(March 14, 2005) If the ill-gotten gains of the corrupt elite went into, say, mobile-phone companies at home, it wouldn’t be so bad. But the funds always go overseas.
Crack-down on foreign bribery underway in major exporting countries
(March 10, 2005) Fifteen OECD countries making “promising start” in enforcing anti-bribery laws.
Waste, fraud and war
(February 17, 2005) The picture that emerges from multiple, overlapping inquiries into the world’s management of Iraq’s people and oil wealth since 1991 is appalling.
Senator alleges oil-for-food ‘bribe’
(February 15, 2005) Benon Sevan faces U.N. disciplinary charges, but has denied wrongdoing.
Profligacy, corruption and debt
(February 10, 2005) Debt is not the only, nor the most debilitating, disease that afflicts most of the poor and not-so-poor nations of the Third World.
Iraq demands justice in wake of oil-for-food report
(February 4, 2005) Anyone who stole from the UN’s oil-for-food program for Iraq must stand trial and the money be repaid to the Iraqi people, Iraq’s Human Rights Minister said.
UN programme chief ‘solicited oil from Baghdad’
(February 3, 2005) Benon Sevan, head of the United Nations office that administered Iraq’s multi-billion dollar oil-for-food programme, "repeatedly solicited" oil allocations from Baghdad, a UN-appointed inquiry said yesterday.
The IMF’s ‘Guide on Resource Transparency’
(February 1, 2005) While PWYP welcomes the guide, its recommendations are non-binding and implementation is voluntary. How the IMF will prompt governments to adhere to the guide “Code of Good Practices on Fiscal Transparency” is also unclear.
Riggs Bank fined for not reporting suspect accounts
(January 27, 2005) Riggs Bank pleaded guilty to failing to report suspicious financial transactions, including more than $10 million deposited by former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. The judge said a $16 million fine agreed to by prosecutors may not be enough.
Oil/food probe to ask more of Annan
(January 26, 2005) Investigators probing charges of impropriety in the UN oil-for-food program have questioned Secretary-General Kofi Annan about his involvement and will do so again, a UN spokesman has said.
Corner House double victory
(Jan. 25, 2005) On UK government department’s anti-bribery rules and public interest litigation.
Spotlight on Kofi
(January 19, 2005) US federal prosecutors made public this week their first conviction in the United Nations Oil-for-Food program.
Rice vows to pursue oil-for-food scandal
(January 18, 2005) The U.N. oil-for-food program for Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was scandalously mismanaged and will be reviewed as an important item in President Bush’s second term, Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday.
UN oil-for-food blame is shared
(January 14, 2005) The United Nations’ failings and need for reform are clear, but its accusers are part of the system they condemn.
Annan accountable for oil-for-food programme: US
(January 13, 2005) The Bush administration, which earlier backed Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the UN oil-for-food scandal, on Tuesday demanded he be held accountable for mismanagement in the programme.