Corruption Archives

ECONOMY-US: Activists Target Corporate Chiefs' Tax Subsidies

U.S. taxpayers shell out 20 billion dollars a year to pad business chiefs' earnings and to prop up the world's most lopsided corporate pay scales, say activists seeking to highlight inequality in this election year.

The state-owned OMC has welfare programmes for tribals around its mines. Credit: Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC)

INDIA: Mining Boom Affecting Tribals, Environment

By Keya Acharya

While India has been steadily attracting foreign investment into its booming mining sector, the fact that the best prospects lie in tribal-dominated and heavily forested areas is cause for concern.

EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Human Rights Drowning in Oil

By Mario de Queiroz

The oil interests of Angola, Brazil and Portugal could pave the way for former Spanish colony Equatorial Guinea to become the ninth member of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) two years from now, despite the country’s poor human rights record.

BULGARIA: Small Farmers Strike for Survival

By Claudia Ciobanu

Thousands of Bulgarian milk and meat producers have been protesting for more than a week in various regions around the country, warning the government that life for small farmers has become impossible in Bulgaria.

EL SALVADOR: Hard-Line Policies Vs Rule of Law

By IPS Correspondents

Increasingly tough "zero tolerance" laws have been the government’s response to the growing wave of crime in El Salvador, one of the most violent countries in the world. But judges and experts say the strategy is undermining the state of law.

THAILAND: Former Thai PM Jumps Bail, Surfaces in London

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is on the run from the law. So, too, is his wife, Pojaman. They have fled to London rather than face a corruption trial in this country’s Supreme Court.

ECONOMY-PERU: Easier to Extract Minerals than Accounting Information

By Milagros Salazar

Sixty-six percent of the Peruvian state’s revenue from the extractive industries does not appear on government accounts. Parliament is taking a hand in the matter amid pressure from oil, gas and mining companies for the government to flout an international agreement on transparency.

Permatang Pauh gears up for a by-election that may prove to be a watershed for Malaysian politics. Credit: Anil Netto/IPS

MALAYSIA: Anwar's Popularity Undimmed by Sodomy Charges

By IPS Correspondents

It was a humid, sweltering afternoon here in Permatang Pauh on mainland Penang state in northern Malaysia, the scene of what could prove to be a pivotal by-election for the country on Aug. 26.

MALAYSIA: Immigration Racket Turns Workers Into Commodities

By Baradan Kuppusamy

Like thousands of migrant workers Mir Hussein Wahab, 29, from Lahore, Pakistan, is a victim of a new phenomenon called ‘jual-beli’, a local Malay term that describes a human trafficking racket that rakes in millions for international syndicates.

PERU: Secret Arms Deals – An Invitation to Corruption?

By Ángel Páez

The Peruvian government will devote at least 514 million dollars this year to modernising and upgrading its military equipment, a figure surpassed only by the Alberto Fujimori regime in the 1990s, when arms buying was the main wellspring of corruption.

TRADE-AFRICA: ‘‘Exports Are the Best Way to Develop’’

By Stephanie Nieuwoudt

Lack of export orientation in the past has caused economic failures in African countries, which is why these countries should focus on exports to build industries.

POLITICS-BANGLADESH: Truth Commission Flawed Say Critics

By IPS Correspondents

As President Iajuddin Ahmed’s newly formed Truth and Accountability Commission became functional this week, it ran into criticism from experts as conceptually flawed.

Accra's bustling central business district Credit: Francis Kokutse/IPS

GHANA: ‘‘You Have to Speak Up When Competition Destroys You’’

By Francis Kokutse

Business has been slow for many Ghanaian traders. They blame the situation on not only the influx of cheap Chinese products but also insufficient legal protection and corruption.

THAILAND: Thaksin's Wife Gets Jail Term For Tax Fraud

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

The law finally caught up with the Shinawatras, Thailand’s most powerful political family. A court has convicted Pojaman Shinawatra, wife of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, of tax fraud and sentenced her to three years in jail.

CAMBODIA: Polls Were Fair – EU Observers

By IPS Correspondents

An attempt by Cambodia’s four main opposition parties to reject the result of national elections, in which the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) was returned in a landslide, has met with little support from local and international organisations monitoring the poll.