Political misconduct

F-35: There is no accountability without personal accountability

Topics: 
Government ethics, Political misconduct
Rating: 
0

Joanna Gualtieri – April 5, 2012

By declaring “It’s difficult for me to try to point fingers at any particular individual. What it comes down to is the process was not what it should have been,” Auditor-General Michael Ferguson is doing more damage than good.

We, as a society, are sick and tired of the absence of personal accountability. Who does Mr. Ferguson think operates the “process” that he believes was flawed and grossly mismanaged in the multibillion-dollar procurement of F-35 stealth fighter jets?

Ireland ex-prime minister took $277,000 in secret payments

Topics: 
Corruption, Europe, Political misconduct
Rating: 
2
Bernie Ahern

Shawn Pogatchnik – March 22, 2012

Former Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern received at least €209,779 ($277,000) in secret payments while in office and repeatedly lied about this under oath, a mammoth fact-finding judicial investigation ruled Thursday.

The three judges led by Justice Alan Mahon stopped short of finding Ahern guilty of corruption, because they couldn’t prove that Ahern gave favours to any of his cash donors when he was finance minister in the 1990s.

Research: The Results of Electing Alleged Criminals

Topics: 
Corruption, India, Political misconduct
Rating: 
2

Rupa Subramanya – February 29, 2012

Social activist and Anna Hazare aide Arvind Kejriwal recently focused India's attention once again on the unsavory backgrounds of many of our politicians: “In this Parliament, 163 members have cases of heinous offenses against them…. rapists are sitting, murderers and looters are sitting… How can you expect that you can get reprieve from poverty and corruption,” he asked rhetorically.

I recently wrote about research which tried to understand why alleged criminals are fielded by mainstream political parties. The bottom line is that such candidates often command money and muscle power which can help swing a tightly contested election their way.

Young Tory staffer becomes first casualty of robocalls revelations

Topics: 
Political misconduct, Electoral fraud
Rating: 
0
Michael Sona & Stephen Harper

Postmedia News – February 24, 2012

A young Conservative parliamentary staffer lost his job on Friday amid the ‘robocalls’ scandal that saw misleading phone calls made during the last election campaign directing voters to the wrong polling stations.

It wasn’t clear on Friday, however, whether Michael Sona, 23, resigned or was fired from his post as an assistant for Conservative MP Eve Adams.A Postmedia News report released less than 24 hours ago found a continuing Elections Canada investigation has traced the calls made during the election bid to a call centre with Conservative connections.

More than a dozen ridings blitzed by harassing fake Liberal phone calls

Topics: 
Political misconduct, Electoral fraud
Rating: 
0

Stephen Maher and Glen McGregor – February 24, 2012

An analysis of reports of mysterious harassing phone calls during the May 2011 election points to the existence of a systematic voter suppression campaign targeting Liberal voters in tightly contested ridings.

Unlike the pre-recorded "robocalls" now under investigation by Elections Canada, these calls came from live callers, likely working from a call centre.

From Success at Putin’s Side to Exposing Corruption

Topics: 
Corruption, Russia, Political misconduct
Rating: 
0

Scott Shane – February 3, 2012

Sergei Kolesnikov is a soft-spoken biophysicist who once thought he would spend his career toiling in placid obscurity inside a secret Soviet military institute.

Then, as Communist rule collapsed, he became a prosperous businessman and part of the crony capitalist web surrounding Vladimir V. Putin, by his own account working with some success to rebuild Russia’s primitive health care system. But today he is a whistle-blower on the run, working to expose what he believes to be the defining corruption of the Putin era.

Russian Mayor Arrested for Corruption

Topics: 
Corruption, Russia, Political misconduct
Rating: 
0

February 3, 2012

The mayor of southern Russian city was arrested Thursday for extorting bribes from businessmen who sought to lease government-owned land.  Igor Bestuzhy, the mayor of Stavropol, allegedly demanded a bribe of 50 million rubles (US$1.6 million) from a businessman who wanted to lease five hectares of municipal land.

Vladimir Markin, spokesman for the Russian Investigative Committee, called on all businessmen who were extorted to come forward as witnesses.

Pakistan PM to be charged over corruption case

Topics: 
Corruption, Asia, Judiciary, Political misconduct, Anti-corruption efforts
Rating: 
2

Andrew Buncombe – February 3, 2012

Pakistan's constitutional crisis deepened yesterday when the country's Supreme Court announced that it planned to charge the Prime Minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, with contempt for failing to re-open a corruption case against the President.

After many hours of debate and exchanges with the Prime Minister's legal team, the court ordered Mr Gilani to appear on 13 February, when the charges will be formally presented. If convicted, he faces up to six months in prison and could be forced from his position.

Former Siemens Execs Charged In Alleged $100 Million Bribery Scheme

Topics: 
White-collar crime, Political misconduct, Foreign corrupt practices legislation
Rating: 
0

Samuel Rubenfeld – December 13, 2011

U.S. authorities charged former executives and agents of Siemens AG on Tuesday for their roles in an alleged $100 million bribery scheme to score a lucrative contract in Argentina.

The decade-long scheme allegedly involved payments to two Argentine presidents, Carlos Menem and Fernando De la Rua, as well as former cabinet officials, the U.S. said. The payments were to get a $1 billion contract in 1998 to produce national identity cards for every Argentine citizen.

PS, government need a 'moral contract'

Topics: 
Government ethics, Message control or 'spin', Political misconduct
Rating: 
3

New rules essential to stop partisan exploitation of the bureaucracy, expert says

Kathryn May – December 11, 2011

Canada needs to set ground rules for a new "moral contract" between ministers, public servants and Parliament because the existing rules are too weak to stop the partisan exploitation of the bureaucracy, says a former senior bureaucrat who helped write some of those rules.

Ralph Heintzman, a research professor at the University of Ottawa, is calling for a new charter for the public service to set boundaries for a bureaucracy operating under a powerful Prime Minister's Office that's obsessed with communications control - what's known in academic circles as new political governance.

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