PORT MORESBY - Papua New Guinea Education Minister David Arore has stepped down after being charged with bribery and graft in connection with the 2012 general election, the Australian Associated Press reports. “Mr Arore's decision to cede the ministry while he fights the charges is in line with the standard I've asked the ministers to set for themselves,” PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said in a statement, the AAP reported.
KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s former anti corruption chief, Ahmad Said Hamdan, has apologised in open court to an opposition leader over a false allegation of abuse of power, The Malaysian Insider reports. The apology was issued to settle a defamation case brought by Khalid Ibrahim, chief minister of the state of Selangor, over remarks Ahmad Said made in 2009 which Khalid said made him out to be corrupt and unethical.
ISLAMABAD - A populist Pakistani cleric who has galvanised mass protests against corruption and demanded sweeping political reform will boycott the forthcoming general elections, AFP reports. The polls, expected by mid-May but for which no date has yet been set, will mark the first democratic transition between two civilian governments in Pakistan, where the military remains powerful after staging three coups, the news agency said. “This is just an election of money, might and manipulation. That is why I decided my party should not take part,” AFP quoted Tahir-ul Qadri as saying.
SYDNEY - The recent arrests of four Australian customs officers for alleged collaboration with a crime ring importing illicit drugs through Sydney Airport would have come as no surprise to senior members of the Customs and Border Protection Service, The Sydney Morning Herald reports. Files released to Fairfax Media (publisher of the SMH) under freedom-of-information laws logging more than 700 allegations of staff wrongdoing between 2007-08 and 2009-10 are saturated with references to bribery, corruption and suspected associations with crime figures or motorcycle gangs. It is, as one file note says, a ''systemic issue'', the newspaper said.
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