(September 27, 2008) Patricia Adams speech, Furman University, Department of Economics,
“The Odious Debt Doctrine and Iraq After Saddam.”
Inter-American Development Bank debt relief a smoke screen
(December 12, 2006) A move last month by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) to write off US$2.1-billion in debt owed to it by five Latin American countries helps the Bank bail itself out and bury its mistakes under a cloak of magnanimity, says odious debts expert, Patricia Adams.
Germany and Japan block new anti-bribery guidelines for export credit agencies
(February 24, 2006) Anti-bribery watchdog Probe International calls OECD guidelines "paper tiger" anyway.
International law supports Iraqi debt challenge
(February 11, 2005) Saddam Hussein used money western countries lent him mainly to arm himself, oppress his people, and build opulent palaces. So should his victims have to pay it back without knowing who lent the money and what the money financed?
Commentary by Patricia Adams on Iraq’s odious debts
(October 1, 2004) "What better way to demonstrate the power of democracy and the rule of law than to establish a precedent telling filthy financiers everywhere their money isn’t safe when they finance tyrants against their people."
Landmark decision will lead to other debarments: analyst
(July 23, 2004)Canadian-based foreign aid watchdog Probe International welcomed the World Bank’s decision today to blacklist Canadian engineering company Acres International from receiving World Bank contracts for the next three years and predicts the Bank’s blacklisting of Acres will lead to more debarments of other companies convicted in the Lesotho corruption trials.
Africa is not in flames
(November 17, 2003) While Bono’s oratory may be splendid, his analysis sells Africa short . . . As Africans know too well, the more that their governments have received foreign aid, the more poverty has grown.
Cancel Iraq’s odious debts first, donors conference told
(October 22, 2003) Debt relief groups have urged Iraq’s debtors to adhere to a 100-year-old legal principle to resolve Iraq’s debt crisis and assist reconstruction efforts when they meet tomorrow in Madrid.
Canadian multinational fined US$2.25 million for bribing African official
(October 28, 2002) Lesotho High Court has fined Acres International US$2.25 million (22,580,091 maloti) for bribing the former head of a multibillion-dollar dam project to secure contracts.
Canadian engineering multinational convicted of bribery in Africa
(September 17, 2002 ) In a landmark decision that has sweeping implications for Third World development, engineering multinational Acres International has been convicted in Lesotho of bribing a foreign official to secure contracts on a multibillion dollar dam scheme.
The Canadian connection
(June 27, 2002) A corruption trial in Lesotho should be forcing Canadian agencies to re-examine their relationships with firms that engage in bribery. Instead, the indifference it is being greeted with indicates little has changed.
The Doctrine of Odious Debts: Using the Law to Cancel Illegitimate Debts
(June 21, 2002) Patricia Adams’ speech from her 12-city speaking tour of Germany in June 2002, at the invitation of the German Jubilee Network.
The concept of odious debt and its relevance to Indonesia
(February 23, 2001) For creditors to expect any protection for their loans to foreign states, their loans must be utilized for the needs and interests of the state; otherwise the loans belonged to the power which contracted them, and were therefore, debts of the regime.
Foreign aid corruption case puts Canada on trial
(August 20, 1999) ‘Corruption has to be tackled head on,’ declared Diane Marleau, Canada’s minister for foreign aid this spring, two months after Canada adopted the OECD’s anti-corruption convention by making bribery of foreign public officials a criminal offence. But on the eve of the world’s first foreign aid-related corruption court case — one involving Canadian engineering giant Acres International — the government agencies concerned mostly appear to be abdicating responsibility.
The debts of corruption
(May 10, 1999) A global movement is asking Western nations to forgive ‘odious’ debt extended to despotic regimes. The cause has merit, but opposition is building.


