Round-up of news reports on corruption from the world's media
Money trail: Thursday, March 14
LILONGWE - Malawi’s President Joyce Banda has said she will fire any minister proven to have been involved in corrupt practices, Malawi News Agency reports. “Corruption is evil and retards development. I therefore would like to warn you that I will not hesitate to dismiss any minister who will be proven beyond reasonable doubt that he or she is involved in corrupt practices,” the news agency quoted Banda as telling a gathering of her cabinet ministers and deputy ministers.
KARACHI - Huge corruption has been detected in the distribution of funds earmarked for flood relief efforts in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, The Express Tribune reports, citing a speech by the provincial ombudsman. Cyclones caused widespread flooding in Balochistan in 2007 and 2008.
SYDNEY - Australian federal police have charged a ninth former Reserve Bank of Australia banknote executive with foreign bribery offences, The Sydney Morning Herald reports. The Melbourne Magistrates Court heard that Steven Wong, a former Note Printing Australia sales manager, has been charged with conspiring to offer a benefit to another person with the intention of influencing a foreign public official in a bid to obtain or retain business with Nepal's central bank, the newspaper said.
JAKARTA - Prosecutors for Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) have demanded 15 years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rp. 750 million ($77,000) for judge Kartini Juliana Magdalena Marpaung over bribery charges, The Jakarta Post reports. Marpaung is accused of soliciting a bribe to reduce the sentence of a felon convicted of corruption, the newspaper said.
NEW DELHI - India’s cabinet will consider a bill that would make bribery by foreign officials punishable under Indian law, The Times of India reports. The legislation to prevent bribery by foreign public officials and officials of public international organisations is part of the commitments India must fulfill in order to ratify the U.N. Convention against Corruption it signed in 2005, the newspaper said.
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