This week's anti-corruption stories from TrustLaw and other media
LONDON (TrustLaw) - Here is our selection of this week’s anti-corruption stories from TrustLaw and other media:
Global
The fight against corruption goes global
Foreign Affairs, U.S.
The year 2011 was a turning point in the fight against corruption. Around the world, in the Middle East, Israel, India, China, Russia, the U.S. and Europe, protest after protest had one common denominator: outrage at some form of corruption.
Africa
Graft invades healthcare scheme for Libyan war injured
TrustLaw, UK
The recent suspension of a Libyan healthcare scheme for injured victims of the country’s civil war was due to widespread fraud and corruption in the programme.
Lie detectors to screen staff at Nigeria anti-graft agency
TrustLaw, Senegal
The head of Nigeria’s anti-graft agency has promised to take steps to fight alleged corruption among staff at the organisation. Ibrahim Lamorde said he plans to institute the use of lie detectors to screen employees in response to a growing perception among Nigerians that some officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are corrupt.
South Africa the only country with 'programme' to fight graft, President says
Times Live, South Africa
South Africa is the only country with a "programme" to fight corruption, President Jacob Zuma told the country’s National Assembly. Zuma said it was "important to emphasise that most of the corruption you read about in the media is exposed as a result of the work of government and its agencies".
South Asia & Asia-Pacific
Indonesia mulls new prison for corruption convicts
TrustLaw, Thailand
Indonesia’s Law and Human Rights Ministry is mulling building a special prison for corruption convicts after a high-profile fraud inmate was discovered enjoying special treatment at a penitentiary.
Battling corruption in Afghan orphanages (VIDEO)
Al Jazeera English, UK
Decades of war have left thousands of Afghan children orphaned, but corruption through the ranks leaves even those in orphanages without the proper care and resources that they should be receiving.
Men more corrupt than women, Indonesia’s former president says
Jakarta Post, Indonesia
Megawati Soekarnoputri, Indonesia's first woman president and chief patron of the Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), claims that men have more of a tendency to engage in corrupt activities than women.
North Korean system corrupt: leader's brother
Special Broadcasting Service, Australia
The elder brother of North Korea's new leader says bribery and corruption will be the undoing of a country ruled by an inexperienced young man, newly published emails show.
Australian govt rejects call for national corruption agency
The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
The Australian government has rejected a parliamentary committee's recommendation to establish a national anti-corruption watchdog to oversee all Commonwealth agencies saying that its policy on preventing corruption was ''based on the premise that no single body should be responsible''.
Farmer’s gunfight ignites debate in Vietnam on corruption
Voice of America, U.S.
A fish farmer in north Vietnam who decided to take up arms against police sent to evict him from his land, has sparked a public debate on the issue of farmers’ rights in the largely agrarian country.
Tonga developing FOI policy and Anti Corruption Commission
Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia
Tonga's government is planning to develop a national Freedom of Information Policy and also establish an Anti-Corruption Commission.
Europe
Alexei Navalny: Scourge of Russia's elite
BBC, UK
One of the most influential new figures to emerge in Russian politics, Alexei Navalny, predicts that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s grip on power will crumble within a year and a half.
Russian airline countering bribery allegations
The Moscow Times, Russia
Aeroflot has said that it will file a countersuit for slander and defamation against a U.S. tour company that has accused the Russian state-controlled airline of bribery and extortion.
Corrupt London police chief Dizaei is jailed again
The Independent, UK
Commander Ali Dizaei of London’s Metropolitan Police has been sent back to jail in disgrace after being found guilty of corruption for a second time for trying to frame a man in a dispute over a 600 pound ($947) bill.
North America
Puerto Rico mayor caught on bribery charges
Fox News, U.S.
Authorities in Puerto Rico arrested a longtime mayor on accusations that he accepted $55,000 in bribes from developers. Sol Luis Fontanez, has been mayor of the U.S. territory's northern coastal town of Barceloneta for 23 years and is seeking re-election this year.
Latin America
Brazilian anti-corruption newspaper editor shot dead
TrustLaw, UK
A Brazilian newspaper editor, famed for his anti-corruption campaigns, was shot dead on Sunday in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso.
In Honduras, police accused of corruption, killings
National Public Radio, U.S.
A mix of drug trafficking, political instability and history has contributed to a murder rate in Honduras that is now four times that of Mexico. Contributing to the volatility are the police themselves. "Not all the police are bad," Security Minister Pompeyo Bonilla says, "but unfortunately, we do have to accept that corruption is a reality, because in the last three years Honduras has become a major stop for drug trafficking."
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