TEHRAN - The Iranian judiciary has started a few high profile anti-corruption cases since Hassan Rouhani took over the presidency, vowing a government of prudence and hope that engages in an “earnest fight” against corruption, the Huffington Post reports. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was summoned to court to explain the disappearance of $3 billion worth of public funds, a call the former president has hitherto ignored, and Babak Morteza Zanjani, a multibillionaire charged with stealing 2 billion euros worth of Iran's oil revenue, was arrested on Dec. 30. But is it an anti-corruption crusade or one against political opponents, the article asks.
ATHENS - Greek police have arrested three people and charged them with money laundering and defrauding the state, Euronews reports. A businessman and two officials at Hellenic Postbank were accused of rigging a string of loans between 2007 to 2013 that cost the bank 500 million euros, the report said. Hellenic Postbank eventually went under and was bought by Greek rival Eurobank. The bad debt has led to 25 people being arrested, including a top financier and a media mogul.
ALBANY, NY - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says he wants to make it easier to convict public officials of bribery, as well as those who seek to buy their influence, the Associated Press reported in the Leader Herald. Under current law, prosecutors must prove the person paying the bribe and the official receiving it have an illicit agreement. Instead, Cuomo proposed requiring only proof that a bribe payer intended to influence the official or the bribe recipient intended to be influenced. That would bring New York in line with federal law.
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