Corruption and climate action / Bhutan investigation hurdles / Thailand Corrections department case

World leaders at COP26: urgently shift perspectives to prevent corruption from crippling climate action.  “Transparency International is urging world leaders to bolster transparency, accountability and integrity to ensure effective action against climate crisis…Climate crisis is also a governance challenge, but the need for anti-corruption safeguards has so far been largely absent from climate talks.”

Transparency International: https://www.transparency.org/en/press/cop26-shift-perspectives-prevent-corruption-crippling-climate-action#  

 

Corruption: hurdle to change and progress.  “Investigators are already seeing a new challenge as they expose more and more people. If those being investigated use their “networks” to interfere in the investigations, we are not helping ourselves. The [Bhutan Anti-Corruption Commission] had warned that those trying to interfere and “frustrate the investigation will face rigorous examination and will not be spared from legal consequences.” What we need today is cooperation to help strengthen our systems including fixing accountability.”

Kuensel: https://kuenselonline.com/corruption-hurdle-to-change-and-progress/  

 

Prison staff fired for graft, murder offences.  “[Thailand’s] Department of Corrections (DoC) has dismissed 10 officials for serious misconduct including corruption, gross negligence and smuggling forbidden items into prisons…The names of the officials were not given.”

King-oua Laohong: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2210595/prison-staff-fired-for-graft-murder-offences  

Viet Nam business integrity support / China tech company payments abroad / Privatization not for anti-corruption

Aiding business integrity via private sector education (Opinion).  “The [Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s] commitment to promote and strengthen business integrity in Vietnam is specifically mentioned as a positive example of private sector engagement in the latest UNCAC review report…More recently, the VCCI and the UNDP launched the Vietnam Business Integrity Network (VBIN). This is the first private sector collective action initiative committed to fostering a culture of business integrity and anti-corruption compliance in Vietnam.”

Vietnam Investment Review: https://vir.com.vn/aiding-business-integrity-via-private-sector-education-88813.html  

 

Chinese Tech Giant Huawei Had Secret Offshore Contracts With Men Linked to Serbian State Telecom Company.  “A former executive at state telecom company Telekom Srbija likely received over $1 million through an offshore firm in the British Virgin Islands that had contracts with Chinese technology giant Huawei…Although OCCRP has not uncovered evidence that the payments were improper, they were made over a period of time when Huawei was doing business in Serbia.”

Stevan Dojčinović and Vesna Radojević/Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project: https://www.occrp.org/en/the-pandora-papers/chinese-tech-giant-huawei-had-secret-offshore-contracts-with-men-linked-to-serbian-state-telecom-company  

 

Keep the Dogmatic Privatization Argument Out of Style (Blog).  “It is with good reason, then, that the dogmatic application of privatization as an anticorruption solution fell out of fashion. But in some countries, this theory appears to be making a comeback…Privatization may have important benefits, at least sometimes. But selling privatization as an anticorruption solution is one trend from the 1990s that shouldn’t follow wide jeans back into vogue.”

Zachary Meskell/The Global Anticorruption Blog: https://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2021/10/25/keep-the-dogmatic-privatization-argument-out-of-style/