Category: Corruption

Violent Albanian criminal group linked to corruption disrupted via SKY ECC analysis

Corruption
On 25 November, Albanian authorities, with the support of Europol, took enforcement actions against 21 individuals, including a former judge, a lawyer a police officer, and two investigative journalists as part of a corruption investigation linked to a high-risk criminal organisation. Over the course of the investigation, an arrest was made in Milan, Italy, thanks to swift operational coordination among the countries involved.The operation, supported by Europol, was launched after the analysis of encrypted communications from the SKY ECC communication platform revealed extensive evidence of corrupt practices, including organised and serious crimes. The suspects are alleged to have played key…

Ukrainian MP’s Family Linked to $1M Dubai Real Estate Amid War

Corruption
Family of Ukrainian MP purchased over $1 million in Dubai real estate as Russia’s invasion intensified, raising questions over funding sources and alleged ties to inflated military contracts. The family of Hennadiy Kasai, a Ukrainian parliament member from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party, secretly acquired over $1 million in Dubai real estate during Russia’s full-scale invasion, the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) Ukrainian service revealed Tuesday in its investigation. Documents from United Arab Emirates public registers, obtained by Schemes, an investigative project from RFE/RL Ukrainian service, and verified with OCCRP, show that Kasai’s daughter and nephew purchased…

Commission presents a new study on areas most at risk of corruption

Bribery, Corruption
No area is free from corruption, but certain areas may present higher risks than others. These are areas that involve management of significant public funds or access to critical services, such as health care. On 4 November 2024, the Commission published its study, High-risk areas of corruption in EU Member States: a mapping and in-depth analysis, which was contracted in 2023 to identify areas most at risk of corruption and provide an in-depth analysis of the nature of and reasons behind these risks. Six EU-wide sectors emerged as high-risk areas of corruption where the Commission will be prioritising actions: healthcare,…

UK Conservative Party Advisor Lobbied for Firm Founded by Russian Oligarchs

Corruption
The man who served as chief of staff under former British Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss has been lobbying for a company part-owned by two sanctioned Russian oligarchs. Romania’s Logging Industry Continues to Cheat the Timber Tracing SystemSix months after the fraud was exposed and Romanian authorities promised to stop it, wood processing companies continue to cheat Europe’s most sophisticated timber tracing system, allowing illegally harvested wood to enter the legal market. EU Parliament Calls for Sanctions on Georgia and its LeadersThe European Parliament voted in favor of a resolution calling for the EU to stop funding the country of…

Combatting corruption: Council adopts position on EU law

Corruption
In order to step up efforts in the fight against corruption, the Council today agreed its position on an EU law that sets minimum standards for the definition and sanctioning of corruption offences, preventive measures and rules for more effective investigation and prosecution. The law’s main novelty is that, for the first time at EU level, it brings together in one legal act rules on corruption in the public and private sectors. Paul Van Tigchelt, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice and the North Sea Corruption corrodes trust in the public sector, harms the economy and damages the…

Moldova Arrests Officials For Helping Criminals Bypass Interpol Red Notices

Bribery, Corruption
Moldova detained Tuesday four allegedly corrupt officials tied to an international conspiracy that has allowed criminals to escape Red Notice arrest warrants issued by Interpol. The officials are believed to have accepted bribes totalling several million U.S. dollars in exchange for offering criminals safe harbor in Moldova from Red Notices issued in their names, or for deleting the arrest warrants altogether. Moldova’s Anti-corruption Prosecution Office ordered raids on 33 locations to seek out and detain the suspects, as part of a multilateral investigation that includes federal authorities across the U.K., the U.S., France, and Spain. The conspiracy was revealed by the U.S.…

Fiji’s former Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama jailed for a year

Bribery, Corruption, Prosecutions
Frank Bainimarama, who was Fiji’s prime minister for some 15 years until losing power in 2022, has been jailed for a year after he was found guilty of using his position to shut down a corruption investigation into a prominent university. Once armed forces chief, Bainimarama seized power in a 2006 coup and later won democratic elections in 2014 and 2018. The 70-year-old narrowly lost the December 2022 election to a coalition of parties led by the current prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, but remains a popular figure. Outside the court in Suva on Thursday, a crowd of supporters gathered ahead…

Bribery Rocks Russian Defense Ministry, Senior Officials Detained

Bribery, Corruption
Russian authorities detained a senior Defense Ministry official, alleging his involvement in a large-scale bribery scheme exceeding 100 million Russian rubles (just over US$1 million), the Russian Investigative Committee stated Tuesday on its Telegram channel.The Main Investigation Department of the Committee (Следственный комитет Российской Федерации – SLEDKOM) said it has opened “a criminal case against the head of the personnel department of the Defense Ministry, Yury Kuznetsov.”“The investigation reveals that between 2021 and 2023, while serving as the head of the 8th Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Kuznetsov allegedly accepted bribes from representatives of commercial…

Ukraine’s agriculture minister suspected of corrupt land grab

Corruption
Ukraine’s agriculture minister has been made a suspect in a corruption probe. Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky pledged on Tuesday his full cooperation with Kyiv’s anticorruption agency as it investigates the illegal acquisition of state-owned land. The case is the first against a minister under President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The post of agriculture minister is particularly sensitive given Kyiv’s efforts to maintain its massive grain exports – a vital economic pillar – in the face of Russia’s invasion. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) said it had uncovered a scheme led by a current minister to illegally acquire state-owned land worth…

UK Government to tackle global financial corruption 

Bribery, Corruption
UK Government to work with international community to tackle illicit flows of money through increased transparency of company ownership.  UK Deputy Foreign Secretary and Minister for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell will announce a call to action on this issue during the World Bank Spring Meetings.  He will also announce a £2 million funding contribution to tackle corruption in support of the call to action.   Today (Tuesday 16 April), the UK Government will announce a global call to action for greater transparency on company ownership to tackle global illicit flows of money. Transparency about who owns, controls, or benefits from companies is…

US Sanctions Zimbabwe President for Corruption and Torture Against His People

Corruption, Sanctions
Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Monday for corruption and severe human rights abuses, which include members of his administration facilitating acts of kidnapping and torture. In addition to Mnangagwa, the U.S. blacklisted 10 members of his government and their spouses under the the Global Magnitsky Program for corrupt practices to the detriment of their citizen’s human rights and well-being. The new measures replace an older set of sanctions against the Southern African state, which the Biden administration felt were too harmful to the Zimbabwe economy. “The United States remains…

Bribery, fraud and anti-money laundering | UK Regulatory Outlook February 2024

Bribery, Corruption, Regulation
The Environment Agency has established a new Economic Crime Unit to combat money laundering and conduct financial investigations in the waste sector, made up of accredited financial investigators and financial intelligence officers and financial crime analysts. The unit comprises two teams: the Asset Denial Team, focusing on account freezing orders, cash seizures, pre-charge restraints and confiscations; and the Money Laundering Investigations team, responsible for conducting money laundering investigations targeting environmental offences. Businesses within the waste sector should ensure they are adhering to proper financial practices and reporting any suspicious activities. It is crucial that should the Economic Crime Unit launch…

UN to investigate claims of corruption in Iraq aid project

Corruption
The UN Development Programme (UNDP) is dispatching a team to Iraq to assess allegations of corruption in its $1.5bn (£1.2bn) construction programme following a Guardian investigation. According to an internal document obtained by the Guardian, the UNDP’s administrator, Achim Steiner, has “commissioned a management review and assessment of the allegations” after revelations its staff were allegedly taking kickbacks in return for helping business people obtain lucrative construction contracts. The six-page document, sent to donors on 25 January, aimed to reassure western capitals that the UNDP could hold itself to account through internal oversight mechanisms. At a subsequent meeting, several donors…

Ex-boss of China’s state-run bank Everbright arrested on corruption charges

Corruption, Prosecutions
The former head of China’s state-owned banking giant Everbright Group has been arrested for alleged corruption, prosecutors have said. Tang Shuangning, 69, was arrested on suspicion of taking bribes and embezzlement following the conclusion of an investigation by the anticorruption authority, China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate said on Monday. Tang was earlier this month expelled from the ruling Communist Party for alleged violations of party discipline, including bringing unauthorised books into the country and accepting illicit gifts. The former bank chairman is the latest in a long line of high-profile figures within China’s financial sector to be ensnared in President Xi…

Bribery and Corruption : An unholy cocktail of outsider and insider threats

Bribery, Corruption
This is the fifth in a series of articles analysing the top 10 serious and organised crime threats to the UK and how they have evolved over a decade. This article traces the journey of and response to the threat of bribery and corruption – a threat that the UK remains far too complacent about. Bribery and corruption can no longer comfortably be seen as something that only happens overseas or is confined to the underworld of organised crime. It permeates all levels of society, poses a genuine risk to national security, exacerbates illegal migration, eats into the public purse,…

Ladbrokes and Coral owner to pay £585m to settle HMRC bribery inquiry

Bribery, Corruption
The owner of Ladbrokes and Coral has agreed to pay almost £600m to settle an investigation into alleged bribery at a business it owned in Turkey. Entain said it had reached an agreement with HM Revenue and Customs which will make the gambling giant pay a total of £585m in the form of a financial penalty and a “disgorgement of profits”. Under the terms of the agreement, the penalty, which includes an extra £20m charitable donation and a contribution of £10m towards the costs incurred by HMRC and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), will be paid in instalments over four…

Lawmakers call for EU crackdown after ICIJ’s Cyprus Confidential revelations

Corruption
European Union lawmakers have criticized Cyprus for its lax enforcement of sanctions against Russia and called for loopholes in anti-money laundering systems to be closed in the wake of revelations from the Cyprus Confidential investigation. During a European Parliament session in the French city of Strasbourg, the officials also debated over the need to speed up ongoing negotiations to better coordinate criminal penalties for sanction evasion across the bloc. The parliamentary session was called in direct response to the latest investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, in partnership with Paper Trail Media and 67 media outlets. The project,…

British Reinsurance Brokers Resolve Bribery Investigations

Bribery, Corruption
Tysers Insurance Brokers Limited (Tysers) and H.W. Wood Limited (H.W. Wood), two U.K.-based reinsurance brokers, have agreed to resolve investigations by the Justice Department into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) arising from Tysers’ and H.W. Wood’s participation in a corrupt scheme to pay bribes to Ecuadorian government officials. Tysers and H.W. Wood each entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the department in connection with a criminal information filed in the Southern District of Florida charging both companies with conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA. “Tysers and H.W. Wood have admitted to…

France demands EU corruption-busting watchdog with teeth

Corruption
France wants the European Union to create an independent watchdog authority to fight corruption in the EU institutions, which have been rattled by ongoing scandals in recent months. France’s President Emmanuel Macron and French Secretary of State for European Affairs Laurence Boone are proposing an independent anti-corruption body that would have powers to check officials’ income and spot conflicts of interest, Boone told POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook. And now they’re pushing for other EU countries to endorse the plan. Earlier this year, the European Commission proposed the creation of an ethics body with lofty goals but no enforcement power to impose…

Portugal’s corruption scandal spells trouble for EU’s critical minerals hunt

Corruption
BRUSSELS — The European Union’s hunt for raw materials is running into new roadblocks — at home and abroad. Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa’s recent resignation over a corruption probe in connection with lithium mining concessions in the north of the country has just dealt another blow to Brussels’ ambitions to diversify its supply of raw materials needed for green and digital technologies. Currently, the EU relies on imports to satisfy its rapidly growing hunger for lithium, a key ingredient in the batteries that power electric vehicles, with China accounting for 60 percent of global battery cell production. Brussels is…

Ukraine unveils corruption probes into reconstruction schemes

Corruption
KYIV, Nov 21 (Reuters) – Ukrainian authorities on Tuesday announced investigations into two lawmakers on suspicion of involvement in attempts to bribe top reconstruction officials, part of a closely watched campaign to stamp out high-level corruption. Kyiv has stepped up efforts to fight graft as it pursues membership of the European Union and prepares to receive billions of dollars in Western aid to rebuild from Russia’s ongoing full-scale invasion. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) said it had caught one of the lawmakers, a member of parliament’s anti-corruption committee, allegedly offering the country’s first-ever documented bribe in bitcoin. Investigators…

U.S. Company Pays Hundreds of Millions After Alleged Bribery in Asia

Bribery, Corruption, Regulatory Fines
American chemical manufacturer Albemarle Corporation has agreed to pay more than $218 million to settle allegations of bribing officials at state oil refineries in three Asian countries, the U.S. Justice Department announced Friday. The North Carolina company admitted to using “third-party sales agents” and foreign employees to bribe officials to win contracts with state refineries in India, Indonesia and Vietnam, the department said. The department said Albemarle received nearly $100 million in profits from the corrupt scheme. Under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the United States, it is illegal to bribe any foreign official in exchange for obtaining or…

Indonesia’s Former Agriculture Minister Named in Corruption Probe

Corruption
An Indonesian former government minister has been named as a suspect in a corruption probe and accused of pocketing more than US$800,000 of public money, a week after resigning from his post. Syahrul Yasin Limpo, who until recently led the agriculture ministry, is the sixth minister investigated over corruption since President Joko Widodo took office in 2014. Graft remains rampant in the massive archipelago nation, where politicians are widely seen as among the most corrupt. Limpo regularly took “illegal levies from civil servants at the agricultural ministry to pay for his and his core family’s personal needs”, Johanis Tanak, deputy…

Albania’s Former PM Sali Berisha Faces Corruption Charges Over Land Privatisation Scandal

Corruption, Money Laundering, Prosecutions
Sali Berisha and his son-in-law face corruption charges related to the alleged misuse of political influence, and Berisha is barred from leaving the country.Albania’s former prime minister Sali Berisha says that prosecutors have charged him with corruption and money laundering in connection with a land deal involving a Tirana property.Berisha, 79, said the prosecutor’s office in charge of cases against senior officials or major cases, ordered him not to leave the country. Berisha also said his son-in-law, 50-year-old Jamarber Malltezi, was arrested on the same charges at Tirana International Airport. Berisha said both he and Malltezi are innocent.“On these charges…

Brazil must make urgent key reforms to build on its recent progress in the fight against foreign bribery

Bribery, Corruption
9/10/2023 – Brazil has sanctioned large-scale foreign bribery schemes through non-trial resolutions with three legal persons, including as part of one of the most prominent multi-jurisdictional resolutions to date involving foreign bribery allegations. While the Working Group commends Brazil for this success, nevertheless Brazil has only a limited number of enforcement proceedings still ongoing. No natural person has yet received a final conviction for bribery of a foreign public official. The 45-country Working Group has just completed its Phase 4 evaluation of Brazil’s implementation of the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and related…

Missed Red Flags: leak exposes Swiss Asset Management Firms work for clients accused of Fraud and Corruption

Corruption, Fraud
A data leak from Finaport, an asset manager based in Zurich, shows the firm worked with clients that included politically exposed persons, two Russians accused of embezzling funds from a bank they owned, and a businessman accused of insurance fraud. Key FindingsA data leak in 2022 from Finaport shows that this asset management company provided services to clients who were embroiled in legal scandals at the time.A Finaport client withdrew more than $500 million from an account at a Russian bank that later collapsed.Another client established bank accounts under an alternative identity and moved money into it despite concerns raised…

Zelenskyy’s Corruption Crackdown Plan Raises Cover-up Fears

Corruption
KYIV — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s move to equate wartime corruption with treason is triggering a backlash from officials and watchdogs, who warn the plan could hobble Ukraine’s main anti-graft forces. Two senior officials following the proposal, who were granted anonymity to speak candidly, say concerns are growing within Ukraine’s anti-graft agencies that Zelenskyy’s plan will take top corruption cases away from their oversight and pass them to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), which falls under the president’s command. The SBU could, potentially, have the power to bury corruption cases involving top officials. The move, the officials say, could put…

Europe’s Massive Money Laundering and Corruption Problem; Crime Gangs Exploit Fintech, vIBANs and DeFi

Corruption, Money Laundering
HE GROWING sophistication of money laundering by organised crime in the EU is exposed in a Europol report today (Monday) – which also highlights the bloc’s increasing public and private sector corruption problem. All new forms of financial services, including fintech, DeFi and vIBANs – as well as Artificial Intelligence – are increasingly being exploited by criminal networks to launder drugs money and commit fraud, says the economic crime report. Starkly, the report also find that more than 60% of the crime gangs operating in the EU use corruptive methods to achieve their illicit objectives. It finds almost 70% of…

China Insurance Boss Jailed for Life in Corruption Crackdown

Corruption, Prosecutions
The former chairman of China Life Insurance, Wang Bin, has become the latest high-profile boss to be imprisoned as Beijing’s crackdown on the financial industry continues.Mr Wang was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, according to a court ruling seen by the BBC. After two years, the sentence will be commuted to life in prison without parole, the ruling says. In April, authorities warned that the crackdown was far from over. A court in Jinan in eastern China’s Shandong province found Mr Wang guilty of taking 325 million yuan ($44.6m; £35.7m) in bribes.Mr Wang, who was the firm’s Communist…

Pakistan: Imran Khan barred from politics for five years

Bribery, Corruption
The former prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, has been barred from holding public office for five years by the country’s electoral authorities. The decision was announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan three days after Mr Khan was sentenced to three years in prison for corruption. Tuesday’s announcement also means Mr Khan will be dismissed as an MP. He maintains the charges are politically motivated, but the Pakistani government denies this. Marriyum Aurangzeb, Pakistan’s minister of information and broadcasting, told the BBC before the announcement: “You have to be accountable for your deeds in law. This has nothing to…

3M Agrees to Pay Over $6.5 Million to Settle Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Charges

Bribery, Corruption, Prosecutions
n a move to resolve allegations of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that 3M will pay more than $6.5 million. The charges stem from violations of the books and records as well as internal controls provisions of the FCPA. The SEC’s order outlines that employees of a 3M wholly owned subsidiary located in China were involved in orchestrating arrangements for Chinese government officials, who were employed by state-owned health care facilities, to attend conferences, educational events, and health care facility visits overseas. These arrangements were purportedly a part of the…

Ladbrokes owner sets aside £585m to settle HMRC bribery inquiry

Bribery, Corruption
The owner of Ladbrokes and Coral bookmakers has said it is close to “drawing a line” under a scandal at one of its former Turkish business, as it sets aside £585m to settle an investigation over alleged bribery. Entain has put aside the cash in anticipation of a settlement with UK authorities, who entered negotiations over a deferred prosecution agreement with the international betting and gaming group this year. Entain said on Thursday that negotiations with the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had “progressed to a point where the company believes it is likely to be able to agree a…

Sri Lanka Passes Anti-Corruption Bill as Part of IMF Bailout Plan

Corruption, Legislation
Sri Lanka’s Parliament has approved an anti-corruption bill, aimed at improving governance in the crisis-hit country and meeting requirements linked to a $2.9bn bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The legislation was passed on Wednesday without a vote in the 225-member house. “The bill is passed with amendments,” Sri Lanka Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena told lawmakers after more than two dozen pages of amendments were included in the draft legislation during the morning session. Sri Lanka’s economy nosedived into the worst financial crisis in more than 70 years after a severe foreign exchange crunch last year forced the…

Labour Will Back Global Anti-Corruption Court

Bribery, Corruption
Labour will restore the UK’s tarnished global reputation by backing a global anti-corruption court and by reinstating a requirement to follow international law in the ministerial code, the shadow foreign secretary will say in a speech on Monday. David Lammy says the measures will restore the country’s reputation for keeping its word, as well as going some way to undo the damage caused by Conservative party scandals in recent years. In a speech to the Bingham Centre, he will say international law is “the connective tissue which binds us to other nations”, but has been treated with a cavalier disrespect…

SFO seizes Sheffield flat linked to £17 million bribery in China

Bribery, Corruption, Uncategorized
Today at the High Court, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) successfully recovered a property worth £200,000 and over £8,000 in rental profits from Dr Guang Jiang, an agent who helped British technology company Sarclad Ltd to pay bribes to secure business in China. The SFO’s 2013 investigation into Sarclad exposed how the company paid bribes to secure £17 million worth of contracts to provide technology services to steel production companies between 2004 and 2012. The majority of these corrupt contracts were facilitated by Dr Jiang, who acted as Sarclad’s agent in China. The company paid £6.5 million in penalties for…

Brazilian Former President Collor Sentenced for Corruption

Corruption, Prosecutions
Brazil’s top court sentenced Brazilian former President Fernando Collor de Mello to eight years and ten months in prison for “passive corruption and money laundering” linked to the Brazilian fuel retailer during his time as senator. The country’s Supreme Court found that Collor received the equivalent of over US$4 million in bribes to secure contracts for the construction company UTC Engenharia with BR Distribuidora, the country’s largest fuel distributor.Collor attempted to conceal part of his illicit gains by registering luxury cars under the names of shell companies. Brazilian investigators discovered at least five high-end vehicles, including models like Ferrari 458…

‘Disgraceful breach of trust’: how PwC, one of the world’s biggest accountancy firms, became mired in a tax scandal

Corruption
PricewaterhouseCoopers used government secrets to help clients in Australia and the US avoid tax – a scandal that has forced resignations and threatens contracts worth hundreds of millions In the depths of winter 2015, an Australian tax specialist adopted the language of a spy. “For your eyes only,” he wrote, while emailing government secrets to colleagues who would later use them to help clients and make millions of dollars. Nearly eight years later, that email and dozens more like it have engulfed PwC in a scandal that has forced resignations, possible criminal and corruption investigations, invited furious rebuke and accusations…

Publication of the ABC Guidance

Bribery, Corruption, Law, Regulation & Guidance, Wolfsberg
Today the Wolfsberg Group is publishing its updated Anti-Bribery and Corruption Compliance Programme Guidance. This document updates the 2017 version and it is designed to promote a culture of ethical business practices and compliance with ABC legal and regulatory requirements. The Guidance is a risk-based approach for the adequate development and implementation of compliance programmes to prevent, detect, and report acts of Bribery and Corruption and identifies areas of elevated risk. While no ABC compliance programme can prevent or protect against Bribery and Corruption risks completely, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution, this guidance can help the industry mitigate Bribery…

Venezuela Cracks Down on Corruption at State-Owned Petroleum Company

Corruption
Venezuela’s chief prosecutor has said that his office has requested the police to search 142 locations nationwide and arrest 67 people in an anti-corruption operation that is targeting businessmen and officials at the state-owned petroleum company, PDVSA. The suspects are believed to have run parallel oil operations. Attorney General Tarek William Saab tweeted these numbers on Sunday, making it clear that more arrests should be expected after authorities apprehended 51 individuals last week. According to investigators, the suspects used their positions to carry out illegal parallel oil operations where crude oil was sold to individuals and companies, but the payments…

More than 1000 artifacts in Metropolitan Museum of Art catalog linked to alleged looting and trafficking figures

Corruption
In the village of Bungmati, Nepal, above an ancient spring, stand two stone shrines and a temple. One of those shrines has a large hole where a statue of Shreedhar Vishnu, the Hindu protector god, used to be. Carved by master artisans nearly a thousand years ago, the sandstone god was flanked by the Hindu goddess Laxmi and the winged demigod Garuda and is considered a protective figure. For many years members of the local community carefully tended and worshipped the idol. “When women started their labor pain, our elders used to come to put mustard oil on the statue…