On the Money Trail – Thursday, Sept 20
NEW DELHI - Activist Kiran Bedi today questioned the need for the anti-corruption movement to turn political and said Anna Hazare will be able to unite everyone fighting against corruption, the Hindu Business Line reports. Hazare can unite all movements across the country and put pressure on political parties on the issue of corruption and bringing a strong Lokpal Bill. “What is the compulsion to float a party?” said Bedi, who has sided with Hazare on staying apolitical. Hazare parted ways with the Arvind Kejriwal-led group which was planning to form a party to fight corruption.
MANILA — Private sector corruption appears to be on the rise in the Pacific Rim amid the global economic downturn, with countries in the region holding the worst reputation for bribery abroad, a U.N. expert said Thursday. According to the Associated Press, Samuel De Jaegere of the U.N. Development Program told an anti-corruption forum of the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation group that companies in Indonesia, Mexico, China and Russia are the most likely to pay bribes when doing business overseas. He cited the 2011 Bribe Payer's Index. A recent survey by Ernst & Young shows respondents indicating a 26 percent rise in private sector corruption in China and a 52 percent increase in Indonesia, he said.
ACCRA - Former President and founder of the governing National Democratic Congress Jerry John Rawlings expressed worry over the level of corruption in the ruling government, GhanaWeb reports. “The corruption that is going on is so deep. Some aspects of these corruptions are literally holding your national resources to ransom by just a handful of people. I'm not here to poison your minds at all”, he said. He wondered why his party had done little to avert the situation and yet was ready to turn a blind eye to it for fear of the opposition politicians.
SOFIA - The Bulgarian Parliament voted Thursday to establish a temporary inquiry committee to probe corruption among senior officials, the Sofia News Agency Novinite reports. The proposal came from the leader of the marginal conservative Order, Law and Justice party, RZS, Yane Yanev, who turned into an strong ally of Prime Minister,Boyko Borisov. The Committee will probe current and former investigations in cases involving senior officials who may have received personal benefits and damaged the State. It will work for six months and will include 13 Members of the Parliament.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The mayor of Central Falls, Rhode Island, which sought bankruptcy protection last year, has agreed to plead guilty to a federal corruption charge for accepting gifts from a longtime political supporter who received no-bid contracts, the Los Angeles Times reports. The case follows another federal prosecution in a small Northeast city this month when the mayor of Trenton, New Jersey, his brother and an associate were charged with corruption over a parking garage project. The Rhode Island case involves the mayor directing home foreclosure business to a friend and businessman who made hundreds of thousands in profits on the properties.
MONTREAL – Quebec's anti-corruption unit executed search warrants at offices of the McGill University Health Centre on Tuesday morning, in the latest twist of the province's ongoing crackdown against questionable dealings involving the construction industry, Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reports. About a dozen officers with Operation Hammer carried out warrants and met with several people linked to the investigation. A spokesperson for the provincial anti-corruption task force said fewer than five warrants were executed, but they are part of an "important operation."
BERN - Switzerland has handed over a final batch of documents, including banking records, to the Swiss lawyer representing the Kenya anti-corruption authorities in the long-running Anglo-Leasing affair, the website swissinfo.ch reported. The handover on Thursday was in response to requests by the Kenyan authorities for legal assistance in the case, in which a number of individuals are suspected of procuring lucrative government contracts by bribing civil servants.
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