Ukraine’s national news agency, Ukrinform, asked Probe International’s Patricia Adams to weigh in on Ukraine’s multibillion-dollar debt to Russia and whether Ukraine could challenge the enforceability of the US$3 billion Eurobond using an odious debts argument.
(February 18, 2014) As Catalonia’s secession movement gains new momentum, Albert Pont, the leader of a Catalan pro-independence business lobby, recently called out part of the national debt owed by the government of Spain — estimated at 962 billion euros in 2013, its highest level in a century — as “odious debt.” In the event of separation from Spain, Pont said that while an independent Catalonia — currently a province widely known as “the factory of Spain” and as the country’s wealthiest region — would be willing to “assume part of [the Spanish] debt; obviously, a proportionate one…. there are shares of the debt that we are not responsible for.”
(June 30, 2008) The presumption that one is not guilty until the court decides so is violated in many cases. If methods of the new government are the same as the old one’s, then what was the meaning of the revolution?”
(October 28, 2007) Sir John Bourn, chief investigator of Britain’s public spending body, the National Audit Office, has himself come under public scrutiny for allegations of lavish spending, paid for by the public purse.
(February 12, 2007) British Prime Minister Tony Blair released a much anticipated Commission for Africa report which called on the developed world to help Africa curb corruption by cleaning up its own act (The Guardian). The report signalled a new and hopeful direction for the Blair administration’s advance on the scourge of global graft. Blair talked about changing U.K. banking laws to speed up the return of public funds pocketed by corrupt African leaders. His government also issued new anti-corruption rules aimed at cracking down on kickbacks paid by U.K. exporters to win contracts overseas; href=”http://www.ft.com”Financial Times”
(February 7, 2007) Companies need the incentive of prosecution, fines and reputational risk to tackle bribery more effectively. The abandoning of a probe into BAE Systems’ dealings in Saudi Arabia shows a lack of will to deal with these issues, says Alexandra Wrage.
(January 15, 2007) International charities, churches and NGOs petition Prime Minister Blair to reopen a corruption probe into a controversial arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
(June 19, 2006) Norway has reportedly established a $20,000 fund for the World Bank to undertake a study of odious and illegitimate debt.
(February 10, 2006) Norway plays a key role in efforts to cancel odious debt," says Christian Aid’s Jonathan Glennie. The government and opposition are both open to supporting poor countries repudiate their debt.
(December 7, 2005) G-7 will receive more than it will provide to poor countries in a decade.
(November 2, 2005) Norway’s new coalition government has signalled its intention to support the cancellation of illegitimate debt owed by the world’s poorest countries and the establishment of an international court to hear matters concerning illegitimate debt claims.
(November 15, 2004) Russia’s macroeconomic performance in recent years now allows it to begin repaying its debt early.
(April 16, 2004) Russian President Vladimir Putin, re-elected last month on an anti-graft agenda, has given state officials a hefty pay rise aimed at ensuring them a decent income without having to resort to bribery.
(March 12, 2004) A report by Interfax claims 56 percent of Russians think that bribery and corruption are among the biggest problems in the country. A large majority, 82 percent, think that Russia will not be able to eradicate corruption in the foreseeable future.
(January 15, 2004) Vladimir Putin has appointed Mikhail Kasyanov to head the Kremlin’s new Anti-Corruption Council. Remarkably, Kasyanov also holds the post of the chairman of the Russian government.
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