MOSCOW – Russians are tackling housing problems in a novel way – by fighting political corruption one handyman at a time. Fed up with the decrepit state of public housing, Muscovites and residents of other Russian cities are using a new website to report badly needed repairs and then attaching a legal document to the complaint, citing the responsibility of political authorities to respond. The New York Times reports that the name-and-shame technique is succeeding in getting pipes fixed, light bulbs replaced, graffiti scrubbed and leaky roofs patched – regardless of the complainants’ political ties.
NEW DELHI - India's Supreme Court has directed a federal investigation agency to continue its probe into corruption cases against the prominent regional leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, the BBC reports. The Central Bureau of Investigation was also ordered to probe Akhilesh Yadav, Mr Yadav's son and chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state. The Supreme Court had ordered an inquiry in March 2007 into allegations that the Yadav family had accumulated assets "disproportionate to their income".
ISLAMABAD - Chairman of Pakistan’s anti-corruption agency the National Accountability Bureau, Fasih Bukhari, said tax revenues worth billion of rupees could be generated for Pakistan by plugging loopholes in the system and stamping out corruption, The Nation reports. Addressing a press conference here, he said it is estimated 12 billion rupees ($220 million) are siphoned off on daily basis because of corrupt practices while tax revenues worth 7 billion rupees are evaded each day. Issuing a corruption paper, he said Pakistan has tax-to-GDP ratio of 9 percent, which could easily be raised to the 18 percent level seen in rest of the world.
ISLAMABAD - The government decided on Wednesday to ‘combat’ what it called a deliberate and vicious media campaign against the ruling Pakistan People’s Party over corruption, The Dawn reports. Transparency International last week said that corruption perceptions had worsened in Pakistan, amid reports the country is losing billions of rupees a day to corruption. The federal cabinet formed a four-member committee of ministers to report within a fortnight on allegations of corruption against the government ahead of general elections.
BEIJING - Recently, a strong anti-corruption wind has been sweeping across China. This wind is gaining momentum with many people already proposing a national anti-corruption law. Why is this anti-corruption drive so powerful? It is rooted in the need for a favourable domestic environment for China's further rise and because the ruling party of China is well aware of the dangers corruption poses, The Global Times of China reports in an opinion piece by the administrator of Tsinghua University.
BOSTON - The corruption trial of a former Massachusetts treasurer, Timothy P. Cahill, ended in a mistrial on Wednesday, after the jury announced a deadlock, the New York Times reports. In April, the state’s attorney general charged Mr. Cahill with public corruption, fraud and conspiracy, alleging that Cahill ran TV and radio advertisements in support of the state lottery to bolster his independent run for governor in 2010. The jury had acquitted his co-defendant, Scott Campbell, on Tuesday.
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