Corruption

Tax agency expands corruption probe

Topics: 
Corruption, Construction industry, Canada Revenue Agency
Rating: 
3

Daniel Leblanc – January 27, 2011

The probe into allegations of corruption inside the Canada Revenue Agency has grown to focus on retired officials who are now high-paid private-sector consultants, court documents and sources say.

Already rattled by six firings and three suspensions, the CRA is looking into the activities of former officials and their work on behalf of corporate and individual taxpayers.

Moscow bombings and Russian corruption

Topics: 
Corruption, Policing, Terrorism, Government negligence, Russia
Rating: 
1

Moscow bomb attacks in context: Russia's corruption problem

Q&A with Masha Gessen – January 26, 2011

One of the words often used in association with Russia these days is "corruption." According to Transparency International, an international organization that measures relative corruption around the globe, Russia is in 154th place out of 176 countries. (Canada is sixth).

Many observers believe it's one of the key reasons that attacks like the one on Jan. 24 at the Domodedovo Airport aren't prevented by its security services.

Fraud plagues global health fund

Topics: 
International, Corruption, Charities & non-profits, World Bank
Rating: 
1

Associated Press – January 24, 2011

GENEVA — A $21.7 billion development fund backed by celebrities and hailed as an alternative to the bureaucracy of the United Nations sees as much as two-thirds of some grants eaten up by corruption, The Associated Press has learned.

Much of the money is accounted for with forged documents or improper bookkeeping, indicating it was pocketed, investigators for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria say. Donated prescription drugs wind up being sold on the black market.

$2.5 billion recovered in health care fraud cases

Topics: 
USA, Corruption, Pharmaceutical industry, Qui tam or False Claims Act
Rating: 
2

Kelly Kennedy – January 24, 2011

WASHINGTON — Federal agents recovered $2.5 billion from health care fraud judgments in the budget year that ended in September, a record-breaking amount they credit to whistle-blowers and a renewed effort from the Obama administration.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius plans to announce today the money won in cases under the False Claims Act, as well as ways last year's health care law will prevent fraud in 2011. Overall the government recovered $4 billion, including $1.5 billion in administrative findings, rather than court action.

Lawrence Solomon: China’s coming fall

Topics: 
China, Corruption
Rating: 
0

Lawrence Solomon – January 22, 2011

Like the Soviet Union before it, much of China’s supposed boom is illusory — and just as likely to come crashing down.

In 1975, while I was in Siberia on a two-month trip through the U.S.S.R., the illusion of the Soviet Union’s rise became self-evident. In the major cities, the downtowns seemed modern, comparable to what you might see in a North American city.

U.N. investigations chief under investigation

Topics: 
Corruption, United Nations, Watchdogs
Rating: 
2

AP – January 19, 2011

UNITED NATIONS — The acting chief of the U.N. division that investigates wrongdoing in the world body is currently under investigation himself for allegedly retaliating against two whistle-blowers, according to a U.N. document.

Michael Dudley asked the U.N. Disputes Tribunal to suspend an investigation into the allegations — but tribunal Judge Marilyn J. Kaman, in a ruling released this week and obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, rejected his request "in its entirety."

Crime rife in Que. construction industry: union

Topics: 
Corruption, Organized crime, Construction industry, Unions
Rating: 
3

CBC News – January 19, 2011

Organized crime has infiltrated every level of the construction industry in Quebec, according to the head of the construction wing of the Quebec Federation of Labour.

Yves Mercure said Tuesday that only a public inquiry can solve the problem, and he will not be running for re-election when his term ends next fall.

Cocoa plays key role in Ivory Coast stalemate

Topics: 
Corruption, Africa, Food industry
Rating: 
2

Jessica McDiarmid – January 16, 2011

ABIDJAN—It’s an irresistible sweet to many in the West, but in the country that supplies the majority of chocolate’s key ingredient to the world, cocoa has long been associated with corruption, conflict, human rights abuses and, now, as a source of funding to a president who refuses to cede power to the internationally proclaimed winner of Ivory Coast’s election.

While the stalemate between incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and president-elect Alassane Ouattara drags on and the death toll climbs higher, cocoa production and export has remained steady during this peak time of year. And Gbagbo has managed to hang on to power for nearing two months despite an ever-tightening noose of economic sanctions against him.

Tunisia protests: 'The fear has gone …'

Topics: 
Corruption, Africa, Arab spring
Rating: 
1

Angelique Chrisafis – January 14, 2011

Some fled into side-streets or up on to roofs. Others darted under washing lines, into buildings, anywhere to escape the swinging clubs and batons.

On the main thoroughfare of a country known more for its package holidays than its propensity for revolt, the air was thick with the soundtrack of insurrection: the crack of gunfire and shattering glass, the sting of teargas, the distant chanting of the determined few carried across on a Mediterranean breeze: "Dictator out!"

Profile: Tunisia's President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali

Topics: 
Corruption, Wikileaks, Africa, Arab spring
Rating: 
1

Ian Black – January 14, 2011

Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali has ruled Tunisia for 23 years, racking up five Soviet-style electoral victories with more than 90% of the vote. For the west he has been a convenient if uncomfortable ally, a bulwark against the "green peril" of Islamism and a steward of modest economic development.

But at home, revulsion for the regime's excesses – in the presidential palace and the interior ministry's torture chambers – has festered for years. Ben Ali is known to his long-suffering subjects as "Ben A Vie" ("president for life"), though last night that nickname looked to have been superseded by events.

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