A daily scrapbook of stories from major news media on corruption, bribery and financial crimes
LONDON – Horse racing's ruling body in the UK has moved to reassure punters and racegoers about the sport's integrity following the lengthy bans given to nine people at the conclusion of the latest corruption investigation on Friday, The Guardian reports.
BEIJING - 1,146 Chinese coal miners died in work-related accidents in the first nine and a half months of last year, about four deaths per day, Bloomberg Businessweek reports, citing Chinese government statistics. But some mines are more dangerous than others, the magazine says. Guizhou province Deputy Governor Sun Guoqiang told local reporters that state-run mines are more deadly than private mines -- because state-run firms can rely on connections and official favours to evade safety regulations, the magazine reports.
ISLAMABAD – The chief of Pakistan’s anti-graft squad, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), said in a letter to the president that he would resign if the Supreme Court's alleged interference in NAB affairs was not stopped, Asian News International reports. The Supreme Court had directed the NAB on Jan. 15 to arrest all accused in a long-running corruption case including Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf.
MADRID - New revelations about the corruption scandal that is rocking Spanish politics have put conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his party on the defensive. Voters are beginning to lose patience, Der Spiegel reports. For weeks, Spanish newspapers have published new details about the scandal, in which businessman Francisco Correa is alleged to have bribed ruling People's Party officials with money and gifts in return for public contracts. The outline of the affair was known, but not that former PP treasurer Luis Bárcenas had amassed up to 22 million euros ($30 million) from dubious sources in accounts with Dresdner Bank in Geneva. El Mundo writes that for as long as Bárcenas managed the PP's finances, he handed party officials envelopes filled with banknotes worth between 5,000 and 15,000 euros every month.
NEW YORK - Most investors would agree that less corruption and more transparency in financial markets are good things. But in a contrarian way, a high degree of corruption in foreign markets can actually be beneficial, a business professor writes in the New York Times Dealbook column. That may provide an interesting counterargument to recent enforcement actions. What is surprising is that the most corrupt countries like Venezuela (at the bottom of our list at No. 49) are actually better for investors than moderately corrupt countries like Morocco or Mexico.
BEIJING - An official in south China's Guangdong Province has been expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) for violating CPC discipline and accepting large bribes, Xinhua reports. Lu Yingming, deputy director of the provincial land and resources department, is suspected of abusing his power for personal gain and accepting large bribes, sources at the provincial disciplinary inspection commission said on Tuesday. Authorities also proposed the expulsion of Lu from public service, which has been submitted to the provincial government for approval. Lu's case has been transferred to judicial authorities.
SEOUL - South Korea's outgoing president has sparked controversy by pardoning numerous friends and associates jailed for corruption, ABC reports. Just days before the end of his presidential term, Lee Myung-bak issued special pardons to 55 people, including former minister Choi See-joong and businessman Chun Shin-il, both serving prison terms for bribery after being convicted last year for their roles in a vote-buying scandal in Lee's ruling conservative party, Australia’s national public broadcaster said.
MANILA – The husband of former Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has pleaded not guilty to graft charges filed against him in connection with a $2.5 million deal to buy helicopters for the Philippine National Police in 2009, The Philippine Star reports. The anti-graft court allowed Mike Arroyo to post bail but ordered him to pay a $2,200 travel bond, the newspaper said.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
