News Archive: October - December 2008

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• Dec 28 - Guinea Attacks Corruption in Mining. AP reported that Guinea's new military leader has promised to renegotiate mining contracts and crack down on corruption. Guinea, the world's top bauxite exporter, will renegotiate all mining contracts and freeze gold extraction until further notice, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara said after leading a bloodless coup. "We have blocked the mining sector," he said.
  
  
• Dec 24 - Wal-Mart Pays $350 million to Settle Major Labor Suits. The New York Times reported that this could be the largest labor settlement ever. The company agreed to settle 63 cases pending in federal and state courts in 42 states over hosts of violations charged against the firm. The workers and their lawyers will receive at least $352 million, and the payments could reach $640 million, depending on how many claims affected workers submit.
  
  
• Dec 23 – Major Global Mutual Fund Warns India on Corporate Governance. Franklin Templeton has issued a warning to Indian companies over corporate governance following an aborted attempt by a top outsourcing firm to buy businesses controlled by the chairman's family without seeking shareholder approval. The Financial Times reported that the failed deal by Satyam Computer Services has turned the microscope on corporate governance in India's family-dominated business community, which is feeling the pain for the first time after years of easy capital.
  
  
• Dec 23 - Death Threats Continue in Brazil’s Amazon. The Guardian reported that 20 years after the killing of Chico Mendes, one of the world's most prominent rainforest defenders, hundreds of human rights and enviroinmental activists continue to face the threat of assassination in Brazi, a new study claims. The report, compiled by Brazil's Catholic Land Commission (CPT) and due to be released in full early next year, reveals that at least 260 people, among them a Catholic bishop, live under the threat of murder because of their fight against a coalition of loggers, farmers and cattle ranchers.
  
  
• Dec 23 - Russia Fights Back in Wake of U.N. Corruption Probe. The Russian Government pressed this week for the ouster of a senior U.N. corruption investigator and his team after they conducted hard-hitting probes into corruption by a Russian diplomat and another Russian national.  The move is aimed at thwarting efforts to retain members of the U.N. Procurement Task Force after its mandate expires at the end of the month – today’s Washington Post story traces the success of the Task Force and UN corruption issues.  
  
  
• Dec19 – UN Says Afghan President Hamid Karzai Must Fight Graft. Bloomberg reported that a United Nations envoy Kai Eide said action to curb corruption in Afghanistan is essential to strengthen democracy in the nation that is ranked among the world’s most corrupt. “Corruption hurts the poor disproportionately by diverting funds intended for development,” said the diplomat in Kabul at an event attended by the Afghan president and senior government ministers. “It means taking money away from the most needy, fuelling their frustration and anger.” A survey earlier this year by Integrity Watch Afghanistan found the average Afghan household pays about $100 in bribes each year, the UN said, adding about 70 percent of Afghans survive on less than $1 a day.
  
  
• Dec 19 – Swiss Engineering Giant ABB Provisions for Fines. AP reported that Swiss engineering group ABB Ltd. announced has set aside $850 million to prepare for possible costs related to price-fixing and bribery investigations. EU antitrust regulators said last week they had charged several unnamed makers of electricity generation equipment with forming a price-fixing cartel.Germany's Siemens AG, France's Areva and Swiss engineering group ABB confirmed they had received the charges. EU cartel fines can cost a company up to 10 percent of its global yearly revenue for each year it broke antitrust rules, often running into hundreds of millions of euros.
  
  
• Dec 15 - Germany's Siemens Pays Record $1.6 billion in Fines. The U.S. Department of Justice announced that Siemens has agreed to pay the largest ever fines for corruption. Agreements with German and U.S. authorities are based on investigations showing scores of bribes paid across the globe. Justice Department claims the investigations show a new high level of international cooperation that will lead to many more cases in years to come. See the Ethicsworld report.
  
  
• Dec 14 - Major American Investors Defrauded in Duo of Incredible Swindles. The New York Times reported on its front page the arrest of one of New York's most prominent business lawyers, Marc S. Drier, who allegedly managed scams involving more than $330 million as he sold fake investment bonds to individuals and hedge funds, while plundering the law firm that he ran with its 250 lawyers - a firm that now is reported to be in chaos.
  
  But, as the newspaper reports, Dreier's vast frauds "pale next to the $50 billion fraud that another high-profile New York figure, Bernard L. Madoff, was accused last week of orchestrating." It appears that this lion of Wall Street, who once chaired a major stock exchange, has for years been cheating scores of investors.
  
  

  According to SEC documents, Madoff has said he was "finished," that he had "absolutely nothing," that "it's all just one big lie," and that it was "basically, a giant Ponzi scheme." The senior employees understood him to be saying that he had for years been paying returns to certain investors out of the principal received from other, different investors. Madoff admitted the firm was insolvent and had been for years, and that he estimated the losses from this fraud were at least $50 billion.

• Dec 12 - Obama Speaks on Illinois Corruption. President-elect Barack Obama said today that he never spoke to the Governor Rod Blagojevich about his replacement in the US Senate, The New York Times reported. The Governor has been charged with corruption as he allegedly sought to sell the seat. Mr. Obama has called for the Governor to resign his office and today he stressed that he was “appalled and disappointed” by the details of the complaint filed by federal prosecutors. According to excerpts of transcripts of taped conversations provided by prosecutors, Mr. Blagojevich wanted to parlay his appointment power to secure an ambassadorship, a Cabinet position, a high-paying nonprofit job for himself or a lucrative spot on a corporate board for his wife.
  
  
• Dec 8 - leading US Firms Promote Ethics. Some of the largest companies in the US, including General Electric, Wal-Mart and PepsiCo, have launched a drive to improve ethical standards in an attempt to stem the decline in corporate America's public standing, reported The Financial Times. The move by 17 companies, with nearly $1,000bn in sales, to commit to key principles of good business conduct comes as the financial crisis and recession are fuelling a political and public backlash against the corporate world.
  
  
• Dec 5 - New South African Arms Deal Evidence. Documents used by government investigators that led to major raids on offices and homes last week, seen by the Mail & Guardian, show that “commissions” paid to agents by British defence giant BAE Systems total more than UK£115-million. They show BAE could not produce evidence of legitimate services by their agents which could justify the amounts paid to them. The newspaper stated that the disclosures will add to pressure on the government to launch a full judicial inquiry into alleged corruption in major arms deals. This week Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former president FW de Klerk added their voices to calls for an inquiry. The government has consistently denied corruption in key contracts.
  
  
• Dec 4 - US Goes After Tax Shelters. The New York Times reported that the Internal Revenue Service is weighing ways to settle tax disputes with scores of wealthy American clients who use offshore private banking services sold by UBS and other foreign banks. A partial amnesty is under discussion.  The new effort has been triggered by Justice Department investigations into offshore services sold by UBS, Credit Suisse and HSBC.
  
  
• Dec 4 -  Prison for To Taiwan Official. People's Daily Online reported that a court in Taipei sentenced former intelligence head Yeh Sheng-mao to 10 years imprisonment for his involvement in the corruption case of Taiwan's former leader Chen Shui-bian. Yeh was accused of helping Chen cover up the embezzlement of huge amounts of public money.
  
  
• Dec 3 - Nuhu Ribardu's Life Threatened. Human Rights Watch reported mounting threats and pressure on Nigeria's former head of the Economic Crimes and Financial Commission who was demoted a year ago by the then new government.
  
  
  
  
• Dec 2 – European Union (EU) Faces New Fraud Allegations. EUX.TV reports that European lawyer David Lempert is stepping up his drive for official investigations into alleged irregularities in EU 'political studies' programs in eastern Europe and the Balkans involving over two million euros of EU funding since 2002. Speaking by telephone from Brussels, European Commission spokesman Max Strottmann told EUX.TV that the EU's executive is aware of the complaints and that these are under investigation by the Commission's anti-fraud unit. He added that Mr. Lempert had been a sub-contractor in the program.
  
  
• Dec 2 - Kenya anti-corruption body sues 7 officials. Associated Press reported the official Anti-Corruption Commission said it is suing seven current and former Kenyan officials for a total of a quarter of a million dollars for dishonestly obtaining funds.Named are the minister for information, an assistant minister for defense, a current member of Parliament and four former members.
  
  
• Dec 1 - Key Western Leaders Miss Doha Aid Meet.  Reuters reported from Doha, Qatar, that top western leaders, including the heads of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, failed to show up for the UN’s key global development conference here. The excuse was preoccupations with the world’s financial crisis. But leaders of civil society attending the meeting were clearly upset with Sasja Bokkerink, head of Oxfam's delegation stating: “The lack of presence from heads of state does show that there's a lack of interest in rich countries to actually deal with this (global poverty)."
  
  
• Nov 28 - Ethics & Reputation - British Airways Sets New Standard! The Financial Times reported that the company's top marketing executive, facing the threat of jail for allegedly fixing fuel prices, has been promoted to the company's board. The case, which alleges overcharging of millions of travelers as a result of oil surcharge price fixing between BA and Virgin Atlantic rests on evidence from Virgin in exchange for it not being prosecuted. Andrew Crawley joins the BA board in January, less than two weeks before he is due to appear in court. The promotion was said to be a vote of confidence in the executive.
  
  
• Nov 27 - Pressure mounts on Israeli PM Ehud Olmert to resign as corruption charges are made. The AP reported that the Israeli Attorney General is about to bring formal charges against the PM for repeated double-billing of foreign travel. More serious corruption charges are also being considred.
  
  
• Nov 27 - Poll: Corruption is rife in Israel. A vast majority of Israeli public believe the Israeli regime's leaders are rife with corruption, a corruption index poll has revealed, according to Israeli Press/TV news service. The poll taken ahead of the Israel-Sderot Conference on Social Issues showed political parties were viewed as most corrupt bodies in Israel. Seventy-two percent of the Israeli public rated the general level of corruption in the Israeli government as "high to very high", the poll published on Tuesday said.
  
  
• Nov 27 - Pervasive corruption fuels deep anger in Afghanistan. Kim Baker of the Chicago Tribune reported from Kabul that former Planning Minister Ramzan Bashardost said, "In the Afghan administration now, money is the law. When you have money here, you can do anything. Afghanistan is the only country in the world where corruption is legal." The reporter wrote, “Not exactly legal, but definitely rampant. Increasingly, corruption is driving a wedge between the government and the Afghan people, who are growing more and more resentful of their leaders, experts say. And that poses an enormous challenge for President Hamid Karzai and the U.S.- and NATO-led forces intensifying their efforts to defeat a Taliban-led insurgency. Corruption is turning more people toward the fundamentalist Taliban, which is seen as clean in comparison.
  
  
• Nov 26 - European Union Cracks Down on Bulgaraian Corruption. The BBC reported that Bulgaria, seen as the most corrupt country of the EU's 27 members, has been stripped of 220m euros (US$ 284m) in EU funding over its failure to tackle corruption and organised crime. The EU commission will continue to review Bulgaria's progress as far more funds are at risk, as the country stands to receive 11bn euros in EU funds by 2013.
  
  
• Nov 24 - UBS Clients Seek Amnesty on U.S. Taxes. According to the Wall Street Journal, moved to take action after a former UBS private banker was indicted and spilled valuable secrets, the UBS clients are hiring tax lawyers and pursuing amnesty through an Internal Revenue Service voluntary disclosure program. The program allows U.S. citizens to avoid criminal prosecution if they acknowledge evasion and agree to pay taxes and penalties. The clients' actions are a boon for the IRS, which lacks the staff to go after about 20,000 U.S. citizens who U.S. authorities say worked with UBS private bankers to avoid taxes.
  
  
• Nov 24 - Huang Guangyu, China's richest man, disappears amid corruption investigation. The Times (UK) reported that China’s richest man has disappeared. Chinese media say Huang Guangyu is under police investigation for alleged share trading violations. His company says they have not heard from the tycoon in days. Trading in shares Mr Huang’s Gome Electrical Appliances Holdings was halted today on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The company issued a statement saying it was making “necessary enquiries” to try to find out what had happened to its founder and controlling shareholder.
  
  
• Nov 21 - UK Bribery Law Reform. Following scathing criticism from the OECD, the UK’s Law Commission has proposed a radical overhaul of bribery laws. The Times (UK) reported that British companies could become liable to prosecution for any corruption in their activities overseas. The reforms, expected to be implemented in the next parliamentary session, would go some way to meeting accusations that Britain is failing to tackle allegations of foreign corruption. Current confusing and ambiguous laws will be replaced by one that brings the UK into compliance with the provisions of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.
  
  
• Nov 20 - "To Hell With Politics." A final vote tally this week found that following corruption convictions, Republican U.S. Senator Ted Stevens failed to win reelection in Alaska and, after 40 years in the U.S. Senate, he was forced on his 85th birthday to give his final speech in the Senate chamber.  He said he will fight his convictions. And, as The Washington Post reported, he added, “My motto has always been 'to hell with politics, just do what's right for Alaska.”
  
  
• Nov 18 - Iraq Fires Anti-Corruption Monitors. The New York Times reported that the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is systematically dismissing Iraqi oversight officials, who were installed to fight corruption in Iraqi ministries by order of the American occupation administration, which had hoped to bring Western standards of accountability to the notoriously opaque and graft-ridden bureaucracy here. Estimates of official Iraqi corruption have soared. One Iraqi former chief investigator recently testified before Congress that $13 billion in reconstruction funds from the United States had been lost to fraud, embezzlement, theft and waste by Iraqi government officials. Iraq is perceived as one of the world's most corrupt countries, according to the recent TI index.
  
  
• Nov 17 - Downturn Forces Changes in Corporate Philanthropy. Charities should slash their targets for fundraising from corporates as they plan for the economic downturn, delegates at the Institute of Fundraising Scotland conference were told.  Hannah Jordan of Third Sector reported last week: Martin Kaufman, senior associate at fundraising consultancy Brakely UK and head of development at the Museum of London, stressed - be cautious when setting financial targets and forecasts, and consider revising down; don't make rash decisions; watch what happens over the next few months; be flexible with payments; keep up your stewardship: thank people and make them feel appreciated; develop new mid-level donors.
  
  
• Nov 17 - Highest Paid Wall St. Executives in 2007 Agree to Give Up 2008 Bonuses.  The Wall Street Journal reported that the chiefs of Goldman, Sachs Group, the financial services firm, have volunteered to take no bonuses this year, given the financial crisis. The top executvies received bonuses of up to $68 million each in 2007. Their example now adds pressure on top bankers across the global financial services industry to take similar action.
  
  
• Nov 12 - Former Taiwan President Detained. AP reported that Chen Shui-bian has been arrested while prosecutors pursue corruption charges against him, with the ex-leader protesting that he is being politically persecuted for his pro-independence stance against China. The order to detain Chen came at the end of a marathon 21-hour court hearing that began with a lengthy interrogation Tuesday but was interrupted by a trip to the hospital and didn't conclude until dawn Wednesday. Chen, who has denied any wrongdoing, has not been indicted for a crime. He can be held for four months before being formally charged.
  
  
• Nov 10 - Sports Leaders Call for Anti-Corruption Body. AP reported from a conference in Switzerland that groups that regulate sports betting are calling for an international agency to coordinate the fight against illegal gambling and match-fixing. Such activities, worth tens of billions of dollars each year to criminal gangs, ranks alongside doping as the biggest threat to the integrity of sport.
  
  
  
  
• Nov 5 - Center for Global Development is publishing The White House and the World: A Global Development Agenda for the Next U.S. President. It includes chapters on fragile or failing states, climate change, trade and infrastructure, and what the new American administration can do to help developing countries.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Nov 3 - China Strengthens International Cooperation. Beijing's People's Daily reported that Teng Jiuming, head of the Chinese delegation to Transparency International’s IACC in Athens, said, “China attaches great attention to cross-border cooperation and is willing to work together with the international communities to strengthen its effort in the fight against corruption." Teng, senior ombudsman from the Ministry of Supervision of China, said the Chinese government is ready to enhance its anti-corruption efforts.  
  
  
• Nov 3 - KPMG Analysis Shows Number of U.S. Companies Reporting Sustainability Data Has Doubled Since 2005. Twice as many top U.S. companies publicly released sustainability data on their environmental, social and governance information in 2008 compared with three years earlier, and ethics outweighed economics for the first time as the primary reason for such disclosures, according to a KPMG International global analysis of corporate reports. Of the top 100 U.S. companies by revenue, 74 percent published corporate responsibility (CR) information in 2008 either as part of their annual financial report or as a separate document, up from 37 percent in KPMG International’s 2005 research. Globally, 80 percent of the Global Fortune 250 companies now release CR data, up from 64 percent in the last KPMG International analysis in 2005.
  
  Global Reporting Initiative CEO Ernst Ligteringen said on the KPMG findings, “These are testing times for many companies globally. While companies need to cope with the short term effects of the financial crisis, long term success requires them to also address the now irreversible realities of global warming, resources scarcity, and demographic change. It’s therefore encouraging to see the majority of large companies globally providing data on how they’re doing this.”
  
  
• OCT 30 - Experts at IACC See Key UK OECD Decisions. Leading authorities from OECD, business and the UK Government, see landmark OECD report adding enormous pressures on UK. Official sees significant UK law changes to curb corruption in coming months and more UK enforcement. See OECD.
  
  

• Oct 27 - US Sentaor Stevens Found Guilty of Corruption. Ted Stevens, 84, was found guilty by a Washington DC jury of seven counts of corruption for receiving over $250,000 of improvements to his home by an oil company. Bloomberg reported that Stevens, elected first to the Senate in 1968 and facing the electorate again next week, was one of the most powerful politicians in America as the chairman of the Senate's appropriations committee. He will be sentenced on January 11.
  
  
• Oct 22 - Interpol and UN Establish Anti-Corruption Academy. Interpol announced that the Austrian government is providing facilities for a full-time Anti-Corruption Academy that will be a non-profit organization operated under the auspices of INTERPOL, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and will work in conjunction with a special anti-corruption office established by INTERPOL (IACO), as well as other strategic partners.
  
  
• Oct 21 - Mogae Wins African Award.
  
  Botswana's former President, Festus Mogae, who has been a singular leader against corruption, for social justice and for combatting HIV/Aids is this year's winner of the US $5 million Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership, the BBC reported.
  
  
• Oct. 20 - African Corruption Rate. "In most African countries corruption is estimated to represent between 20 and 30 percent of the GDP, that is inconceivably large," stated Okey Onyejekwe, Governance and Public Administration Director of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).The Daily Monitor in Ethiopia reported that officials at a conference stressed that resource scarcity makes corruption’s consequences terrible in Africa.
  
  
• Oct 21 - Former Thai leader found guilty. The AP reported that former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was convicted of corruption Tuesday and sentenced to two years in prison, a ruling that may embolden anti-government protesters and prolong a stalemate that has paralyzed Thailand's government. Prosecutors said they would try to extradite the former telecommunications tycoon from exile in Britain. Thaksin, who was ousted by a 2006 coup, remains the country's most influential politician.

• +++++++++++++++++++++++US Corruption Poll+++++++++++++++++++++++++
  US President Race - Obama with Slight Edge over McCain as Candidate Trusted Most to Combat Corruption
  
  Oct 21 - Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released results of a nationwide poll conducted by Zogby International concerning the American people’s attitudes towards political corruption. Among the poll’s highlights of 1,211 likely voters, conducted October 16-19, 2008 (margin of error is +/- 2.9%):
• 62.6% said they "strongly agree" with the statement, "...political corruption played a major role in our nation's recent financial crisis." An additional 19.1% said they "somewhat agree" with that statement.
• 46.9% said they trust Barack Obama more than John McCain to combat government corruption in Washington, while 43.2% preferred Senator McCain over Senator Obama. (Sen. Biden (46.8%) also had a slight lead on this question over Gov. Palin (44.7%)
• 30.5% said Congress has become "more corrupt" since Democrats took control of Congress away from Republicans. Another 8.5% said Congress had become "less corrupt," while 55.9% said corruption had "remained about the same" since Democrats took control.
• 44% said they trust Democrats more than Republicans to combat corruption in Washington, while 37.4% preferred Republicans to combat corruption.
• 69.2% said they "strongly agree" with the statement that corruption is a "significant problem in Washington, DC," while an additional 22.7% said they "somewhat agree" with that statement.
• 47.5% of respondents said they "strongly agree" with the statement that "bigger government leads to more corruption," while an additional 25.4% said they "somewhat agree" with that statement.

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• Oct 20 - IMF Sex Scandal.
  IMF chief Strauss-Khan
  
  

15 months ago World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz was forced to resign over alleged abuse of office related to an affair with a Bank employee. Now, across the road in Washington DC, that other Bretton Woods twin, the International Monetary Fund faces its own crisis. The Wall Street Journal reported that IMF directors have appointed an outside counsel to investigate whether there was abuse of office by Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn in connection with a sexual relationship with a subordinate. It appears that only a few of the IMF’s Executive Board directors were aware of the investigation before the WSJ revealed details. Strauss-Khan is a former top French politician.

One only wonders what the creators of the Bretton Woods twins would have thought of these scandals - America's Henry Morgenthau and UK's John Maynard Keynes in 1944 at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. As these giants of global finance and economics planned for a post-World War Two world they beleived that multilateral institions could build coordinated leadership for reconstruction, development and financial security. The Wolfowitz scandal humbled the World Bank. Now, the new scandal at the IMF threatens to undermine its respect at a time of crisis in global finance.

• Oct. 16 - Auditors KPMG Fined US$ 32 million. The US New Jersey Star Ledger reported that a local jury awarded damages to the owners of a local company after finding KPMG, one of the nation's largest accounting firms, was negligent for failing to uncover accounting fraud by one of its suppliers. KPMG, said the company intends to appeal. In an unrelated case, three former KPMG executives and a lawyer go on trial today in federal court in New York, accused of conspiring to help at least 600 wealthy people evade more than a billion dollars in taxes. They are charged with conspiring to obstruct the Internal Revenue Service, evading taxes and filing false tax returns. The trial is scheduled to last four months or longer.
  
  
• Oct.15 - Hanoi Jails Reporter After Corruption Story. AFP reported that Vietnam jailed a reporter for two years for his coverage of state corruption in a court case that has sent a chill through the communist country's media industry. The Hanoi court also imprisoned for one year a senior police officer who had provided information on the graft scandal to the media. The jailed reporter, Nguyen Viet Chien, almost three years ago helped pry open the graft case, which centred on a transport ministry unit whose officials had squandered foreign aid on gambling and high living.
  
  
• Oct 15 - UN Global Compact Sets Water Transparency. Following a three-month consultation process, the UN Global Compact Office set a comprehensive Transparency Policy for the CEO Water Mandate, an initiative launched in July 2007 to advance corporate water sustainability practices. The Transparency Policy outlines the disclosure-related responsibilities for endorsing companies of the CEO Water Mandate, including policies for endorsers who fail to develop their "Communications on Progress" related to the CEO Water Mandate.
  
  

• Oct. 14 - Ethics and US Politics. The Ethics Resource Center called on US presidential candidates John McCain and Barrack Obama to make ethics a high priority if elected. The ERC said a mid-September national survey found 88 percent of those polled strongly believed a strong White House ethics plan is important for the next administration. "It seems the American people at the moment don't think 'Washington' and 'ethics' belong together in the same sentence," said ERC President Patricia J. Harned. "It is critical that the next President, whoever it is, seize the opportunity to start re-building the public's faith in their government institutions."
  
  

• Oct. 14 - The American Red Cross and Grameen Foundation Expand Partnership in Indonesia.CSRWire reported that the American Red Cross and Grameen Foundation are expanding their partnership to bring additional microfinance services to further alleviate poverty and revitalize communities in the tsunami-affected province of Aceh, Indonesia. This new initiative will enable YAMIDA, a Grameen Foundation partner microfinance institution, to open its first branch offices in the Aceh Jaya district, one of the poorest areas in Aceh.
  
  
• Oct. 14 - Interpolol and the U.N. Train Corruption Fighters. Associated Press reported that the organizations plan to establish a special academy to teach officials around the world how to fight corruption – a $1 trillion-a-year drain on the global economy.
  
  

• Oct. 8 - Former Guatemalan President Extradited to Face Corruption Trial.  The former President of Guatemala, Alfonso Portillo, was extradited from Mexico to stand trial in Guatemala on charges of fraud and corruption, The Guatemala Times reported.  He is accused of authorizing US$15 million in transfers to Guatemala's Defense Department, where officials close to him allegedly pocketed most of the cash.
  
  
• Oct. 7 - Peru Energy Department Head Steps Down over Oil Contract Scandal.  Peru’s energy and mines minister has stepped down over a scandal involving a top state oil executive receiving kickbacks from Norwegian oil firm Discover Petroleum in exchange for contracts, BBC News reported. A tape recording shows them agreeing to favor Discover in a round of auctions. Discover was subsequently granted several contracts for oil exploration in collaboration with the state oil company, Petroperu.
  
  
• Oct. 7 - New Program Aims to Raise Working Standards in Vietnam.  The International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, and the International Labor Organization launched the Better Work Vietnam program to improve working conditions for more than 700,000 workers in the Vietnamese apparel industry and boost the international competitiveness of the sector, according to a company press release.  This voluntary, industry-based initiative seeks to strengthen relationships between international buyers, local enterprises, governments and worker organizations to improve working conditions and competitiveness.
  
  
• Oct. 7 - Business Behaving Badly.  British construction company Balfour Beatty agreed to pay £2.25m to settle bribery allegations over a £100m contract to build the Alexandria Library in Egypt, The Guardian reported.  Public prosecutors asked judges in a Milan trial into the financial meltdown of dairy and food multinational Parmalat to sentence the group's founder, Calisto Tanzi, to 13 years in prison, ANSA reported.  Norwegian oil and gas producer StatoilHydro said two of its executive board members resigned due to findings of an external investigation into suspected corruption in Libya, Reuters reported.
  
  
• Oct. 6 – Zambia Attempts to Create Free and Fair Elections through Transparency.  An editorial in the Times of Zambia praised the Electoral Commission of Zambia for its transparent process in preparation for elections.  “It is our belief that a lot of questions and suspicions that stakeholders have about the country's electoral process arise from inadequate information about the system,” the articles states, “that is why we are happy with the ECZ move to open up and let the stakeholders see [the ballot printing process] for themselves.”
  
  
• Oct. 6 - Bribery Claims Surface over $34M Deal to Provide Low-Cost Drugs to Congo.  City of London police are probing whether a landmark United Nations deal to supply life-saving drugs to Congo was marred by bribery involving two key contractors employed to help prevent corruption, the Financial Times reported.  The allegations – surrounding a $34m deal to supply HIV and malaria drugs between 2005 and 2007 to one of the world’s poorest countries – highlight the problems of suspected bribery that dog multinational companies and humanitarian aid.
  
  
• Oct. 4 - 3-Week CEO of WaMu Could Still Gain Multi-Million Pay Package.  Even though Alan Fishman, CEO of the now collapsed Washington Mutual, the nation’s largest savings and loan, had only been on board for 18 days, based on SEC filings his contract called for a near $12 million severance package, ProPublica reported.  JPMorgan Chase is taking over the company and said Fishman will not be receiving any severance pay – but his employment agreement entitled him to $11.6 million if he was fired without cause or forced to resign.   
  
  
• Oct. 3 - Former Tech Company Boss Will Go to Prison for Accounting Fraud.  The former CFO of Network Associates Inc. — now called McAfee Inc. — was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison for ordering millions of dollars in improper payments that helped mask financial troubles at the software and computer-security company, CFO.com reported.
  
  
• Oct. 3 – Government Cracking Down on Press in Kurdistan.  Journalists in the northern Iraqi province of Kurdistan say they are coming under increasing pressure not to write about government corruption, the Financial Times reported.  Although compared to the rest of Iraq Kurdistan has a lively independent press, the government – or more specifically, the two parties that run almost every facet of life in the semi-autonomous region – are regularly accused of shady practices.
  
  
• Oct. 1 – Yar’Adua Claims Government Recovered $3.4B in Unspent Funds.  In a drawn out effort to improve its reputation on fighting corruption, Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua said his administration had recovered $3.4 billion in unspent capital from ministries and government departments, Reuters reported.  A senior government official said the funds recovered might in the past have ended up lining the pockets of federal ministry or state government employees, but that the current administration was more cautious.

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