Monday, August 4, 2014

Dealing with corruption in Africa: A complex yet surprisingly simple answer

Corruption is a pervasive concern among investors considering entry in Africa. The statistics are not encouraging: Corruption is known to devour substantial portions of the continent’s tax revenue, its gross domestic product and even international aid, and can create a strong deterrent to international investments.

Read the article by Mima Nedelcovych in Devex

WSJ Corruption Currents: From Al Qaeda’s Ransoms to a Bad-Marriage Defense (30 July 2014)

Corruption Currents: From Al Qaeda’s Ransoms to a Bad-Marriage Defense (30 July 2014). By Samuel Rubenfeld, Wall Street Journal. http://blogs.wsj.com/riskandcompliance/2014/07/30/corruption-currents-from-al-qaedas-ransoms-to-a-bad-marriage-defense/

Internal watchdog finds no proof of systemic corruption in U.S. Export-Import Bank

WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters) - There is currently no evidence of widespread fraud within the U.S. Export-Import Bank, its internal watchdog said, as critics of the bank flagged a wider probe of corruption claims. http://www.trust.org/item/20140729215842-avifd/

WSJ Corruption Currents: From Protecting Files to Iranians Facing Expulsion (29 July 2014)

Corruption Currents: From Protecting Files to Iranians Facing Expulsion (29 July 2014) . By Samuel Rubenfeld, Wall Street Journal.

http://blogs.wsj.com/riskandcompliance/2014/07/29/corruption-currents-from-protecting-files-to-facing-expulsion/

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

The Ethical Alliance Daily - 24, 25, and 26 July 2014

United States: Boeing Procurement Officer Pleads Guilty To Fraud

China: Luxury-Car Makers Attract Scrutiny in China

South Korea: S Korea ferry boss Yoo Byung-eun death confirmed

United Kingdom: Corrupt police could face new secret investigations, says Theresa May

Italy: Italy parliament waives immunity for ex minister over Venice bribes

Japan: Japan to set up special sports corruption unit ahead of Tokyo 2020

India: India to investigate corruption in healthcare after TV sting operation

Ireland: Redmond wins in Tribunal appeal

Bangladesh: ACC sues ex-RHD chief engineer’s son for graft

Liberia: Pres. Sirleaf’s Buddy in Corruption Web – Forwarded to Justice Ministry for Prosecution

United States: Wal-Mart loses bid to keep documents on bribery probe from shareholder

United Kingdom: Witness in collapsed Dahdaleh trial sentenced to UK jail

China: UK fraud office liaising with China on GSK bribery case

Italy: Italian former minister arrested over corruption scandal

United States: New York Governor Cuomo’s office intervened in corruption probe: NY Times

United Kingdom: SFO to charge Alstom over ‘corruption’ and moves against UK arm

Indonesia : Indonesia Court With Corruption-Tainted Past Looms Over Vote

Malaysia: Ex-TM sales director’s conspiracy claim struck out

Dominica: Ex-AG in Dominica cleared of corruption charges

Zimbabwe: More Corruption Unearthed in Harare Water Project

Syria: Exclusive: Allegations of GSK corruption spread to Syria

United States: Former Lufthansa Unit CEO Pleads Guilty to FCPA Charges

China: Special Report: Inside Xi Jinping’s purge of China’s oil mandarins

Italy: Ex-mayor of Lampedusa jailed for corruption

United States: Former Massachusetts probation official found guilty in corruption case

Qatar: World Cup: FIFA corruption findings delayed until September

Singapore: Singapore match-fixer jailed for three years in sex-bribe case

South Korea: Gov’t launches anti-corruption task force after ferry accident.

Nigeria: Nigeria impeach FA boss for embezzlement

Malawi: Malawi Corruption Suspect Faces Charges

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

July 24, 2014 by Sanja Bojanic

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.