Category: Odious Debts

Former premier protected money from president, says banker

(March 25, 2004) In a landmark money-laundering trial in a U.S. court, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko stands accused of using U.S. banks to launder at least $114 million in money stolen from the Ukraine. Lazarenko insists the proceeds were earned legally and that he is being persecuted for having mounted a political challenge to Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma ahead of a 1999 election.

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.