years. Political stability is measured by the likelihood of violent threats to, or changes, in government, including terrorism. In two other indicators—voice and accountability and fighting corruption—the study noted the perception that Philippine performance lagged behind that of most of the countries surveyed.

This brings me to a recent SWS survey that concluded: “corruption is still a problem”. The survey found out that local businessmen still think the level of corruption in the country remains high. The good news, though, is that 17 of 29 government agencies improved in their sincerity ratings to fight corruption over the last two years.

On the positive side, the 7th annual SWS Business Survey on Corruption, conducted in partnership with Makati Business Club and the Asia Foundation, also point to declining incidence of bribery for government contracts in Metro Manila. However, the survey also revealed that three of five managers were still asked for a bribe in 2006 on at least one government transaction.

Specifically, around 61percent of managers have been asked for a bribe on at least one of seven index transactions: getting local government permits and licenses (40 percent); getting national permits and licenses (37 percent); paying income taxes (33 percent); complying with import regulations (25 percent); supplying goods/services (22 percent); collecting receivables (20 percent); and availing of incentives (13 percent).

But we just grin and bear it. Few bother to report bribery. Only six percent of managers reported to authorities that they had been asked for a bribe. Sixty-nine percent of managers believe that “nothing will be done”; 49 percent were afraid of reprisal; and 48 percent believe it is “standard practice.”

Still, the ratings of almost all agencies for sincerity in fighting corruption are up in 2007, except for the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG). Of 29 agencies rated, 12 are positive ratings and 17 are negative ratings. Eight rated Moderate, Good or Very Good [+11 to +50] (DTI, SSS, SC, DOH, City/Mun. gov’t, COA, Sandiganbayan, GSIS); 9 are Mediocre [-10 to +10] (DepEd, Trial Courts, Ombudsman, DBM, OP, Senate, PAGC, DA, AFP); and 12 are Poor, Bad or Very Bad [-50 to –11] (DOTC, DILG, DOJ, PCGG, DENR, PNP, LTO, House of Rep., Comelec, BIR, DPWH, BoC).

There are also “institutionalized” forms of corruption. For instance, one out of four (23 percent) said that a typical company in their sector would donate to the 2007 election campaign. The average estimated donation was P245,000. We need to be serious about electoral reform.

Filipino managers are enthusiastic about the idea of establishing a Transparency Information Bureau. It is “like a Credit Information Bureau, except that, instead of Credit Ratings, it will make Transparency Ratings on the reputation of individuals, companies, and agencies regarding honest and ethics in business.” The survey found 82 percent of the managers saying that their company would be willing, if asked by such a bureau, to give information about other people or companies regarding honesty and ethics in business.

It is obvious that there is still a lot of work to do in the area of governance. But then again, leadership by example is the most effective means for making everyone in the bureaucracy toe the line on good governance. If they see apparently overpriced multi-million dollar projects like the National Broadband getting through, the small bureaucrats are able to justify the petty graft and corruption in their own little world.

It is worrisome, though, and a matter of national honor that the World Bank has found much poorer countries in Africa starting to show remarkable improvement in governance and we are still just where we have always been. In a sense, expectations are higher for us, a middle income country that was among the first to free itself from colonialism after WW2 and is even a charter member of the United Nations. We can’t be seen as doing worse than those newly emerging countries whose problems with poverty are worse than us too.

Oh well…

Remedyo

Here’s something from Robin Tong.

Mekaniko: Boss, masamang balita. ‘Di ko naayos ang preno ng kotse mo. May diperensiya pa rin.

Customer: E papaano ko gagamitin ngayon, may meeting pa naman ako!

Mekaniko: Ay, sir, ginawaan ko na lang ng paraan para magamit niyo ngayon.

Customer: Anong ginawa mong remedyo?

Mekaniko: Linaksan ko ho ang busina niyo!

Global: Effort to root out corporate bribery is flagging

2007-07-19T17:50:00.000-07:00

Middle East envoy and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair arrives for a meeting with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, in Brussels, Belgium, on Tuesday, July 17, 2007. (Paul O'Driscoll/Bloomberg News)

A global effort to root out corporate bribery is flagging
By Doreen Carvajal
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/18/business/bribe.php
PARIS: A decade-long global effort to root out corporate bribery in major exporting nations is flagging, with numerous countries failing to enforce the anti-corruption measures that they have signed, according to an annual report released Wednesday.
More than half of the 34 countries surveyed have failed to act on international commitments to combat bribery, according to Transparency International, an anti-corruption group based in Berlin.
In particular, it singled out Britain, where the previous government, under Tony Blair, recently quashed an investigation against BAE Systems on national security grounds.
"The reason that we identify is lack of political will," said Gillian Dell, the co-author of the third annual study, which monitored the progress of countries that signed a 10-year-old accord to combat bribery of foreign officials.
"Our main message is that there's been some progress, but it's not enough, and more needs to be done. Foreign bribery is a big problem," he said.
Among the big eight exporting nations, the study notes that France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the United States have stepped up their enforcement. Canada, Japan and Britain have not conducted any significant prosecutions.
The United States prosecuted 67 cases in 2007 and conducted 60 investigations, according to the study, while Britain pursued 15 investigations.
Since anti-bribery measures can level the playing field for rival companies, Dell said, the transparency group fears that Britain has set a troubling precedent with its intervention to halt a bribery investigation of BAE's £43 billion, or $88 billion, arms contract with Saudi Arabia.
Blair cited concerns that a review would wreck bilateral relations.
That opens "a dangerous loophole that other parties could assert when investigations may offend powerful officials," according to the report.
The report also cited a number of East European countries that have not pursued bribery prosecutions, including Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia, where in March the minister of the economy, Lubomir Jahnatek, was quoted during an interview labeling bribes as "non-traditional forms of sale that really work."
The group surveyed corruption experts in the 34 countries to get a sense of how politics influences bribery investigations. All of the countries have signed an accord under the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, pledging that national economic interest will not affect bribery investigations.
A number of the experts, according to the report, said there was evidence of political control. As one New Zealand official put it, "there seems to be an attitude which abhors the bribery and corruption of officials within New Zealand, but accepts a different or lower standard with respect to bribery and corruption offshore."
Mark Pieth, chairman of the OECD's working group on bribery and a criminal law professor at the University of Basel in Switzerland, said he took a more optimistic view of the global effort to combat bribery.
"First of all we have knowledge of about 150 investigations running at the moment," he said, noting that he divided performance into three categories: "One-third is really fine. One-third is middle of the road. And one-third is just not performing."
In November, the OECD will be the host to a meeting of ministers and prosecutors in Rome to mark the 10-year anniversary of the anti-bribery accords and to evaluate potential change.

China: Local Party Official in China Ousted Over Fatal Bombing

2007-07-19T17:48:00.001-07:00

Local Party Official in China Ousted Over Fatal Bombing
Assembly Head Accused of Having Mistress Killed

By Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, July 18, 2007; A14

BEIJING, July 17 -- Duan Yihe, 61, was known in Jinan city as a serious man, a quietly efficient official at the pinnacle of a long career in local Communist Party politics.
But on Monday, the Jinan party secretary announced that Duan had been expelled from the party, fired as head of the municipal People's Congress and put under investigation for allegedly having his mistress blown up as she drove down one of the city's main streets. A policeman was reportedly arrested for organizing the car bomb on Duan's orders.
Duan's sudden descent, from model Communist cadre to philanderer and suspected murderer, caused many people to shake their heads with wonder in Jinan, the capital of Shandong province about 280 miles south of Beijing. It was a surprising example, and more extreme than most, of the corruption that has eaten away at Communist Party rule in many Chinese cities during three decades of swift economic reforms.
"I couldn't believe it when I heard the news," said a retired government official in Jinan who spoke with a caller on condition of anonymity. "How can this happen? He is on a high official level, and this has to do with an explosion. This makes his case special compared to other corruption cases."
Another Jinan resident, a gatekeeper at the city government building who identified himself only as Wu, said he was not surprised to hear that Duan had a mistress, "since it's understood among our public" that party officials often have girlfriends on the side. "But I was astonished by the explosion" he was allegedly involved in, Wu added. "It shouldn't happen to an official who is supposed to serve the people."
President Hu Jintao and the top party leadership have repeatedly identified official corruption and high living by party officials as one of the main problems facing China. Hu, who also heads the party, has warned that the spread of malfeasance could endanger the Communists' monopoly on power unless it is reined in.
Wu Guanzheng, a Politburo Standing Committee member who runs the party Discipline Inspection unit, told a class of upcoming cadres at the Party School on Monday that his inspectors will pursue corruption relentlessly, particularly among "top leaders at various government levels." The party will intensify supervision, work out "more efficient systems" to monitor members, and enforce "a healthy lifestyle for officials," he was reported as saying by the official New China News Agency.
"The punishment against Duan shows the party's firm resolution and clear attitude on strict administration of the party and the fight against corruption," said the party's official Jinan Daily newspaper. It said Duan's case was "a serious lesson" for other party members.
But Hu and his lieutenants have refused pleas, from inside as well as outside the party, to open up China's rigid one-party rule and allow countervailing centers of power, such as a genuine legislature or independent judicial system, that might be able to check misconduct within the party. Several public suggestions to this effect have emerged from party officials and academics recently in the lead-up to a key party congress this fall, only to be dismissed by the leadership.
"The excessive concentration of power can be regarded as the basic characteristic and chief root cause of trouble in our traditional political system," said the most recent call for political reform, an essay in the liberal Yanhuang Chunqiu political journal signed by Wu Min, a professor at the Shanxi Party School.
In the Communist monopoly denounced by Wu, officials such as Duan have found ways to flourish without fear of prosecution, protected by friends and colleagues in the party, government and police -- all from the same fraternity. A party secretary in Fujian province, Huang Jingao, became famous three years ago for denouncing out loud what he called "the underlying rules" under which corrupt local officials protect one another's backs. Within a year of his outburst, Huang was fired and indicted on corruption charges.
The Jinan party leader, Yang Rongzhu, said Duan for a long time had maintained his mistress, "giving her lots of money and furthering her interests for her," suggesting that financial and other irregularities had preceded the bombing, according to the Jinan Daily.
The mistress, identified by colleagues as Liu Haiping, 31, was a former waitress in the People's Congress cafeteria, who since her association with Duan had risen to become a mid-level official at the local natural resources department.
She was killed and a passing taxi driver was injured July 9 when the car she was driving exploded on Jianshe Road in downtown Jinan. A spokesman for the Jinan Public Security Bureau, Dang Yali, said the blast was still under investigation. But he confirmed that Duan's firing from the People's Congress, a municipal assembly, was connected to the explosion.
The motive for Liu's killing remains unknown. But Jinan residents speculated she was threatening to denounce Duan unless he gave her more gifts.
Caijing magazine, a Beijing publication, said on its Web site that the license plate of the car driven by Liu was issued to the Public Security Bureau, raising suspicions the vehicle may have been lent to her through Duan's influence. Dang declined to comment on the license plate or the role of Chen Zhi, the policeman reportedly arrested in connection with the bombing.
"He is not here anymore," said a man at the Public Security Bureau who was asked to transfer a telephone call to Chen's extension.

Researcher Li Jie contributed to this report.

STRATEGYPAGE:
=============
Secrets To Die For

July 19, 2007: A Google Earth user, checking areas believed to contain Chinese naval bases (Chinese language message boards and chat rooms, in China and elsewhere, are good sources of these kinds of leads), found an excellent image of the first of the Type 094 SLBM (Ballistic Missile carrying nuclear subs) boats. In response, China repeated warnings to its citizens that geographic and military information about China is a state secret, and you can go to prison if found cooperating with foreigners who are collecting this kind of information. China monitors Internet activity inside China and, increasingly, outside China as well (especially if it is in Chinese and deals with politics or military matters.)

July 18, 2007: Thirty Thai Special Forces troops have come to China to train with their Chinese counterparts. Thailand is currently run by a military committee, which deposed the elected government last year. The Thai generals have reached out to their fellow dictators in China.

July 16, 2007: Chinese military commanders have felt compelled to announce new measures to assure the quality of food served to its 2.3 million troops. The rash of food safety scandals lately has caused numerous rumors to break out in the military. There have been cases in the past of corrupt officers substituting cheaper, but tainted, food, for the wholesome stuff. New army regulations call for more inspections and higher standards of hygiene in military kitchens.

July 14, 2007: China is becoming increasingly aggressive against Falungong members outside China. Falungong is a religious movement that demonstrated against government restrictions, and triggered a massive government effort to destroy the movement. This is partly because, in Chinese history, there have been many cases where similar religious movements triggered widespread rebellion against the government. What China is doing now is using diplomatic pressure, especially against small and poor nations, to expel or suppress Falungong activity in their country (usually by Chinese migrants or tourists.)

July 11, 2007: The former director of Chinas Food and Drug Regulatory Agency was executed for corruption. The official had taken nearly a million dollars in bribes to allow manufacture and distribution of untested new drugs. People died as a result. China rarely executes officials this senior. But the rule is that, if a corrupt officials gets enough bad press for himself, and the government, he will be punished more severely.

July 9, 2007: Now that Taiwan has overcome years of opposition in its own parliament, and ordered a dozen more U.S. P-3C maritime patrol aircraft, Taiwanese air force officers are in the United States to discuss details of buying 66 more F-16 fighters and 30 AH-64 helicopter gunships.

July 2, 2007: Recent revelations of widespread corruption in the food processing and pharmaceutical industries has led China to drop its long time rule that only Communist Party members can be appointed to senior government jobs. Now, the best qualified, and least likely to be corrupted, officials are being given jobs regulating the food processing and pharmaceutical industries. At least one of these officials is not a Party member.

June 30, 2007: China has set up an experimental "Peace Corps" for Africa. So far, 300 volunteers (selected from over 10,000 applicants) underwent three months of training, and then went to Africa to teach simple, but more advances, Chinese farming methods, as well as medical and public health procedures, and how to speak Chinese. The volunteers get round trip air fare, and a small monthly payment to help defray the cost of food and lodging. Volunteers are expected to forge links with Africans, gain knowledge of Africa, and improve China's image at a grass roots level.

June 28, 2007: There are several hundred violent demonstrations and clashes with the police each day in China, the result of growing anger and frustration at the corruption of government officials. Most of the culprits are identified as members of the Communist Party, although many joined simply to get ahead in their government career. The unrest is increasing, and senior officials are getting nervous about their inability to reverse the trends (unrest and corruption.)

UK: BAE's secret $12m payout in African deal

2007-07-19T17:44:00.000-07:00

BAE's secret $12m payout in African deal

Middleman reveals covert cash for 'unnecessary' Tanzanian radar sale

David Leigh in Dar es Salaam and Rob Evans
Monday January 15, 2007
The Guardian

BAE systems
BAE Systems HQ. Photograph: Guardian

The UK's biggest arms supplier secretly paid a $12m commission into a Swiss account in a deal which led to Tanzania, one of the world's poorest countries, buying a controversial military radar system.
A Tanzanian middleman, who has a long-standing relationship with military and government figures, has admitted that the sum was covertly moved to a Swiss account by BAE Systems, which is under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.
The back-door payment represented 30% of the contract value. The east African state had to borrow to finance the deal, which critics said was unnecessary and overpriced.
Tony Blair supported the 2002 sale but former cabinet minister Clare Short says she and the chancellor, Gordon Brown, opposed it.
The SFO, which was recently forced to abandon its investigation into commissions paid on a massive arms contract with Saudi Arabia, is now focusing its attention on Tanzania.
Yesterday's admissions by the Tanzanian middleman, Sailesh Vithlani, led Ms Short to call for BAE's prosecution if the allegations were proved. She said the prime minister had been personally responsible for forcing the licence for the Tanzania deal through the cabinet.
"No 10 insisted on letting this go ahead, when it stank," she said. "It was always obvious that this useless project was corrupt."
In Dar es Salaam, Mr Vithlani's business partner, Tanil Somaiya, told the Guardian that British police had already flown out to trace and interview both men as potential witnesses.
He said BAE had made two parallel arrangements with the middlemen. In the first, a conventional agency agreement was signed. Under this, 1% commission was to be paid if the $40m radar deal went through, to a Tanzania-registered firm, Merlin International Ltd.
Mr Vithlani was the majority shareholder in Merlin, Mr Somaiya said, while he had a small token interest himself. BAE paid $400,000 down this route in stage payments, Mr Somaiya said, as the radar equipment was delivered.
But under a second, more unusual agreement, BAE's secretly owned offshore company Red Diamond deposited another $12m, representing 30% of the contract price, in Switzerland. That money was under the personal control of Mr Vithlani, Mr Somaiya said, and this had been admitted to UK police.
When asked about the BAE money, Mr Vithlani told the Guardian he had made no disbursements from the Swiss cash to public officials "in Tanzania". Asked if he had disbursed any of the $12m to third parties outside of Tanzania, he declined to comment. "When the UK police travelled to Tanzania, we met them at their request and answered all their questions," he said.
Mr Vithlani acted as agent not only on the radar deal but also in the 2002 purchase from the US of a top-of-the-range Gulfstream official jet for the then Tanzanian president, Benjamin Mkapa, at a cost of more than $40m.
When asked if he would allow British police to inspect all the transactions on his Swiss account, he declined to comment.
In the secretive world of international arms deals, a commission of 1% to local agents would generally be regarded as legitimate. The government's export credit agency, the Export Credits Guarantee Department, has guidelines under which a "commission" of more than 5-10% is automatically regarded as questionable.
BAE System's payment of as much as 30%, coupled with the use of a Swiss bank account and apparent double sets of agency agreements, would normally arouse suspicions of possible bribery, investigators say.
Police sources in Tanzania said the agreement to use Mr Vithlani as an agent had been signed off by the then chairman of BAE, Sir Dick Evans.
Sir Dick, who has been at the centre of many of the arms deals under investigation, has already been interviewed by the Serious Fraud Office during their two-year inquiry.
BAE Systems were yesterday asked why they had made a 30% payment to Mr Vithlani's Swiss account. The company refused to answer, saying: "We will not be commenting on any point of substance. This cannot of course be taken as any kind of admission."
The SFO also refused to discuss their investigation. The president of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, is due in London today to speak at a meeting with Hilary Benn, the international development secretary, on efforts to overcome corruption in Tanzania.
Later this week, the UK is expected to have to defend its actions over BAE at a meeting of the anti-bribery group of the OECD in Paris.
Norman Lamb, a Liberal Democrat frontbencher and critic of the deal, said: "It was obvious at the time that this deal did not stack up, but Blair still forced it through, against the better judgment of his colleagues. It was not as if he was not warned at the time."

UK: Minister unable to say if Britain will hand BAE evidence to US

2007-07-19T17:43:00.000-07:00

Minister unable to say if Britain will hand BAE evidence to US

David Leigh
Tuesday July 17, 2007
The Guardian

Ministers admitted yesterday that the US department of justice has served a request on them to hand over evidence about BAE's alleged secret arms deal payments to Saudi officials.
But the government has refused to say whether it will cooperate, and gave no sign that it intends to take a fresh approach to the corruption allegations against Britain's biggest arms company.
Challenged by the Liberal Democrat deputy leader, Vince Cable, in a fresh debate called by the opposition party, the solicitor general, Vera Baird, said the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, would take the decision: "I cannot comment further."
Mr Cable said the US was "a close ally which has strict laws regarding corruption ... It is necessary the British government give an absolute commitment to maximum cooperation".
But the only offer made by Ms Baird to defuse the continuing BAE controversy was a suggestion that security-vetted MPs on the backbench intelligence and security committee could in future look at the intelligence information were a similar decision made to drop a sensitive investigation.
She said the role of the attorney general in such cases was under review, and promised that the Law Commission would "prioritise" a reform of Britain's corruption laws, with a consultation paper out this autumn.
Tony Blair, when he was prime minister, forced the Serious Fraud Office to halt the British investigation into allegations that £1bn was paid to Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, and another £1bn to Swiss bank accounts of intermediaries, to secure the al-Yamamah arms deal.
The al-Yamamah programme, which has provided BAE with £43bn in revenue, was launched by the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher. Mr Cable read out detailed extracts from the Guardian's disclosures about the Bandar payments in the Commons yesterday, despite interruptions from both Labour and Tory backbenchers concerned over what one said were "tens of thousands of jobs".
Labour backbencher David Borrow, whose South Ribble constituency contains BAE workers from its Preston factory, claimed that comments he had made to his local newspaper had been wrongly interpreted in the Guardian.
The Guardian reported yesterday that Mr Borrow had lobbied the arms sales minister, Lord Drayson, over the US request last week, and had told his constituency paper that he expected the government would refuse to disclose information to the authorities in Washington.
It emerged during the debate that the cabinet secretary, Gus O'Donnell, had sent a letter last September calling for the SFO to drop its Saudi inquiry because it allegedly threatened the government's counter-terrorism strategy.
When that pressure failed, Tony Blair sent a letter several pages long, attaching a dossier from Sir Richard Mottram, Downing Street's intelligence coordinator, claiming the Saudis would threaten British lives by cutting intelligence links if corruption investigations were pursued.
Ms Baird disclosed that in his letter, the then prime minister said "he felt he would fail in his duty if he did not bring his views to the attention of the head of the SFO".

Argentina: Minister resigns over bag of cash in bathroom

2007-07-19T17:37:00.000-07:00

Argentina's economy minister, Felisa Miceli, has resigned after £30,000 (US$64,000) was found in her office bathroom. Photograph: Maria Eugenia Solis/AFP.

Minister resigns over bag of cash in bathroom

Mark Oliver and agencies
Tuesday July 17, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

see also:
Argentina: brouhaha surrounding economy minister

Argentina's economy minister has resigned after the discovery of more than £30,000 in a brown paper bag in her office bathroom.
Felisa Miceli, 54, stepped down after a prosecutor ordered her to give evidence before a judge about the money, which she has said was mostly a loan from her brother to buy a house.
Prosecutors are sceptical about that version of events, the Associated Press reported.
The president, Néstor Kirchner, who had supported Ms Miceli as the scandal grew in recent weeks, overnight accepted her resignation and appointed the industry secretary, Gustavo Peirano, as her replacement.
The affair has further eroded the popularity of the Kirchner government ahead of national elections on October 28. The resignation comes as Mr Kirchner's wife Senator Cristina Fernandez is expected to launch her run for president on Thursday at a rally in Buenos Aires. She is still considered the frontrunner.
The bag of money was found last monthin a bathroom cabinet by police conducting a routine security check in Ms Miceli's offices.
Ms Miceli has insisted that she has broken no laws. She has said she made a "blunder" by taking the money to her office for safekeeping until she could put it in a bank. She said the money was for a real estate deal that ultimately did not happen.
It is common in Argentina to pay in cash for property. But federal prosecutor Guillermo Marijuan was not satisfied with her explanation and has ordered her to appear in court.
He traced the cash back to a bank he said the money came from, but failed to find any accounts there linked to Ms Miceli or her brother, Reuters reported. Mr Marijaun also found there was no record of a withdrawal for that amount of money at the bank.
Ms Miceli said she would face justice "like any other citizen" to clarify the case. In her resignation letter she said: "The publicising of acts concerning my private life, relating them to my public activity, has caused undeserved damage to my honour which undoubtedly affects our government."
Mr Kirchner's government has been embroiled in other controversies. In May he sacked two mid-level officials after a Swedish construction firm said it had found "improper payments" in a government pipeline project. A judicial investigation into the payments is continuing.
Last week government officials were also forced to defend the environment secretary, Romina Picolotti, after a leading newspaper reported that she had hired about 350 new people, including relatives.
Ministers and officials in Argentina are routinely suspected of padding their salaries with bribes and gifts.
The resignation of Ms Miceli is not expected to have a major impact on Argentina's economic policies as they are directed mainly by Mr Kirchner.

Puerto Rico: Police corruption undermines drug war

2007-07-19T17:33:00.000-07:00

JOSE L. CRUZ CANDELARIA/PRIMERA HORA
In Carolina, Puerto Rico, a detective escorts police officers charged with stealing while executing search warrants.

Police corruption undermines Puerto Rican drug war
Puerto Rican police, prosecutors and other public officials have been investigated for working with local drug dealers.
BY FRANCES ROBLES
frobles@MiamiHerald.com

SAN JUAN --
Every time law enforcement officers in Puerto Rico closed in on the island's most-wanted fugitive last year, drug trafficker Alex Trujillo skipped out just in time.
He was captured only after the joint federal and local task force hunting him down was cut in half to weed out suspected insider informants, Police Superintendent Pedro Toledo said.
And after investigators at Puerto Rico's Justice Department saw several drug stings flop last fall, prosecutors discovered a department employee who was tipping off drug dealers. Aurea Teresa Cancio Nieves was caught on camera taking $1,500 from an undercover agent, court records show.
As Puerto Rico battles one of the highest crime rates in the United States and burgeoning drug trafficking blamed for about 700 murders a year, authorities are confronting another harsh reality: corruption.
About 100 police officers are currently under investigation, and 75 others have been convicted in federal court in the past five years, law enforcement officials said. The Puerto Rican attorney general's office has 17 open cases against members of the police department.
As a hub for cocaine and heroin arriving from Colombia on the way to mainland U.S. streets, Puerto Rico is so steeped in drug corruption that even a top prosecutor was accused of accepting a Mercedes Benz from a known dealer. The U.S. government estimates that 20 percent of the cocaine from Colombia passes through the Caribbean.
''We have had officers using police cars to escort drug dealers, and we have arrested officers selling weapons to undercover agents,'' Toledo said. ``We have many honest, hard-working officers, but some violate their oath. We have to get rid of them. We are not going to cover up corruption.''
Between 1993 and 2000, the Puerto Rico Police Department expelled 1,000 police officers on a variety of criminal charges, Toledo said. But he stressed that there are about 20,000 officers across the island of 4 million people -- one of the world's highest police-per-capita ratios -- making the corrupt officers a comparatively small minority.
In November, two officers assigned to the Arecibo station on the north coast were sentenced to 65 years in prison for protecting cocaine shipments. Another got 40 years.
`LOST HONOR'
In 2001, 32 officers were arrested in the biggest police corruption case in the island's history, dubbed ''Operation Lost Honor.'' Officers were accused of using their patrol cars to protect cocaine shipments.
In 2004, 16 officers, including two women, were charged with conspiring to sell drugs in ''Operation Dark Justice.'' In yet another police corruption case, ''Blue Shame,'' prosecutors publicly complained that they suspected judges involved in the case were corrupt.
''This is not something new,'' said Luis S. Fraticelli, special agent in charge of the FBI's San Juan office. ``This has has been going on in Puerto Rico as long as I can remember.''
In the 1970s, he said, corruption was so rampant that some officers were charged with murder.
''We have had undercover agents pose as drug traffickers who hire corrupt police officers to protect shipments of 30 kilos,'' Fraticelli said in a recent interview. ``To protect that shipment from point A to point B, one trip is $4,000. If it's five cops, you're talking $20,000.
``If we offered enough, they used their police uniforms and their patrol cars to protect that load.''
Law enforcement authorities say while it's likely that most drug dealers here have a police officer on the payroll, the corruption does not appear to be organized or to reach police brass.
Police Association President José Rodríguez said ''98 percent'' of police officers were honest, and that the department leadership publicizes isolated corruption cases in order to cover up its lack of progress in the fight against crime.
''There are corrupt police in Puerto Rico, but not as much as other cities in the United States,'' Rodríguez said. ``These cases are not so frequent, despite our low pay. We are the lowest paid police officers in the entire country.''
Officers make about $26,400 a year, said Rodríguez, a police captain in Carolina, a municipality near San Juan. He added that in Puerto Rico, sergeants supervise 35 to 30 patrol officers, compared to an average of 10 in the United States.
''It's impossible to have effective control,'' he said.
Toledo said the island's police department plans to raise the minimum hiring age from 18 to 21 and beef up its screening process to include polygraphs. But he and other authorities agreed that to stop corrupt police, they have to stop drug trafficking. And to do that, they must largely rely on federal agencies because local police are prohibited by law from tapping phone lines, using body recorders or holding suspects without bail.
U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez said her office has lowered the threshold for the cases federal prosecutors will take. Her office now regularly files gun possession charges and drug cases for low quantities of cocaine in the quest to crack down on street-level drug peddlers.
''I was local assistant D.A. for 10 years. I got to know a lot of officers; their commitment is extraordinary,'' she said. ``The vast majority -- vast majority -- are good, decent officers. This is not an indictment of the police force. It's an indictment against members who misuse their positions.''
CRIME REDUCTION
Law enforcement agencies have formed joint strike forces, which are beginning to show reductions in crime in the pilot cities where they were launched.
''The issue is not the police. The issue is drug trafficking,'' she said. ``We have a drug trafficking problem and a violent crime problem. The murder rate is very high.''
In 2006, 736 people were murdered in Puerto Rico, a rate about three times higher than the U.S. mainland's average. By July 15 of this year, 365 people had been murdered.
The year started out with an explosion of violence attributed to a power vacuum left when notorious drug trafficker José ''Coquito'' López Rosario was gunned down last summer, and the rival dealer who allegedly ordered him killed, Alex Trujillo was finally captured.
When López Rosario was killed, authorities began investigating his ties to three local senators, one of whom brought López along on a series of prison inspections. Although he was arrested many times, his cases always fell apart in court, said Sergio Rubio Paredes, head of the Puerto Rico Justice Department's organized crime division.
A justice department top prosecutor lost his job when accused of accepting a Mercedes Benz from López. Although he was cleared of wrongdoing, his contract was not renewed.
''Coquito had a lot of connections,'' Toledo said, ``including judges.''
López had friends in the police department, too, the superintendent said: His mom provided free catering to police holiday parties.
''We need to attack the roots of the problem,'' Rubio said. ``In Puerto Rico, we have proven that hiring more police does not work.''

Pakistan: Interpol issues red notices against seven bureaucrats

2007-07-19T17:17:00.000-07:00

Pakistan: Interpol issues red notices against seven bureaucrats

By Syed Irfan Raza
http://www.dawn.com/2007/07/19/top9.htm
ISLAMABAD, July 18: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has diverted its attention from corruption cases against politicians to embezzlement cases involving bureaucrats and businessmen, it is learnt.
The step is said to be the first taken by the NAB against bureaucrats and businessmen since the appointment of new chairman of the bureau last week.
According to an official press release, red notices in this connection were issued by the secretariat general of the International Crime Police Organisation (Interpol) against seven bureaucrats and businessmen absconding abroad and wanted in cases of corruption, fraud, forgery and criminal breach of trust.
Those who received the red notices are: Nasir Javed Bhatti, Raja Mohammad Sadiq, Arbab Ali Khan, Mohammad Jawed Qadir Tawakal, Mohammad Sohail Tawakal, Sami Mohammad Yaqoob and Faisal Yaqoob.
The NAB chairman also issued warrants of arrest against the accused.
The press release said that Nasir Javed Bhatti, a director of the Pakistan Telecom Limited, had been involved in making fake purchases.
He allegedly misappropriated the funds with the assistance of subordinates and also facilitated other officials to embezzle the funds.
The accused fled the country in May 2001.
According to the NAB, one Raja Mohammad Saqib allegedly misappropriated an amount of Rs9.937 billion.
The contents of his accounts and property were not commensurate with his known source of income.
Accused Arbab Ali Khan in his capacity as chief executive officer of the Islamabad Stock Exchange deprived people of Rs44 million in 2004.
The NAB informed that Mohammad Jawaid Qadir Tawakkal as one of the directors of the Tawakkal Group of companies obtained various financial facilities from different branches of the National Bank of Pakistan on the basis of a letter of credit issued by a foreign bank (EMTBC) on behalf of a foreign import firm.
The goods in respect of which the credit facilities were taken were not exported and the credit was not repaid.
Another accused Mohammad Sohail Tawakkal also a director of the Tawakkal Group of Companies, in complicity with others, embezzled Rs652,636 million.
In 1994, he tendered 13 bogus export bills at the Allied Bank of Pakistan in Lahore in the name of M/s Macro Services Hong Kong, a non-existent firm and caused lose of Rs35.2 million to the bank.
Between 1993 and 1997, he tendered 249 bogus export bills at the National Bank of Pakistan in Lahore in the name of M/s Macro Services Hong Kong (a non-existent firm) and caused a loss of Rs613,173 million to the bank.
According to the NAB, in 2007, Sami Mohammad Yaqoob and Faisal Yaqoob received large sums of money from the business community in Kuwait, promising them profits in return. They then embezzled the money and absconded.

US: Two Years After Katrina, $1 Billion Missing and 11,000 Complaints

2007-07-19T15:44:00.000-07:00

Woman sorts through the debris of her home, destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
©The New York Times

The Scams of the Century After the Storm of the Century
Two Years After Katrina, $1 Billion Missing and 11,000 Complaints

July 6, 2007 —
After the destruction caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, many victims were overwhelmed by the generosity of the American people.
But there is also a darker side to human nature. Nearly two years after the storm, more than 11,000 alleged instances of fraud are under investigation.
The number of dollars stolen, victims deprived and taxpayers robbed -- not to mention the number of cases the government is still dealing with -- is staggering.
One of those most greatly affected is Warren Paisant -- a New Orleans resident who just moved into his rebuilt house. He's the only one on his street who has returned, and he is angry.
He wants to tell those who committed fraud: "You have a hell of a nerve. People here can't get back into their homes because of the money you took."
His anger might be directed at someone like Walter Ray Stall. Stall claimed he lost everything in New Orleans. Federal workers gave him $2,000 -- but it turns out he actually lives in Texas. Stall is now serving a 10-year sentence in federal prison.
"Every dollar that went to somebody who was defrauding the government didn't go to somebody who really needed that aide," said Ryan Alexander, president of watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense.
Of the nearly $7 billion in federal emergency aid spent to help victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, an estimated $1 billion was either stolen or wasted, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office.
"The reaction of the government was to throw as much money as you can as quickly as possible and don't worry about it if these people really deserve it or need it," said Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste.
Prosecutors face a huge challenge. More than 100 fraud complaints still pour in each a week -- on top of the thousands of others still being processed. "The numbers are unprecedented, but the effort is unprecedented," said David Dugas, the U.S. attorney in Baton Rouge.
Watchdog groups wonder if the government will be able to handle all the cases before the statute of limitations runs out in the next three years. The Justice Department defends its efforts, saying 700 people have so far been convicted.

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