Global Anti-Corruption Updates
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Monday, July 28, 2014
The $3.3 million apartment owned by Putin’s apparently unemployed daughter
The European media today is covering the story of how Maria Putin, the daughter of Vladimir Putin, allegedly abandoned a $3.3 million apartment she owns in the Netherlands and returned to Russia following the downing of Malaysia Flight MH17. Maria Putin is a politically exposed person in anti-money laundering law, as is her father, mother, sister and boyfriend Jorrit Faassen, and each of their close personal and business associates. She is also apparently not employed.
Read the article by Christine Duhaime in Duhaime's Anti-Money Laundering Law in Canada.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
South Eastern Europe in review: Where citizens are the experts
More than 2,500 people are now using the “Be Responsible” grey economy-tracking mobile app in Montenegro
Whenever I discuss the governance challenges in South
Eastern Europe, the discussion quickly boils down to one issue: (anti)
corruption.
At the recently organized SELDI policy advocacy workshop, we went back to the basic principles of “good governance.”This opened up a wider debate indicating that now may be the time to both reframe the issue and bring in some new approaches.
Both of these were featured in a presentation I recently produced on how citizen participation can contribute to addressing the governance challenge.
My goal is to unpack three broader concepts: good governance, innovation, and collaboration.
1. Good governance – An honest and responsive government was at the top of the list in the global post-2015 consultations. Talking about the good governance challenge is difficult and can be controversial.However, the fact that UNDP enumerated a set of principles that appear in much of the literature, helped frame the presentation. These five principles inform much of our thinking of what makes governance actually ‘good’
2. Innovation is a popular buzzword these days but we also know that it is not really about invention; rather, it’s about using innovative tools and approaches in promoting citizens’ participation.
It’s also about reframing certain issues and long-held assumptions, finding different approaches to doing things, and capitalizing on the opportunities that an increasingly digital era is creating.
3. Collaboration with some unusual new suspects such as NESTA, Edgeryders, Futurescaper, and Digitalizuj.me led to bold initiatives such as toolkits, labs, camps, competitions, and websites.
Interesting projects were created in close cooperation with local organizations and communities that have enabled different – potentially more effective – approaches to dealing with the good governance challenge.
Half of the money in fines charged from citizen reports in Montenegro goes to public services like this children’s centre
I’d like to highlight three projects in particular:
In Serbia, the Youth Sleuth project, is engaging the youth to fight corruption through investigative journalism and social media.In partnership with NGOs and an anti-corruption agency, we are supporting the training of young men and women in investigative journalism, social media, and digital publishing. Participants write and disseminate stories, case studies, and investigative articles on corruption topics such as asset declaration of public servants and patients’ rights.
In Montenegro, crowdsourcing solutions to issues of transparency has resulted in the creation of Be Responsible.
This mobile app allows anyone to report a range of issues from illegal waste dumps to misuse of government-owned vehicles. Operating on a very simple ‘capture and send’ principle, the mobile app had amassed more than 1,000 active users in its first month, when it caught the attention of the Ministry of Finance, which decided to make it the principle tool in their project tackling the grey economy.
It became clear that an army of citizen reporters equipped with this mobile app is an invaluable resource, and the results have been pretty remarkable.
As of June 25, 2014, there were more than 1,800 civic reports of grey economy, and over 560,000 Euro of imposed fines. Furthermore, half of the money levied from the fines has been invested in five socially responsible projects chosen by the communities themselves.
In Kosovo* we’ve got a similar initiative utilizing the KALLXO.com online platform for reporting corruption. As of June 2014, it has resulted in over 3,500 complaints submitted to authorities for investigation.
These projects are evidence that citizen participation can compensate for the lack of institutional capacity, lead to more accountability and transparency, and improve institutional performance.
Citizens can and should be reporters, experts, service designers, and active participants.
Technology can facilitate, enable, and stimulate the participatory democracy, but it is the entrenched rules and the mindsets that need to change.Judging by initial results, initiatives of this kind seem to be a step in the right direction.
Do you have experience in governance and anticorruption work? We’d love to hear your thoughts on what we’ve been up to.
Drop us a line in the comments below or find us on twitter!
Source: http://europeandcis.undp.org/blog/2014/07/24/south-eastern-europe-in-review-where-citizens-are-the-experts/
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Reining in corruption could prevent Third World child deaths
"The Tackling Tax and Saving Lives report says
half the countries in sub-Saharan Africa collect less than 17 per cent of their
gross domestic product in tax revenue, whereas in rich countries the average is
35 per cent. If all developing countries were to mobilise 20 per cent of GDP in
tax, 287,000 child deaths could be averted each year, and an additional 72
million people could have access to clean water. Often tax revenues provide far
more financing than overseas development aid, particularly in middle-income
countries. In sub-Saharan Africa only eight out of 34 countries receive
more aid than they generate in tax revenues."
Read the article
by Matt Wade in The Sydney Morning Herald.
Paper: The Case for an International Anti-Corruption Court
Judge Mark Wolf developed “The Case for an International Anti-Corruption Court” after presenting the concept at the 2014 World Forum on Governance, convened by the Brookings Institution and Czech nonprofit Zaostřeno in Prague, Czech Republic. To learn more about the WFG, read the Prague Declaration and the 2012 Conference Report. An op-ed by Judge Wolf on the need for an international anti-corruption court is also featured by the Washington Post.
Public corruption is endemic at the highest levels of government in many nations. Such "grand corruption" is costly, is closely correlated with the most serious abuses of human rights, and threatens the stability of many nations and the world. Grand corruption depends on a culture of impunity that exists because of the unwillingness of leaders to permit the honest and able investigation of their friends, families, and, indeed, themselves.
International efforts to combat grand corruption have been inadequate and ineffective. Similar circumstances concerning genocide and other egregious abuses of human rights led to the creation of the International Criminal Court ("ICC") in 2002.
An International Anti-Corruption Court ("IACC"), similar to the ICC or as part of it, should now be established to provide a forum for the criminal enforcement of the laws prohibiting grand corruption that exist in virtually every country, and the undertakings that are requirements of various treaties and international organizations. Staffed by elite investigators and prosecutors as well as impartial judges, an IACC would have the potential to erode the widespread culture of impunity, contribute to creating conditions conducive to the democratic election of honest officials in countries which have long histories of grand corruption, and honor the courageous efforts of the many people, particularly young people, who are increasingly exposing and opposing corruption at great personal peril.
Download the paper
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
UN, EU Hold Training to Strengthen Nigeria’s Political Leaders
The United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) and the European Union held a leadership course for youth leaders
of Nigeria’s political parties. The aim of the training was to strength their
capacity as they prepared to become key pillars of democratic policy.
The training was held in Jos, the Plateau
State capital, under UNDP’s Democratic Governance for Development Project. At
the event, the UNDP resident representative to Nigeria, Daouda Toure, emphasised
the importance of political parties as essential pillars for a vibrant democracy.
He urged participants to embrace values of
good governance with adequate consideration given to cultural values and traditional
institutions. He also underscored the need for effective communication for
sustainable democracy.
Read the story
in Channels TV.
Monday, July 21, 2014
The Ethical Alliance Daily - 19 July 2014
The Ethical Alliance Daily - 19 July 2014
United States: House Panel Launches
Corruption Probe of Export-Import Bank
Thailand: Thai Corruption Agency
Finds Yingluck Guilty in Rice Case
Canada: Bribery charge against Duffy
puts PMO back under the spotlight
China: GSK confirms it fired staff
for corruption in China in 2001
United Kingdom: Corruption probe
into ‘sacking’ of cop after he named minister as child abuse suspect
Taiwan: Tire firm corruption
suspects remanded
Tanzania: Ex-CEO of Tanzania ports
faces fraud charges over bloated Chinese contract
Australia: Bribery charges for AFP
officer Ben Hampton
Malaysia: Ex sales manager claims trial
in bribery case
Nigeria: Lack of transparency breeds
corruption —Minister
The Ethical Alliance Daily - 18 July 2014
The Ethical Alliance Daily - 18 July 2014
Italy: Italy seeks arrest of
British, Indian nationals in Finmeccanica graft case
Taiwan: CIB finds NT$230 mil. during
corporate raid
United States: Halloran to take the
stand in corruption trial
Japan: Update 1-Court sentences
ex-Deutsche Japan banker for bribery, judge says practice “condoned”
Indonesia: Former Indonesia central
banker gets 10-year jail term for bailout graft
Israel: Shula Zaken begins serving
prison sentence
China: Bribery: High-ranking China
official given life sentence
Bangladesh: Bangladesh Charges 18
People in Connection With Deadly Factory Collapse
United Kingdom: Fraudster from
Queen’s bank Coutts jailed for £10million investment scam
Romania: Romanian judge investigated
after postponing trial 32 times for free seaside holiday
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