Under a new policy introduced by French President Francois Holland, members of the French government will have to make public asset declarations. read more
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Former Egyptian finance minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali has been sentenced to life in prison for corruption by a Cairo criminal court. read more
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Learning from Iraq, an extensive report released by the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction estimates that $800 million is unlawfully transferred out of Iraq every week. read more
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At the beginning of October 2012, the Serious Fraud Office ("SFO") issued a revised guidance signaling a marked change in its attitude to prosecutions under the Bribery Act. read more
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Former French President, Nicholas Sarkozy (Sarkozy) has been charged in connection with a criminal probe into illegal party financing. read more
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McKeeva Bush (Bush), former premier of the Cayman Islands has been charged by the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service with five counts of theft, four counts of breach of trust and two counts of misconduct in public office; and will appear in the British Caribbean territory's Grand Court in April. read more
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Ravshan Sabirov, former Social Protection Minister in Kyrgyzstan, has been convicted of corruption by a Kyrgyz court and will serve a five year jail term in a maximum-security prison. read more
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On 6 March, a Giza criminal court sentenced Ahmed Ezz, well-known Egyptian businessman and leading member of the ruling National Democratic Party during former President Hosni Mubarak's reign, to thirty seven years in prison and fined him EGP £2 billion. read more
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On 27 February 2013, the Slovenian Prime Minster Ivan Janez Janša was dismissed by the Parliament in a vote of no confidence. This followed the release of a report by Slovenia's anti-corruption agency, Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (CPC), which alleged that Janša and other high-ranking politicians had " systematically and repeatedly violated the law by failing to properly report their assets to the Commission". read more
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Tommy Hindratno, a former tax official in Sidoarjo, East Java, has been found guilty by the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court of engaging in tax refund fraud. Mr Hindratno received Rp 280 million ($28,840) in bribes from Bhakti Investama, an investment firm, via his father, in return for a Rp 3.4 billion tax restitution. read more
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A criminal court in Athens has found the former defence minister of Greece, Akis Tsochatzopoulos, guilty of failing to disclose assets on an income statement. He was sentenced on 4 March to serve an eight year jail term and fined €520,000. read more
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Officials from around Africa have held a meeting in Juba, Sudan, to establish an organization to fight widespread corruption on the continent. read more
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Om Prakash Chautala, ex-chief minister of the Indian state of Haryana and the son of former deputy prime minister Devi Lal, has been jailed for 10 years for his involvement in a fraudulent scam worth an estimated £18m ($28m). read more
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In a recent article (click here) for the Commonwealth Lawyers' Association, Edwards Wildman's Laurence Harris, James Maton and Jamie Humphreys discuss the firm's recent experience conducting a civil asset recovery programme on behalf of the Government of the Turks & Caicos Islands and identify the key characteristics of a good asset recovery programme. read more
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The elder brother of South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, Lee Sang-Deuk, has been sentenced to 2 years imprisonment on corruption charges. read more
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Following recent reports that the Supreme Court ordered the arrest of the Pakistani Prime Minister, Mr Raja Pervaiz Ashraf (see our previous blog http://www.anticorruptionlaw.com/blog.aspx?entry=4522) , it has been reported that Pakistan's anti-corruption chief, Mr Fasih Bokhari of the National Accountability Bureau, has refused to arrest Mr Ashraf. read more
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A former Austrian Minister and member of the European Parliament has been convicted of bribe taking and jailed for four years. Ernst Strasser is one of three MEPs to have been caught up in the 2011 'cash for laws' scandal, uncovered by journalists from the Sunday Times. read more
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A court in Cairo accepted the appeals of Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian former President, and his former Interior Minister, Habib al-Adly, on Sunday 13 January, ordering a retrial. read more
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Seoul: On 11 January 2013, Kim Hee-jung, a long-term aide to President Lee Myung-bak, was sentenced to a 15 month prison term. read more
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Argentina's former finance minister, Felisa Miceli, has been sentenced to four years in prison for corruption and barred from public office for eight years. Miceli was the country's first ever female finance minister. read more
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Angelina Sondakh was recently sentenced to four and a half years in jail and a fine of US$26,000 by the Corruption Crimes Court. Sondakh is the former deputy secretary-general of the ruling Democratic Party of Indonesia, and a former Miss Indonesia. read more
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An order for the arrest of Pakistan's Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf along with 15 others issued by the Supreme Court in Pakistan this week in relation to a corruption investigation, was widely reported in the world's press. read more
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The former Prime Minister of Croatia, Ivo Sanader has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for accepting bribes during his time in office from 2003-2009. read more
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According to Transparency International's (TI) current global corruption surveys and indices, Venezuela currently stands at number 165 out of 176 countries (number 176 being the most corrupt). read more
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The former intelligence chief of Jordan, Mohammed al-Dahabi, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for corruption in November 2012. The court in Amman fined him nearly $30m, and ordered him to return the $34m he was alleged to have laundered and embezzled during his time in office. read more
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Egypt's Court of Appeal has ordered that Egypt's ex-Prime Minster, Ahmed Shafiq, appear at a criminal court on financial corruption charges if he returns to the country. The case has been formally referred for trial and started on 2 December 2012. read more
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The Italian Senate has voted 228 to 33 in favour of passing a Bill which has as its focus the curtailment and punishment of corruption. Italian Prime Minister, Mario Monti, used a procedure whereby Parliament was asked to give a vote of confidence, which accelerated the Bill's passage through the upper chamber of Parliament. The Bill will now need to be approved by the Chamber of Deputies before it becomes law. read more
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Charges of corruption against the former President of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, have been dropped following a review by The Office of the Ombudsman. read more
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Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has recently agreed to write to the Swiss authorities to invite them to reopen a corruption case against President Asif Ali Zardari, following an order to do so from the Supreme Court of Pakistan. read more
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Ahmed Ezz, the former owner of Ezz Steel, with close links to the Mubarak regime was recently fined 20 billion Egyptian Pounds (£2bn) and jailed for seven years for money-laundering by the Egyptian courts. read more
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Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has received a one year suspended sentence and fine for his role in a corruption case which led to his resignation in 2008. read more
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On 5 September 2012, a Kenyan court found former home affairs permanent secretary, Sylvestor Mwaliko, guilty of abuse of office, fining him 3 million shillings (around $35,400). He will face a possible 3 year jail term if he fails to pay the fine. The conviction was the first in relation to the Anglo Leasing corruption scandal, whereby hundreds of millions of dollars were awarded by the government under state contracts to non-existent companies. Services supposedly offered by the companies ranged from naval ships and forensic laboratories – none of which ever materialised. read more
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An agreement has been reached between Slovenia and the Finnish arms maker, Patria, to end a €278 million deal for the supply of armoured vehicles. The deal has been at the centre of corruption investigations, which include charges against Slovenia's prime minister, Janez Jansa. read more
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Twenty-five European States have had their key public institutions assessed to determine how effective they are at preventing corruption. Transparency International's National Integrity System (NIS) has been used to carry out a detailed evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of not only the way institutions are organised, but also of the way they operate in practice. read more
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On June 28 2012 Egypt's former oil minister, Sameh Fahmy, was sentenced to a 15 year prison term for supplying oil at preferential rates to a number of countries including Israel. Ten other former Ministry officials have been convicted of related offences, receiving prison sentences of between three and ten years each. read more
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In the Czech Republic, a leading politician has been stripped of his parliamentary immunity by MPs, in one of the country's most high-profile corruption cases. read more
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Gamal and Alaa Mubarak, the two sons of former Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, face criminal charges of alleged stock market manipulation. The charges, reported by state television, include violating stock market and central bank rules to gain unlawful profit through dealings in shares in Al Watany Bank of Egypt, a listed bank. Others facing criminal charges include Yasser El Mallawany and Hassan Heikal, board members and joint chief executive officers of Egyptian investment bank, EFG-Hermes. read more
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John Maylam, potato buyer for Sainsbury's has admitted accepting bribes valued at £5m from potato producer Greenvale, including lavish hospitality and payments to foreign bank accounts between 2006 and 2008. read more
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On 17 April 2012, James Ibori was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment by a British court for money laundering offences. read more
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A report by Transparency International has analysed a range of critical societal institutions in Greece and assessed their ability to prevent corruption. read more
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Siemens has agreed to pay around €270 million in settlement of a claim relating to bribing Greek officials. read more
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After just three weeks in the job, Peter Cruddas was forced to resign as Conservative co-treasurer after the publication of secretly filmed footage, taken by undercover Sunday Times reporters, allegedly showing Mr Cruddas offering access to David Cameron and a friendly ear from the Tory policy board to high-end donors. read more
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Former Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has resigned from Fianna Fail following a 3,270 page report, which was published by the Mahon Tribunal on 22 March 2012. read more
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If South African President Jacob Zuma thought that allegations of corruption against him were in the past he received unpleasant news this week. read more
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On 14 February 2012, Romanian courts convicted Decebal Traian Remes and Ioan Avram Muresan, both former ministers of agriculture, of corruption and sentenced both to three years in prison. read more
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In the past few months, two high-profile Jordanians have been arrested on corruption charges. In December 2011, the former mayor of Amman, Omar Maani, was arrested for corruption. read more
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The governments of Japan, Italy and Switzerland have been criticised by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for not doing enough to fight bribery of foreign officials. read more
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We’d like to welcome you to our new firm, Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP. On August 15, the law firms of Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge and Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon announced they would officially merge on October 1 – and here we are! read more
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Global anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International ("TI") has called on the Czech government to abandon one of the biggest tenders in the country's history. read more
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The law of bribery in England and Wales is widely regarded as outdated and uncertain. The Government has been under significant international pressure to revise and simplify the law, in particular from the Working Group responsible for monitoring compliance with the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, to which the United Kingdom is signatory. read more
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A recent report released by the European Union Commission has recognised the progress made by Romania and Bulgaria against corrupt behaviour by officials. read more
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After Transparency International observed local elections in five towns in the Czech Republic last autumn, they were repeated following suspected manipulation. read more
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On 31 October, France's highest court, the Court of Cassation, cleared the way for a judicial inquiry into the assets of three African leaders, President Denis Sassou-Nguesso of Congo, President Teodoro Obiang Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea and the late President Omar Bongo Ondimba of Gabon. read more
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), an arm of the United States Department of Justice, made over 130 arrests in Puerto Rico for drug trafficking charges on October 6, 2010. read more
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In August 2010 the Zambian government's hopes of forcing former president Frederick Chiluba to repay over 40 million dollars in public funds stolen during his presidency were dashed when the Zambian high court threw out its application to have a 2007 civil court ruling obtained in London recognised by the Zambian court. read more
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Former Guatemalan President, Alfonso Portillo, has gone on trial on charges of embezzling millions of dollars in public funds between 2000 and 2004. read more
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Former Defence Minister, Ramadeluka Seretse, has been charged with corruption read more
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A corruption charge has been brought against a senior official in Malaysia's Sime Darby. read more
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The Anti-Corruption Court in Indonesia has convicted Judge Ibrahim of bribery and has sentenced him to a six year prison sentence. read more
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The former prime-minister of Niger, Seini Oumarou, and three former senior officials have been charged with embezzling public funds. read more
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Ficha Limpa, Brazil's Clean Criminal Records Bureau, is aiming to moralise politics by establishing more stringent ethical standards which prevents candidates with criminal records from running for office. read more
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Deputy Prime Minster, Sok An, has made public a list of 23 foreign firms involved in oil exploration in Cambodia, as well as information about how signature bonuses and other payments are handled by the Government. read more
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Transparency International, a global anti-corruption organisation, has stated that the laws relating to anti-corruption in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, must become stronger and be fully implemented, after carrying out reports in each country. read more
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It has been reported by RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq that Judge Abdel Rahim al-Ugaily, president of Iraq's Anticorruption Commission, has launched a 5 year plan to combat corruption in the country. read more
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According to reports by the BBC, the head of Sierra Leone's Anti-Corruption Commission, Abdul Tejan-Cole, has resigned. read more
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A local rights group in Malaysia, Suram, has stated that it has filed complaints with French prosecutors alleging that the shipbuilder, DCNS, paid kickbacks to a friend of Malaysia's prime minister to aid a US$1.2 billion submarine deal. read more
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The Chairman of Nigeria's governing party, Vincent Ogbulafor, has been accused of fraudulently awarding $1.5m in federal funds when he was a government minister under President Olusegun Obasanjo. read more
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The former French Interior Minister and ally of Jacques Chirac, Charles Pasqua, has been given a one-year suspended sentence over charges of corruption while in office between 1993 and 1995. read more
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A recent cabinet reshuffle in Kosovo by the Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has failed to appease EU complaints about corruption. read more
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President Medvedev has approved new plans developed to tackle corruption in Russia. Novel methods include a 'multiplier-fine' for bribe-takers, based on the size of the bribe. It is believed that such a move would be easier to enforce by law than the confiscation of property. read more
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Bulgaria is regarded as one of, if not the most, corrupt state in the European Union. Previous governments have promised action to tackle this problem but in reality very little has been done, especially by way of criminal convictions. The European Union has in the past withdrawn development assistance for fear that the funds will be subjected to corrupt activities and not used for the means for which they were given. read more
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New reports on the implementation of the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption have been adopted in respect of Venezuela, Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia and Trinidad and Tobago by a committee of anti-corruption experts of the Organization of American States (OAS) (for more information about the OAS, see below). read more
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The Hong Kong-based company Political & Economic Risk Consultancy has released the results of its 2010 survey on Asian corruption. read more
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Having been ranked among the world's 18 most corrupt countries by Transparency International in its 2009 corruption survey, Angola's President, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, appeared to be determined to address the problem calling for a "zero tolerance" policy against corruption. read more
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Nigeria's anti-graft police and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have charged Adullahi Adamu, the former state governor of Nasarawa, with embezzlement of approximately $100 million of government funds. read more
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On 23 February 2010, prior to the opening of the so-called "Two Conferences" (a duo of events held every year in March, the National People's Congress and the Chinese Political Consultative Conference respectively), the Chinese Communist Party (the CCP) issued a new Code of Ethics in an attempt to address the growing corruption problem, stabilise the Chinese society and restore faith in its business community. The last set of anti-corruption rules was implemented on a trial basis in 1997. read more
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The Serious Fraud Office has charged four people with offences of corruption and/or money laundering in relation to the provision and maintenance of Ministry of Defence buildings and equipment in Northern Ireland. read more
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It was recently reported ( The Guardian, 14 February 2010) that the scale of corruption within the British police force is on the rise. This has prompted the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) to assess the scale and magnitude of police corruption amid fears that officers are more susceptible to criminal advances. read more
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On December 11, 2009, the British government announced that it is withholding a Sh1.2 billion grant to the Kenyan government, citing the failure of Kenyan ministries of Finance and Education to account for Sh100 million previously disbursed. Those funds were budgeted for constructing new classrooms and buying textbooks for poor students in poverty-stricken regions. Alistair Fernie, head of the Department for International Development stated, "Unless we see action, mainly arrests and prosecution of those involved in this scam, we will not disburse any more funds." read more
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