Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Global Corruption


Global Financial Integrity - Reports - Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries 2002-2011 - Overview 

 

Global Financial Integrity - Reports - Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries 2002-2011 - Overview | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
The developing world lost US$946.7 billion in illicit outflows in 2011, an increase of 13.7% over 2010. The capital outflows stem from crime, corruption, tax evasion, and other illicit activity.

The report finds that from 2002 to 2011, developing countries lost US$5.9 trillion to illicit outflows. The outflows increased at an average rate of 10.2% per year over the decade—significantly outpacing GDP growth.

As a percentage of GDP, Sub-Saharan Africa suffered the biggest loss of illicit capital. Illicit outflows from the region averaged 5.7% of GDP annually. Globally, illicit financial outflows averaged 4% of GDP.

China leads the world over the 10-year period with US$1.08 trillion in illicit outflows. However, 2011 marked the first time that Russia’s illicit outflows exceeded China’s, with a loss of US$191.14 billion against China’s US$151.35 billion. The previous methodology had significantly understated Russia’s illicit outflows, while it overstated China’s illicit outflows.
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Global Financial Integrity - Reports
Corruption is a particularly viral form of cancer. It is caught here and there but it reappears somewhere else as soon as vigilance is relaxed. It is not eliminated, just driven underground. The corrupt merely suspend their operations temporarily. It lingers, hovering always in the background for its next opportunity.
- Gerald E. Caiden
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Corruption Eruption E-Magazine > > > "On Planet Corruption every day a new Eruption"

Corruption Eruption E-Magazine >   >  >            "On Planet Corruption every day a new Eruption" | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
*** Key findings from PwC's 17th Annual Global Economic Crime Survey
*** Cyber crime: the Achilles heel of the business world
*** Ukraine’s $19-billion question of debt and corruption
*** FBI announces campaign to crack down on public corruption
*** Ukraine’s $19-billion question of debt and corruption
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USA: Former Utah Attorneys General John Swallow, Mark Shurtleff arrested

USA:  Former Utah Attorneys General John Swallow, Mark Shurtleff arrested | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
Former Utah Attorneys General John Swallow and Mark Shurtleff were arrested and charged Tuesday on allegations ranging from accepting bribes to destroying evidence.
Both were arrested at their Sandy homes by members of the FBI and the Utah Department of Public Safety, and they arrived at the Salt Lake County Jail shortly after 8 a.m.
The state's former top law enforcement officials were charged in 3rd District Court with pattern of unlawful activity, a second-degree felony; and three counts of receiving or soliciting bribes by a public official, a third-degree felony.
In addition, Shurtleff was charged with illegally accepting gifts or loans, a second-degree felony; two counts of receiving bribes by a public official, a third-degree felony; witness tampering, a third-degree felony; tampering with evidence, a class A misdemeanor; and obstruction of justice, a class A misdemeanor.
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USDOJ: Justice Department, Federal and State Partners Secure Record $7 Billion Global Settlement with Citigroup for Misleading Investors About Securities Containing Toxic Mortgages

USDOJ: Justice Department, Federal and State Partners Secure Record $7 Billion Global Settlement with Citigroup for Misleading Investors About Securities Containing Toxic Mortgages | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
The Justice Department, along with federal and state partners, today announced a $7 billion settlement with Citigroup Inc. to resolve federal and state civil claims related to Citigroup’s conduct in the packaging, securitization, marketing, sale and issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) prior to Jan. 1, 2009.  The resolution includes a $4 billion civil penalty – the largest penalty to date under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA).  As part of the settlement, Citigroup acknowledged it made serious misrepresentations to the public – including the investing public – about the mortgage loans it securitized in RMBS.  The resolution also requires Citigroup to provide relief to underwater homeowners, distressed borrowers and affected communities through a variety of means including financing affordable rental housing developments for low-income families in high-cost areas.  The settlement does not absolve Citigroup or its employees from facing any possible criminal charges.

This settlement is part of the ongoing efforts of President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force’s RMBS Working Group, which has recovered $20 billion to date for American consumers and investors.

“This historic penalty is appropriate given the strength of the evidence of the wrongdoing committed by Citi,” said Attorney General Eric Holder.  “The bank's activities contributed mightily to the financial crisis that devastated our economy in 2008.  Taken together, we believe the size and scope of this resolution goes beyond what could be considered the mere cost of doing business.  Citi is not the first financial institution to be held accountable by this Justice Department, and it will certainly not be the last.”
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Is the U.S. as Corrupt as the Third World?

Is the U.S. as Corrupt as the Third World? | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
Last week former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin became the latest American politician to be sent to jail for abuse of power, following in the footsteps of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and onetime Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. Despite such high-profile convictions, most Americans see political corruption as a problem that plagues the developing world far more than the U.S. The truth is more complex: It’s certainly the case that paying bribes is a lot less common in the U.S. than in Nigeria or Bolivia, for example. But when citizens are asked if corruption is prevalent in their country, they’re thinking about a lot more than bribes. They’re more concerned about whether government and the political system is fair or stacked against them. And on those grounds, there are good reasons to think the difference between the U.S. and developing countries isn’t very big at all.
It doesn’t take a detailed look at Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index to work out which types of countries are viewed to be particularly corrupt by the political risk analysts, aid agency economists, and think-tank staff whose opinions the index reflects...
Nagin wasn’t convicted of taking a bribe. His big crimes were related to steering business to his family’s kitchen countertop company.  That underscores a vital truth: There are lots of different ways to be corrupt. And when you survey people around the world about the problem of corruption in their country, most have a definition of “corruption” that’s broader than bribery. Ask the same people, “Have you paid a bribe,” and then ask, “Is corruption a problem in this country?” and the relationship between the two answers is weak. Again, ask the same companies, “How much do you pay in bribes?” and “Is corruption a major constraint to doing business,” and many who say bribery in their industry is common also don’t see corruption as a problem—while many who don’t pay bribes are convinced corruption is holding them back.
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Philippine leader's approval down on doubt over corruption effort

Philippine leader's approval down on doubt over corruption effort | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Benigno Aquino's performance ratings have plunged to their lowest ever, two independent pollsters said on Monday, as a perception grew that he is not serious enough...

"This is the largest decline in both approval and trust and it's also his lowest performance thus far," Ana Maria Tabunda, Pulse Asia research director, said in a television interview.
People were disillusioned by widespread corruption in government, she said, adding that her poll was taken at the same time that the government arrested three senators on plunder charges for misuse of congressional funds and rising cost of rice and other food.
Tabunda said the survey was largely complete by the time the Supreme Court rejected an Aquino creation of a discretionary fund, called the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAB), which has become the administration's worst crisis in four years.
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Georgia ranks in middle in new corruption study

Georgia ranks in middle in new corruption study | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
Georgia doesn't rank among the most corrupt states in the nation, according to a recent study. But it doesn't rank among the least corrupt either...


“I haven’t been able to access the full study, but I’m not sure this is the best methodology,” said Matthew Hipps, assistant professor of political science at Dalton State College.

“I’m not sure that the number of convictions really tells us how much corruption there is in an area,” he added. “It’s a measure, but it’s not a very nuanced measure.”
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Former CEO of CalPERS pleads guilty to fraud, corruption charge

Former CEO of CalPERS pleads guilty to fraud, corruption charge | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
A former chief executive of the country's biggest public pension fund admitted that he took more than $250,000 in bribes and other valuable gifts from a friend and co-defendant in an influence-peddling scandal that rocked the pension investment world five years ago.
Federico R. Buenrostro Jr. pleaded guilty Friday to one federal charge of conspiracy to commit corruption and fraud in funneling deals through his friend, Alfred J.R. Villalobos, for outside firms to manage funds for the California Public Employees' Retirement System.
We condemn the misconduct and ethical breaches admitted today by Mr. Buenrostro.- CalPERS' statement  "It's a good day for justice, and was time for Mr. Buenrostro to admit his wrongdoing," said Philip Khinda, a Washington lawyer who led an 18-month internal investigation into a scandal that led to a slew of changes in CalPERS operations and state law.
CalPERS, which manages about $300 billion in investments, said that it has taken "aggressive steps" to put into place new policies and reforms to ensure that its 1.6 million members — state and local government workers, retirees and their families — are not victims of future criminal fraud by insiders.

"We condemn the misconduct and ethical breaches admitted today by Mr. Buenrostro," the fund said in an email. "CalPERS looks forward to justice being served in this case and for the individuals involved to be held accountable for their actions."
Buenrostro, CalPERS' top official from 2002 until he was fired in 2008, said in his plea agreement that Villalobos personally delivered $200,000 in cash bribes in paper bags and shoe boxes, which were handed over at a Hyatt Hotel across from the state Capitol.
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Heat Rises on Corruption Allegations in Qatar World Cup Bid

Heat Rises on Corruption Allegations in Qatar World Cup Bid | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
As soccer fans flock to their televisions for the World Cup final this weekend, the FBI and international investigators are looking ahead to allegations of corruption and abuse halfway around the world in Qatar, where the 2022 games are scheduled to take place in one of the hottest places on earth -- where daytime temperatures regularly reach 124 degrees.
During the World Cup this year in Brazil officials declared the first-of-its-kind water breakduring a match when the temperature hit the mid-80s, fearing for the health of the players.
Before Qatar won their bid for the 2022 World Cup, soccer federation officials were warned in advanced about the potentially dangerous heat in Qatar that makes its capital of Doha look like a ghost town during the day – some 40 degrees hotter than during the pause in Brazil.
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Whistleblower blasts union's own corruption probe

Whistleblower blasts union's own corruption probe | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
A construction union whistleblower has blasted an ‘‘independent’’ investigation into the allegations of corruption he raised.
The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union on Friday released its review into a string of allegations about misconduct by senior officials and links to crime figure George Alex. The claims were raised by whistleblowers who complained to CFMEU national secretary Michael O’Connor late in 2013.
The allegations will be heard when the Heydon royal commission into union corruption sits in Sydney on Tuesday.
The complaints spurred the union to ask its law firm, Slater & Gordon, to organise an investigation. It chose Sydney barrister Tony Slevin, whose report, released on Friday, exonerates the union’s leadership but suggests changes to the union’s rules dealing with whistleblowers and complaints.
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How not to address political corruption –

How not to address political corruption – | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
Thirty years on, public funding of Australian election campaigns has recorded a striking lack of success at stopping corruption. As should have been expected all along.
Among your weekend reading, don’t miss Mike Steketee’s piece in the Drumthis morning on public funding of elections. He gets it, much better than most people who write about this popular but misunderstood topic:
In the words of the report of a parliamentary inquiry, getting taxpayers to pick up the tab “removes the necessity or temptation to seek funds that may come with conditions imposed or implied” and “it may relieve parties from the constant round of fundraising so that they can concentrate on policy problems and solutions”.
As it turned out, less true words have seldom been spoken. Thanks particularly to the Independent Commission Against Corruption in NSW, where the Wran government was the first to introduce public funding in 1981, we now know just how successfully politics has been cleaned up.
It’s remarkable that anyone could ever have believed this rationale, much less continue to believe it with the weight of 30 years of evidence against it. Expecting public funding to reduce corruption is a bit like setting up a welfare system for gangsters in the hope that they will feel less need to rob banks.
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Root out and punish corruption

Root out and punish corruption | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
It happens with disturbing regularity.
A high-profile Louisiana politician gets caught with his or her hands in the cookie jar, and there is the inevitable public outrage and embarrassment.
Unfortunately, incidents such as this reinforce an ugly and somewhat unfair political stereotype of Louisiana.
Thanks to our shameful political history, there is a widespread perception that we have more political corruption here than in many other places.
Anything that battles that image is welcome.
So, when former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was convicted of fraud, bribery and other corruption-related charges, it provided yet another chance for federal prosecutors to serve notice that corruption will be discovered and punished.
Earlier this week, when federal Judge Ginger Berrigan sentenced Nagin to 10 years in prison, some observers worried aloud that the sentence was too lenient.
The larger point, though, is that Nagin was caught, prosecuted, convicted and sentenced.
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World Bank Report 2007-2013

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Whistleblower suit says health plan cheated government out of more than $1 billion

Whistleblower suit says health plan cheated government out of more than $1 billion | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
Valdez accuses the health plans of “rampant fraud,” alleging they overcharged Medicare $300 million to $350 million a year from 2007 through 2010. He claims that Aveta Chief Executive Officer Richard Shinto fired him “in retaliation for his outspoken opposition to these illegal practices.” Valdez filed the lawsuit in Santa Ana, California, in April 2011, but it remained under court seal until February of this year. The case is pending.
In a May 23 statement to the Center for Public Integrity, the health plans called Valdez a “former disgruntled employee” and added that the company “categorically denies the allegations in the former employee’s lawsuit and is highly confident that it will prevail in the case.”
Valdez is a veteran health care executive and consultant who headed the California regional office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 2001 through 2003 under President George W. Bush. He also was a health policy adviser to Republican Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential race.
Valdez said in court papers that he served as president of MSO of Puerto Rico, also owned by a subsidiary of Aveta, for eight months until his dismissal in December 2010. MSO worked with local doctors to coordinate coverage for some 230,000 elderly and disabled people then enrolled in those two Aveta-related Medicare Advantage health plans. In a press release touting his hire, Aveta said Valdez would enhance medical care while “effectively managing healthcare costs.”
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Ex-CalPERS CEO admits he's a crook

Ex-CalPERS CEO admits he's a crook | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
A kickback scandal at America’s largest public pension included $200,000 of cash stuffed into shoeboxes and paper bags.
When former CalPERS CEO Fred Buenrostro was charged more than a year ago by both federal and state officials with fraud and obstruction of justice charges, something didn’t seem right. The allegations focused on how Buenrostro had forged documents to help placement agent pal Alfred Villalobos get paid by some of his private equity clients, but there was no mention of Buenrostro personally benefiting (beyond a $300k per year job with Villalobos upon retirement from CalPERS). Not was there any evidence that Buenrostro improperly influenced investment decisions at CalPERS.
But it seems he did both things, according to his guilty plea last Friday in a San Francisco courthouse.
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Does Bribery Pay? For Whom? And How Much?

Does Bribery Pay? For Whom? And How Much? | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
Anticorruption advocates—including those in the private sector who have taken the fight against corruption seriously—insist that bribery is bad for business. That’s likely true in the aggregate, and perhaps it’s true for some individual firms. But it’s probably not true for all firms—otherwise, why would so many of them pay bribes? But it’s hard to know how much firms benefit from bribery. Likewise, while would be useful to know more about the factors that affect the size and probability of bribery, figuring this out is a challenge because of the secrecy of corrupt transactions.
In a recent working paper, Yan Leung Cheung, P. Raghavendra Rau, andAris Stouraitis try to get at these questions by looking at enforcement data for anti-bribery laws–both laws that apply domestically and those (like the U.S. FCPA and the UK Bribery Act) that prohibit foreign bribery. In particular, the study examines a subset of reported cases where (1) a bribe was (allegedly) paid for a particular, identifiable public contract, announced on a specific date, (2) there is stock and financial data for the firm, available on a day-to-day basis, and (3) the enforcement data contains information on the size of the bribe paid to secure the contract. Armed with that information, the authors reason that we can use the abnormal increase in firm market capitalization that coincides with the announcement of the contract as a measure of the gross benefit of the bribe to the firm (the authors assume that bribe-paying firms would not have gotten the contract without paying the bribe). We can then subtract the size of the bribe from that gross benefit to get the net benefit of bribery for the firm. On top of that, the authors reason that we can learn something about how the total gains from the bribe transaction are allocated between the firm and the corrupt public official by dividing the size of the bribe payment by the sum of the bribe payment plus the gross benefit of the bribe. The higher this ratio, the more the benefits of bribery go to the public official; the lower this ratio, the more the benefits of bribery accrue to the bribe-paying firm.
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Tax evasion sting recovers Sh25bn from multinationals

Tax evasion sting recovers Sh25bn from multinationals | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
A Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) audit has forced a number multinationals to rewrite their financial statements, turning losses into profits in a review that has yielded Sh25 billion in tax revenues...

Several multinationals had used the transfer pricing mechanism to declare losses, which effectively disqualified them from paying income tax.But a KRA audit of 40 conglomerates discovered widespread abuse of transfer pricing – which refers to prices charged when one unit of a multinational group buys or sells product from another part of the same group but in a different country.The culprits are expected to agree with KRA on a payment schedule that will enable them to clear the tax.
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Citigroup settles subprime mortgage case - The Boston Globe

Citigroup settles subprime mortgage case - The Boston Globe | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
Citigroup announced Monday that it will pay roughly $7 billion to settle a federal investigation into risky subprime mortgages, the type that helped bring on the financial crisis.
The bank, one of America’s largest, revealed the deal as part of its quarterly earnings report. At a news conference later, Attorney General Eric Holder said the bank’s behavior had ‘‘shattered lives and livelihoods throughout the country and around the world.’’
The settlement stems from the sale of securities made up of subprime mortgages, which led to both the housing boom and bust that triggered the Great Recession at the end of 2007.
Citigroup and other banks downplayed the risks of subprime mortgages when packaging and selling them to mutual funds, investment trusts, pensions, as well as other banks and investors.  The securities, which contained so-called residential mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations, plunged in value when the housing market collapsed in 2006 and 2007. Those losses triggered a financial crisis that pushed the economy into the worst recession since the 1930s.
The bank separately agreed in April to pay $1.13 billion to settle claims by investors seeking that the lender buy back billions of dollars in residential mortgage-backed securities.
In the deal announced Monday, Citigroup will make a $4 billion civil monetary payment to the Justice Department, and another $500 million in compensatory payments to state attorneys general and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
The bank will provide $2.5 billion in consumer relief, which will include financing for construction and preservation of affordable housing, as well as principal reduction and forbearance for residential loans.
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BANGLADESH: Corruption all the way

BANGLADESH:  Corruption all the way | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
Private universities are involved in transactions of "illegal money" at different stages -- from taking approvals for setting up a university to awarding certificates to students, says a study of Transparency International Bangladesh.
Around Tk 1 crore to Tk 3 crore are exchanged for the approval for launching a private university and Tk 50,000 to Tk 2 lakh for getting nods for appointing vice chancellors, pro-vice chancellors and treasurers, it says.
A university pays up to Tk 30,000 for getting approval for opening a faculty and Tk 20,000 for a department.
A section of officials at the education ministry, University Grants Commission (UGC) and the universities are linked to these transactions, said the TIB.
The graft watchdog yesterday launched the study "Private Universities: Challenges of good governance and way out” at a press conference at Brac Inn in the capital yesterday.
The study was conducted on 22 universities in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet between June 2012 and May this year.
Some universities give fake certificates in exchange for Tk 50,000 to Tk 3 lakh, it added.
"The amount varies from university to university," said Mohammad Rafiq Hasan, director of research and policy department at the TIB..
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Fraud suspect cheated Medicaid before, now charged in alleged $8M scheme - News - NorthJersey.com

Fraud suspect cheated Medicaid before, now charged in alleged $8M scheme - News - NorthJersey.com | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
The owner of a chain of medical imaging centers in North and Central Jersey has been charged with running a scheme that bilked N.J.'s Medicaid program of $8 million. Rehan Zuberi allegedly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to doctors and chiropractors to refer patients for MRIs and other diagnostic services at imaging centers in Hackensack, Englewood, Wayne and other locations.
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How and Why Lofty Ideologies Cohabit With Rampant Corruption

How and Why Lofty Ideologies Cohabit With Rampant Corruption | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
In a way, Mr Putin's messianic Russian nationalism, Mr Erdogan's Islamism and Chinese leaders' exhortations of sacrifice take the edge off the sleaze. It is degrading to live in a venal polity, but the idea of a special national mission or destiny can be consoling. Lilia Shevtsova of the Carnegie Moscow Centre, a think-tank, says "Russians have been seduced to forget, temporarily, about Putin's corruption by the offer of compensation for their complexes and lost dreams"--in particular by the annexation of Crimea, a key part of Mr Putin's bid to restore Russian greatness.
Mr Erdogan's critics think his religious rhetoric serves a similar purpose. Analysts of Chinese politics note that its top brass sometimes undertake public shows of humility (visiting peasant hovels and so on) in deference to old notions of virtuous leadership. Thus, while they appear contradictory, moralising ideologies can provide useful cover for corruption.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-and-why-lofty-ideologies-cohabit-with-rampant-corruption-2014-7#ixzz37HQyWSOs
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Because we’re worth it

Because we’re worth it | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
Russia’s government is not unique in combining lofty rhetoric with greasy palms. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, wants to restore the country’s lost Ottoman grandeur and burnish public morality. He has restricted the sale of alcohol and tried to ban adultery. Yet confronted with evidence of ministers on the take, he purged the police and prosecutors instead of the government: not an obviously moral response.
China’s Communist bosses rely on Maoist notions of ethical leadership and, implicitly, on a Confucian mandate supposedly bestowed by heaven for their righteousness. They pose as guarantors of order and stability—while their families amass Croesan wealth. A recent anti-corruption drive is snaring some big names without seriously disrupting the cash-flow. As Minxin Pei of Claremont McKenna College in California puts it, Chinese leaders manage to “move effortlessly between universes of extreme moralism and extreme corruption”.
Every country has its charlatans and rogues, be they light-fingered British MPs or pork-happy American congressmen. Many, whether Latin American strongmen or African kleptocrats, claim to serve their people. Hardly any admit to thieving. But there is something especially grating about leaders who push moralistic causes, thus inviting judgment of their own behaviour, while overseeing scams. Casual observers may wonder why citizens put up with the hypocrisy—and how their rulers look at themselves in the mirror.
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China’s Central Bank Investigates Report of a Bank’s Money Laundering

China’s Central Bank Investigates Report of a Bank’s Money Laundering | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
China’s central bank is investigating a report by state television that a major Chinese bank is helping clients transfer large amounts of money overseas in a program that violates currency controls, Xinhua, the state-run news agency, said Friday.
The station, China Central Television, or CCTV, caused a scandal when it broadcast a program on Wednesday accusing the Bank of China of money laundering on a large scale.
“We have noticed the media report about a commercial bank’s cross-border renminbi business, and are verifying related facts,” Xinhua quoted a spokesman for the central bank, the People’s Bank of China, as saying. The spokesman did not identify the commercial bank.
In recent years, there has been rapid growth in the cross-border renminbi business in response to global market developments, the spokesman said. The People’s Bank of China did not return calls Friday afternoon.
“Reports of ‘underground money farms’ and ‘money laundering’ have no basis in fact,” the Bank of China said in a statement late Wednesday.
The Bank of China said its Youhuitong service, which began in 2011 and means preferential remittances, was experimental but legal.
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China's Communist Party Admits It Has a Big Corruption Problem

China's Communist Party Admits It Has a Big Corruption Problem | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
Here comes a perhaps less-than-surprising conclusion from China’s Communist Party: When it comes to choosing and promoting its nearly 87 million members, it doesn’t do a very good job, the CCP’s organization department has admitted.
Nepotism and corruption are commonplace and meritocracy often absent when selecting cadres, concludes a survey published in the People’s Daily on July 6. More than 3,000 local cadres in 16 provinces responded to the survey questionnaires distributed by the party department responsible for personnel.
The investigation showed that, when multiple candidates vie for a spot, top party leaders use their influence to ensure those they favor win promotion. Buying and selling positions in the party is also commonplace, the survey noted.
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Serious Fraud Office Annual Report 2013-14

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Global Corruption Report
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New Data on World Bank Sanctions: The Office of Suspension and Debarment releases its first report

New Data on World Bank Sanctions: The Office of Suspension and Debarment releases its first report | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
OSD’s new report covers the first six fiscal years of its operation. It has several key findings: In 95% of sanctions cases, OSD determined that there was sufficient evidence to support at least one of the claims made by INT. It rejected 5% of cases in their entirety. OSD referred 38% of cases back to INT based on a determination that there was insufficient evidence to support one or more of the accusations made. OSD found insufficient evidence on all claims related to 13% of Respondents included in cases (some cases involve multiple Respondents, which accounts for apparent discrepancies in the numbers above). On average, OSD takes 60 days to make an evidentiary determination in a case. OSD renders a new determination, on average, once every ten days. In 40% of cases, Respondents appeal the case to the Sanctions Board. Settlements account for a considerable percentage of cases – almost 30% in FY 2011, 22% in FY 2012, and 23% in FY 2013. While INT investigations require significant time to complete, they have steadily grown shorter. In FY 2008 and 2009, they commonly lasted up to three years, or longer. In FY 2011 and 2012, it was more common to see investigations completed in less than two years. 86% of cases and settlements received by OSD are based on fraud, 14% on corruption, and 9% on collusion (some cases include more than one type of sanctionable practice). When considering the types of fraud at issue in sanctions cases, there are about the same amount of cases involving forged third party documents, like bank guarantees, manufacturer’s certificates, and performance or experience documentation (105 cases), as there are of other forms of fraud, like false invoices or payment certifications, misrepresentation or omission regarding a conflict or an agent, or misrepresentation regarding past performance (99 cases). - See more at: http://fcpamericas.com/english/enforcement/data-world-bank-sanctions-office-suspension-debarment-releases-report/#sthash.ACzhiBnN.dpuf
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Center Township CFO's spending history examined after his arrest - Indianapolis Star

Center Township CFO's spending history examined after his arrest - Indianapolis Star | Global Corruption | Scoop.it
Before Alan S. Mizen was accused of embezzling taxpayer money, his job was to sniff out embezzlers.
The former Center Township chief financial officer who was arrested July 1 worked years earlier for the Indiana State Board of Accounts. His job? Audit government agencies to ensure that public officials are not misusing the people's money. In 2000, he was instrumental in exposing a Madison County clerk who stole about $235,000 in taxpayer money.
The 56-year-old Zionsville resident now finds himself on the opposite end of the equation. Federal prosecutors say he embezzled a little more than $340,000 from Center Township, much of the money earmarked to help the township's poor.
In June 2010, Mizen set up a PNC bank account and deposited a check for $343,541.08 drawn from the township's federal program funds, a criminal complaint says. He used the accounting system at the Center Township trustee's office to create a false invoice indicating that he had written the check to the "Treasurer of the State," the complaint says.
He then moved the money into several personal accounts and spent it over the next two years on items such as a car, tuition, cruises and jewelry, prosecutors allege.
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