Africa
Graft tops worry list for South African finance bosses
Business Day, South Africa
Corruption is the primary concern for South African businesses, according to a survey of 200 of the country’s top organisations this year by Deloitte, the multinational accounting firm. Worries about corruption significantly rose with the size of an organisation.
Asia
Taiwan to set up anti-corruption agency, president says
China Post, Taiwan
President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan has announced a plan to create a department against corruption under the Ministry of Justice. By setting up the new agency, the president aimed to draw a line under recent corruption scandals in the police and judiciary. Ma said the move would establish honesty and uprightness as the absolute standard for every public servant. According to the ministry’s plan, the new agency would comprise four branches responsible for general planning, corruption prevention, graft busting and government ethics. The agency would station three regional squads in northern, central and southern Taiwan for investigations.
North America
U.S. court upholds bribery conviction of former medical boss Urciuoli
The Providence Journal, United States
A federal appeals court panel has upheld former Roger Williams Medical Center chief executive Robert A. Urciuoli’s conviction for bribing a Rhode Island state senator to promote the hospital’s political agenda at the State House. Urciuoli was indicted in 2006 along with two other executives for paying John A. Celona, the once-powerful North Providence legislator, to work for the benefit of the hospital.
Europe
Russian party wants to get medieval on corrupt officials
The Moscow News, Russia
Corrupt officials should be marked with a medieval-style brand burned on to their left hands, according to Russia's Liberal Democrats, a small pro-Kremlin nationalist party. The party’s State Duma (parliament) faction has put forward a bill urging the branding of officials found guilty of giving or taking a bribe. They also suggest that those who have served time in prison for corruption-related crimes should not be allowed to work in positions prone to corruption.
Clarke delays British bribery law
Financial Times, UK (subscription required online)
Kenneth Clarke, the British justice secretary, has bowed to pressure from business by delaying implementation of the long-awaited Bribery Act by six months, a move anti-corruption activists claimed could lead to it being watered down. The law, which will open companies to prosecution if they negligently fail to prevent staff or representatives from paying bribes, is a response to years of criticism of Britain’s efforts to tackle corporate corruption overseas and the first big change to UK bribery rules in more than a century.
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