16 Jun 2011

Former Egyptian Interior Minister Jailed for Corruption

Egypt’s former Minister of the Interior, Habib al-Adly (pictured here) was sentenced to 12 years for corruption, including money laundering and profiteering. Mr. al-Adly’s trial was closely followed by Egyptians, as his ministry was also in charge of the brutal crackdown against protestors before the ousting of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Mr. al-Adly is […]
16 Jun 2011

Head of Kazakh Customs Control Is Fired

Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister, Karim Masimov, announced on Friday that Qozy-Korpesh Karibozov (pictured here), the former head of the Customs Service, has been relieved of his duties after allegations arose that he was allowing smugglers to traffic between 100 and 200 trucks-worth of goods across Kazakh borders daily. Along with Mr. Karibozov, more than 100 members […]
16 Jun 2011

Businessman and Former Food Minister Sentenced to Jail for Corruption in Cuba

Max Marambio, a Chilean businessman who was close to President Salvador Allende of Chile, and the former Food Industry Minister Alejandro Roca were sentenced to 20 and 15 years in prison, respectively, for charges of corruption on Thursday. Mr. Marambio was tried in absentia as he had refused to travel to Cuba in order to […]
16 Jun 2011

Doubts Hang over Relatively Clean Albanian Elections

Albanians turned out to vote in local elections on Sunday although the Socialist Party (SP) Chairman Edi Rama, the current mayor of Tirana ,who is also currently leading the vote for mayor by approximately 1,000 votes, accused the state of pressuring voters. The current Albanian Prime Minister, Sali Berisha, who heads the Democratic Party (DP) […]
16 Jun 2011

Report over HaiTI Says That the Rule of Law Needs to Be Top Priority

A recent report for ISN highlights that, in spite of the election of a new President, Michel Martelly is unlikely to overcome Haiti’s reconstruction and development challenges because of the lack of the rule of law in the country. While the Caribbean nation has benefitted from a plethora of development aid, poverty, crime and bad […]
16 Jun 2011

Austrian Court Authorizes Extradition of Croatia’s Sanader

An Austrian court authorized today the extradition of Croatia’s former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader (pictured here) in order to face trial on allegations of abuse of power and corruption. Sanader’s legal team, however, immediately announced that they would seek to appeal the Salzburg court’s decision on grounds that Mr. Sanader would not be able to […]
16 Jun 2011

Croatia Targeting War-Time Crime

The Croatian Parliament (pictured here) passed a law last Friday (the 13th) removing time limitations on crimes involving illegal profiteering from the war and privitization, including crimes of abuse of office and/or power and signing disadvantageous contracts. The law also allows for multiple prosecutions for crimes committed during the war and peacetime, including the deliberate […]
16 Jun 2011

Eulex Investigation 26 New Corruption Cases in Kosovo

EULEX Spokesperson Blerim Krasniqi (pictured here) announced on Sunday that 26 new corruption cases were being investigated in Kosovo, with the cases being handled in connection with local prosecutors. While information on arrests on raids in the near future is not available at the moment, public officials are among those suspected. In the meantime, Kosovo’s […]
16 Jun 2011

Bulgaria Urged to Include Prosecution Service to Judicial Reform

Gabriela Knaul (the UN Special Rapporteur for the independence of judges and lawyers, and pictured here), upon leaving after her six-day mission to Bulgaria, said that Joint governance of the courts and the prosecution service appears to hamper a well-functioning system of accountability, and therefore limits effective prosecution of those involved in organized crime and […]
16 Jun 2011

Eu’s Ashton Visits Kosovo

Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy chief, visited Kosovo on Friday (the 27th) and reiterated that the rule of law was important for the future of Kosovo. Ashton met with Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci (pictured here) and discussed Kosovo’s bid for entry into the EU and visa liberalization issues. While meeting with PM Thaci, […]
16 Jun 2011

Iraqi Kurds Continue to Protest Government Corruption

For almost three months now, protestors have gathered in Sulaymaniyah Square in the semi-autonomous oil-rich province of Kurdistan (pictured here) to protest what they allege is government corruption, nepotism, incompetence, and anti-democratic measures. Since the protests began, at least 12 civilians have been killed across Kurdistan. The continuing protests have pushed the government and opposition […]
16 Jun 2011

112 Military Personnel Identitified As Having Defrauded Job Exams

Romanian anti-corruption prosecutors indicted 112 military personnel, including 2 generals, 24 officers, 15 non-commissioned officers (NCOs), and 71 Corporals, for defrauding Defense Ministry job examinations. The former deputy of the Management and Human Resources Department and the former Training Director were both indicted within the ministry. Those indicted in the scandal were located in the […]
16 Jun 2011

Kazakh Bank Asks Britain to Extradite Former Bank Head

Kazakh bank BTA has asked the UK to extradite its fugitive former head, Mukhtar Ablyazov (pictured here), for large-scale fraud and funneling of funds through fake companies, estimated to be $7billion. Meanwhile, a UK court has ruled against Mr. Ablyazov’s claims that the request for extradition was politically motivated, stating that the bank has sufficient […]
16 Jun 2011

Egyptian Military Denies Plans to Pardon Mubarak

Egypt’s ruling military council denied recent rumors that they would pardon former President Hosni Mubarak and his wife, Suzanne Mubarak (pictured here) for corruption, embezzlement, and abuse of power (and, in the case of Mrs. Mubarak, abuse of postion for unlawful gain). Both Mr. and Mrs. Mubarak have fallen ill since Mr. Mubarak’s abdication from […]
16 Jun 2011

Bribery Third Largest Problem in Balkans Says Un

A UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) survey of 28,000 people found that corruption is the third-largest issue facing the Western Balkans today, with the average individual paying between 4 and 10 bribes per year and each bribe ranging from 103-1,212 euros (~$135-1,600) – more than 140% of weekly salaries. Furthermore, only 1.5% […]
16 Jun 2011

Fifa Agrees to Talk to Whistleblower on Corruption Allegations

FIFA President Sepp Blatter announced that the Sunday Times will bring their whistleblower, who alleged corruption in the choice of Qatar for the 2022 World Cup, to Zurich in order to discuss matters with FIFA officials. The whistleblower has claimed that two FIFA officials, Issa Hayatou (pictured here) and Jacque Anouma, received $1.5 million to […]
16 Jun 2011

Mubarak’s Top Aide Will Not Be Released

A Cairo Criminal Court has ruled that Zakaria Azmi (pictured here) can be detained for another 30 days pending further investigation into his personal finances as requested by the public prosecutor in order to not tamper with the course of investigations or questioning of witnesses. Mr. Azmi was the Presidential Chief of Staff to former […]
16 Jun 2011

55 Romanian Customs Employees Indicted for Accepting Bribes

Romanian Prosecutors have indicted 55 employees of Naidas customs for accepting bribes to facilitate the smuggling of cigarettes from Serbia. Of the 55 indicted, 3 had already been temporarily arrested for accepting bribes. This comes on top of the arrest of 4 customs police officers, 20 customs police agents, and 5 customs workers, all from […]
14 Jun 2011

Former Ukrainian President Questioned over Role in Murder of Prominent Journalist

Leonid Kuchma, the former President of Ukraine, was brought into the Prosecutor’s office for questioning over the sensational November 2000 murder of anti-corruption journalist Georgiy Gongadze. The slain journalist’s likeness was used during Ukraine’s Orange Revolution as a rallying cry against the ancien regime and Kuchma’s chosen successor, Viktor Yanukovych. To say that the controversy […]
31 May 2011

Romanian Businessman Arrested in Hungary

Romanian businessman Dinel Nutu (formerly known as Staicu, pictured here) was handed over to Romanian authorities today by Hungarian police officers after having fled Romania after being convicted for being an accessory to the abuse of office and being sentenced to a prison sentence of seven years. Mr. Nutu was apprehended by the Hungarian authorities […]
31 May 2011

Discussion With Activist Kiran Bedi and Prof. Jagdish Bhagwati

The news channel Al-Jazeera had an in-depth discussion with former super cop and Indian anti-corruption activisit Kiran Bedi (pictured here) – who helped to write the Ombudsman bill – and Prof. Jagdish Bhagwati over corruption in Indian society and the pending Ombudsman bill in India. The Ombudsman bill, which will be taken up in July, […]
31 May 2011

Former Romanian Agriculture Minister Convicted of Corruption

Ioan Avram Muresam (pictured here), the former Romanian Agriculture Minister, was sentenced to seven years in prison for embezzlement for a case dating back to December 18th, 2003, although Mr. Muresam can still appeal the decision. During his time as the Agriculture Minister, Mr. Muresam wrote several orders to release oil from the state’s reserve […]
31 May 2011

2010: More Than 1,000 Cases of Money Laundering in Switzerland

According to the Swiss Federal Police Office, the suspected number of money laundering cases in 2010 increased by over 30% on the 2009 totals, while the amount of assets involved in the cases dropped by 50% to $964 million, on par with the 10-year average. As in previous years, the banking sector recorded more suspected […]
31 May 2011

Swedish Housing Boss Guilty in Bribery Trial

Olle Lundgren (pictured here) was convicted of accepting $13,500-worth (24 metric tons) of bricks meant for the construction of housing by the contractor Weinberger, in the hope that Mr. Lundgren would help out the company in the future. Mr. Lundgren’s conviction in the case will lead to a 6-month prison sentence even though, according to […]
31 May 2011

62 Romanian Border Police Officers Indicted for Corruption

62 Romanian Border Patrol Officers and 4 Customs Officials were indicted by Romanian anti-corruption prosecutors from a northern border crossing on Wednesday. The 66 officials are accused of soliciting and/or accepting bribes amount to approximately 893,740 euros between September 2010 and January 2011. A total of 49 of the 66 indicted persons are currently in […]