India
In India, Karnataka Lok Ayukta Santosh Hegde has made a strong pitch for amending the Evidence Act and the procedural law to ensure trial and either conviction or acquittal is completed within six months in corruption cases, arguing that the country could ill-afford long periods of litigation. He was talking to journalists on the sidelines of the 17th Commonwealth Law Conference here on Monday after chairing a session on ‘Confronting corruption & economic crime in the Commonwealth.’ If trial and either conviction or acquittal took place within six months, he said, the level of corruption would come down by 50 per cent. Asked what were the changes needed in the statute, Mr. Hegde suggested an amendment to the procedural law to stipulate that there be no adjournment under any circumstance. From the first trial to the judgment, the case should be completed in six months. Witnesses would then not turn hostile. But after 10 years, witnesses would be won over or threatened.
Source: The Hindu
At least 42 percent of young Indians have paid a bribe, according to a survey of the country’s youth conducted by the Hindustan Times. Of 7,000 Indians polled between the ages of 18 and 21 across 15 cities, almost 40 percent of respondents said they would not feel ashamed if they had to pay a bribe. “Bribery is a tradition in this country. It is now in our DNA,” anti-corruption activist Sharrom Yezdegardi, was quoted as saying in the newspaper. According to the survey, 80 percent of young Indians polled feel that the impact of corruption is making the political system inefficient, while 50 percent believed it was a “necessary evil”. Activists said people living below the poverty line are the worst hit as they are faced with demands for bribes to access such free basic government services as police, employment, food schemes, employment opportunities, water, heath and education.
Source: TrustLaw
Indian agents have made the first arrest of an executive over corruption allegations linked to a multi-billion-dollar telecoms scandal that has hit Manmohan Singh’s government. Shaid Balwa, vice-chairman of Etisalat DB, the Indian joint venture of the United Arab Emirates’ telecoms operator Etisalat, was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the probe into alleged irregularities in the awarding of 2G spectrum licences in 2008. The arrest comes a week after the public prosecutor accused Swan Telecom – now known as Etisalat DB after being acquired by the UAE group – of receiving favourable treatment in the award of the licences. Mr Balwa is also the managing director of Indian developer DB Realty. Other telecoms companies accused in the probe include billionaire Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications.
Source: Financial Times
Jordan
A Jordanian prosecutor says he has ordered a powerful former intelligence chief to be detained for 14 days pending a probe on charges of embezzlement of public funds, money laundering and abuse of office. Mohammed Sourani said Thursday that Mohammed al-Dahabi, who is the former head of the General Intelligence Department, will be held at al-Juweida prison outside the Jordanian capital Amman while the investigation is taking place. Sourani says al-Dahabi is expected to answer to accusations brought against him by the money laundering and terrorism financing department of the country’s Central Bank. Jordan has investigated a number of former high profile officials in recent months in a bid to show it is serious about tackling graft and corruption.
Source: The Washington Post
Kazakhstan
Former Kazakh state customs head Serik Baimaganbetov has been arrested on charges of abuse of office and large-scale bribery. His detention was announced on February 6 in a statement issued by Kazakhstan’s financial police. Baimanganbetov served as head of the Customs Control Committee from May 2011 until his dismissal on February 2. He previously served as Kazakhstan’s foreign minister and as head of the presidential administration’s law enforcement division. Separately, the Interfax news agency has reported that Orak Sarbopeyev, mayor of the western city of Zhanaozen, has been detained on suspicion of embezzling state funds. Zhanaozen was recently the scene of labor unrest in which at least 16 people died in clashes with police. Former Zhanaozen Mayor Zhalgas Babakhanov was detained on similar charges earlier this month.
Source: Radio Free Europe
Kenya
The US plans to start offering technical assistance to Kenya to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The Financial Services Volunteer Corps (FSVC) financed by the US government last week met officials in the Ministry of Finance and players in the financial sector to identify the gaps in the financial sector that promote money laundering. “To promote transparency, financial inclusion, and economic justice in the EAC, FSVC will deliver technical assistance by assessing current EAC members’ capabilities and tailoring workshops that bring regional counterparts together,” FSVC said in a statement. The PS in the ministry of finance Mr Joseph Kinyua, Central Bank governor Njuguna Ndung’u, players in the banking and forex bureau sectors and Mr Emery Kobor from the US Treasury department attended the meeting.
Source: Business Daily
Mexico
A US judge Wednesday approved the extradition to Mexico of Chinese-Mexican businessman, Zhenli Ye Gon, on drug trafficking and money laundering charges. “Mexico has established probable cause for each of the charges for which extradition has been requested and met the other requirements for extradition under the Treaty,” federal judge John Facciola said in a ruling obtained by AFP. The businessman was arrested in July 2007 in the United States for alleged drug trafficking and money laundering related to methamphetamine production. In March 2007, Mexican police found US$205,000,000 while searching his home. He has been accused of buying ingredients in China to make meth in Mexico, and then ship it on into the United States. His attorney Rogelio de la Garza told Mexico’s Milenio Television from the United States that his client would appeal to try to block the extradition.
Source: Agence France Press
The Mexican Attorney General’s Office has issued arrest warrants for five former Coahuila state government officials accused of conspiring with two erstwhile federal officials already in custody for falsifying documents pertaining to the state’s finances. In a statement, the AG’s office said the seven are linked to “loans allegedly obtained illegally by former Coahuila government officials.” The five fugitives include Coahuila’s former treasurer, Miguel Ramon Rodriguez Flores, and a confidant of erstwhile state Gov. Humberto Moreira. Moreira stepped down as governor in January 2011 to run for the post of chairman of the main opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. He held that post for several months but stepped down last December after the loan scandal threatened to complicate the PRI’s bid to take back power in the July 2012 general election. Two ex-officials from the federal finance ministry charged in the case, Jaime Rene Jimenez Flores and Jorge Lopez Alarcon, have already been jailed.
Source: Latin American Herald Tribune
Nigeria
Nigeria’s parliament is probing whether fraudulent practices by government agencies fueled a fivefold rise in spending on gasoline subsidies in the past three years, said the head of the investigating committee. The government is probably paying more than 2 trillion naira ($12.6 billion) to fuel importers to cover the difference between market costs and state-regulated prices for last year, said Farouk Lawan, chairman of a House of Representatives committee investigating the discrepancies. That’s up from 384 billion naira in 2009 and represents almost half of last year’s 4.5 trillion budget. Government agencies that import the fuel were involved in “instances where they either didn’t follow due process, or certain provisions of some laws were abused,” Lawan said in a Feb. 7 interview in Abuja, the capital. Levi Ajuonuma, a spokesman for the petroleum ministry, said the investigation should be completed before making any conclusions.
Source: Bloomberg Business Week
Nigeria’s former anti-graft tsar, Nuhu Ribadu, has accepted an appointment as head of the country’s taskforce to improve accountability in the oil industry despite his political party’s reservations. The pioneer head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) – who ran unsuccessfully for president under the banner of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) last year – issued a statement late on Wednesday in which he cited his desire to keep on serving his country. “The history of my life is a history of public service,” Ribadu said from Afghanistan, where he is working as a member of a U.N. team evaluating the country’s progress on governance.
Source: TrustLaw
Pakistan
Pakistan’s prime minister has appealed against a supreme court summons to appear for a hearing over his refusal to pursue corruption cases against the country’s president. A lawyer for Yousuf Raza Gilani filed the appeal on the the prime minister’s behalf on Wednesday, saying he was basing the move on precedents set by top courts in Australia, France, India, the UK and the US. “I have filed an appeal today. I have quoted more than 50 national and international cases and given specific reasons against the supreme court order,” Aitzaz Ahsan said. A court official confirmed that the appeal had been received. If convicted of contempt, the prime minister could be jailed for up to six months and disqualified from public office. Grounds to proceed The court ordered Gilani last week to appear before judges on February 13 to be charged with contempt of court. Judge Nasir-ul-Mulk told the supreme court on February 2 that there were grounds to proceed against Gilani, despite the government’s insistence that Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has immunity from prosecution while he is head of state. “After the preliminary hearing, we are satisfied that prima facie there is a case for further proceeding into the matter.” “Adjourned for February 13, for framing charges. Prime minister is required to remain present in the court,” Mulk said then, reading out the order in English. In his response to the ruling, Gilani said he would “refrain from making comments” on the judiciary. He said he firmly believed that “everybody should follow the constitution”.
Source: Aljazeera
Romania
Fifty-nine Romanian border officials were arrested on Friday on suspicion of corruption, part of the Balkan country’s drive to show it is fit to join the European Union’s passport-free zone. Romania and its southern neighbour Bulgaria hope to enter the Schengen zone in March, four years after both joined the European Union. But France and Germany have opposed their membership because of concerns over corruption. Romania and France squabbled last year over French expulsions of Roma gypsies back to Romania, a policy seen as an effort by President Nicolas Sarkozy to take advantage of an anti-immigrant mood to bolster his popularity ratings. “An organised crime group made up of police and customs workers created between Sept. 2010 and Jan. 2011 took bribes to support mainly cigarette smuggling,” Romania’s anti-corruption prosecutors’ office said in a statement. The guards were working at the Siret customs checkpoint on the border with Ukraine, on what would become the eastern frontier of the Schengen zone if Romania acceded to it.
Source: Reuters
Romania and Bulgaria, the European Union’s two poorest members, have made progress in fighting crime and corruption and need “stronger action” to ensure transparency and revamp their judiciaries, the EU said. The European Commission released a report today in Brussels praising Romania for moving ahead with “high level” corruption trials” and Bulgaria for “significant results” in confiscating criminal assets, commission spokesman Mark Gray told reporters. The two former communist countries joined the 27-nation bloc in 2007. Their efforts to join the EU’s passport-free zone, known as Schengen, were delayed last year by some EU states including France and the Netherlands on grounds they needed to do more to ensure the rule of law. The commission’s report is used to assess their achievements in fighting top-level corruption and organized crime. “The commission believes that Bulgaria and Romania should be assessed objectively and fairly when it comes to joining Schengen,” Gray said. “From the commission’s point of view, both countries meet the criteria to be Schengen members.”
Source: Bloomberg Business Week
Slovakia
A Slovak court has banned a book about alleged high-level political corruption written by investigative journalist Tom Nicholson prior to its publication. In a ruling issued in early February the court ordered Nicholson’s publisher, Petit Press, which also publishes The Slovak Spectator, to desist from publishing the book or any other documents based on the so-called Gorilla file, a document which contains transcripts purporting to originate from conversations covertly recorded by the country’s SIS intelligence service between 2005 and 2006. The file is already accessible on the internet. The court also ordered Nicholson to submit his final manuscript as well as documents that he had gathered in order to write the book, the Sme daily reported. The Bratislava I District Court issued the preliminary injunction in response to a complaint submitted by a co-owner of the Penta financial group, Jaroslav Haščák, whose name is featured in the Gorilla file in association with conversations he is alleged to have had with senior officials and politicians from the ruling coalition in 2005 and 2006.
Source: The Slovak Spectator
Thousands of Slovaks staged a protest rally in Bratislava on Friday, angered by allegations that politicians, officials and business executives discussed kickbacks in return for procurement and privatisation contracts. The protests came amid signs of growing discontent with official cronyism and corruption in central and eastern Europe, especially in countries that have suffered severe austerity measures. Romania’s government resigned this week after three weeks of demonstrations. Slovakia’s intelligence agency allegedly bugged meetings between state officials and businessmen in 2005-06, in an operation codenamed “Gorilla”. A report claiming to be the result of that surveillance has appeared on the internet, throwing the country’s politics and business into turmoil.
Source: Financial Times
South Africa
Several senior eThekwini (Durban) officials, at least three municipal managers, the former city mayor and metro police officers have been marked as playing a hand in the eThekwini municipality’s R1.3 billion overspend due to financial mismanagement, tender fraud and corruption. The officials formed the basis of the Manase Report, which sought to investigate why irregular expenditure and general financial mismanagement had spiked 158 percent, or three times as much, in the past financial year. The report was commissioned following public and former employee tip offs. It was also implemented after previous forensic audits on the municipality. Speaking at a press briefing on the report, MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nomusa Dube, said the investigation was intended to “confront head-on some of the ills bedevilling this municipality” and “arrest the rot” before it collapsed the institution. While specifics of the report, such as the names of the officials fingered in the findings and the exact amounts they had defrauded the municipality by were not released, Dube did discuss the areas in which the municipality had suffered.
Source: Independent Online
Mining companies bidding for mineral rights in South Africa will be able to apply online under a new system meant to ensure transparency and an end to administrative blunders, a minister said on Monday. A series of scandals last year and disputes over rights upset many companies operating in the world’s top platinum producer and a major supplier of gold, denting confidence in the economically vital sector. Mining Minister Susan Shabangu said the online system would prevent different companies being granted rights to the same plot of land, and stop licences being handed out to areas deemed environmentally sensitive. It would also rank applications in the order in which they were filed to prevent any manipulation of application dates — a source of a contention at the giant Sishen mine between Anglo American unit Kumba Iron Ore and the local arm of steel maker Arcelor Mittal. “We are introducing the electronic system precisely to avoid any future manipulation of the system,” she told reporters in Cape Town at the start of a major industry conference.
Source: Reuters
Ukraine
Supporters of jailed Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko disrupted the start of a new parliamentary season in Kiev on Tuesday, raucously chanting “Freedom for Yulia!” throughout a keynote speech by President Viktor Yanukovich. About 10 deputies belonging to her Batkivshchyna party leapt to their feet, unfurling a banner bearing Tymoshenko’s portrait, and began a drumbeat chant even as Yanukovich took his place at the rostrum to deliver the traditional speech. They kept up a noisy barrage for a full 30 minutes while Yanukovich, raising his voice to make his pre-prepared address, exhorted opposition parties to end street protests and prepare normally for an October parliamentary election.
Source: Reuters
One year into his presidential term, has Ukraine’s Viktor Yanukovich started to deliver on his pledges to cut corruption, reduce red tape and improve the country’s miserable investment climate? The honest answer is “not really”, although the generous might be inclined to say “not yet”. With the International Monetary Fund supervising the economy under the terms of a $15.5bn rescue loan, the administration should be working over-time to clean up business life. It is not. Yanukovich won last year’s presidential election exactly 12 months ago, partly by promising to clean up and painting his opponent, the glamorous Yulia Tymoshenko, as corrupt. However, well-connected business tycoons have been allowed to cash in on lucrative deals at the nation’s expense and appear to be flourishing under his oligarch-backed administration. Martin Raiser, head of the World Bank’s office in Ukraine, said: “Ukraine still has an awful lot of work to do to improve its investment climate.” In the corruption perception index compiled by Transparency International late last year, Ukraine ranked at 134 among the nations – that is a bit better than 146 (as in 2009) but the same as 2008 (also 134).
Source: Financial Times
United Arab Emirates
The State Audit Institution, the UAE’s anti-corruption watchdog, said on Sunday it demanded recovering more than a billion dirhams from illicit financial flows involving misappropriation of public funds, forgery, fraud and bribery cases that took place in 2010. Dr Harib Saeed Al Amimi, President of the State Audit Institution, said 10 graft cases were reported to the public prosecutors over the last two years involving illicit financial flows of hundreds of millions of dirhams.
Source: GulfNews.com