(April 15, 2004) Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker is United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s choice to investigate allegations of corruption in the UN-administered oil-for-food program in Iraq, UN envoys said.
World Bank statement on Lesotho Court of Appeals ruling
(April 13, 2004) The World Bank’s sanctions committee will re-examine evidence relating to Lahmeyer International after the Lesotho Court of Appeals upheld the firm’s bribery conviction.
German firm faces possible blacklisting
(April 13, 2004) World Bank ponders sanctions against Lahmeyer in Lesotho corruption case.
Full of promises, light on delivery
(April 12, 2004) A striking feature of the 2004 election manifestoes is the similarity between political parties’ promises while they are collectively silent on some major issues.
Suing tyranny?
(April 10, 2004) Human-rights activists take to U.S. courts to call to account some of the worst foreign abusers. That may sound good in theory, but the high court will have to consider whether it’s right to let lawyers conduct foreign policy by lawsuit.
Anti-corruption crusade, a charade
(April 8, 2004) While government has put some people on trial over corruption charges, the real big men and women with proven cases of corruption still walk the Nigerian streets enjoying their freedom and their loots.
New law to tackle SA firms abroad
(April 1, 2004) The South African government plans to enact legislation that will make it possible to prosecute South African companies accused of corruption in foreign countries.
DNA linked plaintiffs to African slaves who suffered atrocities
(March 30, 2004) Descendants of slaves filed a $1 billion lawsuit Monday against U.S. and British corporations, accusing them of profiting by committing genocide against their ancestors. Lawyers for the eight plaintiffs said the complaint was the first slave reparations lawsuit to use DNA to link the plaintiffs to Africans who suffered atrocities during the slave trade.
Cynicism is corruption’s bedmate
(March 29, 2004) The Canadian engineering company convicted of bribing the former chief executive of the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority, seems to be intent on wriggling out of paying a R13 million fine imposed on it for its crimes in the mountain kingdom.
Why needs may not succeed, World Bank
(March 24, 2004) This month, the World Bank formally reopened a corruption investigation against a leading Canadian engineering company convicted in the high court of Lesotho over multibillion-dollar bribery charges.
Canadians pledge new investment
(March 23, 2004) A Canadian trade delegation has pledged to get more investors for Kenya. Members of the delegation said the country had made improvements in the investment climate.
Activists prod World Bank on Canadian corruption case
(March 23, 2004) "This is a monumental case for the future of corruption in international development projects, especially World Bank projects" and a "moment of truth" for the World Bank, said Patricia Adams of Canadian group Probe International.
Crooked company snubs Lesotho
(March 21, 2004) Acres International has snubbed the impoverished kingdom of Lesotho by not paying a R13 million fine after being convicted of corruption and bribery.
Western firms face bribery blacklist
(March 19, 2004) If Acres is debarred, it will send a powerful signal to the world’s big construction companies, which rely heavily on the World Bank and other international financial institutions for support.
Aid can’t develop Africans
(March 18, 2004) Western governments should accept that the debt owed by all African and developing world countries is odious and should be written off immediately for everybody, not just favorite strong men rulers who they hope will act or are acting as their foremen in Africa,’ writes Abdul-Raheem Tahudeen for the Ugandan newspaper New Vision. Furthermore, said Tahudeen, aid does not and cannot develop any society.


