A daily scrapbook of stories from major news media on corruption, bribery and financial crimes
BEIJING - In his first few weeks as Communist Party majordomo, Xi Jinping has made clear he is targeting corrupt officials, theWall Street Journal reports. He hasn’t quite gone as far as Teddy Roosevelt did in 1900, when he said, “No man who is corrupt, no man who condones corruption in others, can possibly do his duty by the community.” But Xi’s expressed sentiments aren’t far from that. There’s another reason Xi may want to take a look at Teddy Roosevelt for inspiration. The U.S. in President Theodore Roosevelt’s time was a wildly corrupt place, which straightened later as incomes rose and citizens demanded cleaner government.
KABUL – The U.S. finds Afghan anti-corruption efforts “deeply troubling,” the Washington Post reports. Emblematic of the problem are two small machines sitting unused on a shelf in a closet at Kabul International Airport, surrounded by cardboard boxes and idle desk fans. They were supposed to be used to count bulk currency and help Afghanistan stop an estimated $4.5 billion that was smuggled from the country last year alone. The saga of the cash counters, described in a report released Tuesday by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, illustrates the difficulties looming over plans to provide Afghanistan with long-term economic support after the departure of U.S. combat troops two years from now.
HARARE - Noble Laureate for Literature Wole Soyinka said that corruption was being used as a unifying factor in Nigeria as it had eaten deep in all sections of the country with no restriction, The Standard newspaper reports. Soyinka, a native of Nigeria, stated this yesterday while speaking at a literary colloquim here. He called corruption a heinous crime against the nation that must be tackled by every means possible saying that it was not restricted to any region, religion , tribe or ethnic group. The literary icon said that since it affected every section of the country it could be used as a unifying factor even as it has gradually destroyed the value and sense of nationhood.
BOGOTA - Colombia’s Comptroller General on Wednesday said the country is losing the battle against corruption, according to Colombia Reports. "Colombia does not show satisfactory results today in the fight against corruption" and the momentum that was present at the beginning of President Juan Manuel Santos' administration "has been lost," Sandra Morelli, the Comptroller General, told W Radio.
BOSTON — Jurors in the corruption trial of former Massachusetts Treasurer Tim Cahill have started their seventh day of deliberations after acquitting his former campaign manager Scott Campbell, the Associated Press reports. Both men were charged with scheming to use $1. 5 million in advertising for the state lottery to boost Cahill’s 2010 independent gubernatorial bid.
WASHINGTON DC - On December 9, world anti-corruption day, the government of Guangdong province in Southern China took a step toward something potentially huge, The Atlantic reports. According to China Business Journal, the government selected three counties -- Hengqin County of Zhuhai City, Nansha County of Guangzhou City and Shixing County of Shaoguan City -- to be “experimental zones” for a system to make information about officials' assets publicly available in 2013.
KAMPALA - The Ugandan police have been named the most corrupt institution in the country, according to an annual corruption report released by the government in collaboration with Makerere University, Ugandan newspaper, The Independent, reports. The report shows that the rate of bribery within the force reduced from 57.4 percent to 48 percent in a space of a year, The Independent said.
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