(December 13, 2002) An anti-corruption group, TRACE (Transparent Agents and Contracting Entities) has unveiled a set of guidelines that it says will help reduce corrupt practices by transnational corporations and their agents in the developing world.
Letter from Africa: Corruption in Congo
(December 12, 2002) The Congolese city of Kisangani is a lawless and desperate place. Civil and international conflict has left it with no effective government. Scoundrels now prowl along the streets, seeking illicit diamonds pilfered from nearby mines.
Audit finds graft in 47 projects
(December 13, 2002) The Office of the Auditor-General has asked graft fighters to investigate 47 corruption-plagued government and state enterprise projects which had cost the country about 60 billion baht in damage.
PRESS RELEASE Lesotho Court suspends bribery fine for Canadian multinational
(December 12, 2002) Lesotho’s Court of Appeal suspends payment on the landmark US$2.25-million fine levied against Canadian engineering giant, Acres International.
Lesotho court suspends bribery fine
(December 11, 2002) An appeals court in Lesotho has suspended a $2.2m (£1.4m) fine against the Canadian engineering firm at the heart of an alleged bribery scandal.
The long march against graft
(December 10, 2002) Of all the challenges facing China’s new and largely untested leadership, none is more critical to the survival of the Communist party than containing rampant official corruption. Minxin Pei.
‘Free Iraqis’ meet in Washington to discuss reconstruction
(December 10, 2002) The participants agreed that Iraq’s debts are of two types: civilian debts […] and military debts. […] Military debts should be renegotiated because they were incurred by a government that was not representative of the population.
Lesotho corruption trial: Sole’s applications dismissed
(December 18, 2002) The Lesotho High Court dismisses three applications brought by the former head of the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority challenging his conviction for multi-million rand bribery and fraud.
Cleaning up has been far from easy
(December 6, 2002) When the Thai economy collapsed in 1997, many business leaders and their urban middle class employees believed that politicians had failed them.
Thailand doubts it will be ready for Lao energy in 2006
(December 6, 2002) Thailand has admitted it may not have the transmission lines in place by 2006 to handle a negotiated power export from Laos.
Three Gorges engineer hails critics of the dam
The chief engineer of the Three Gorges Corporation has heaped praise on opponents of the world’s biggest dam, calling their "different voices and views" an invaluable contribution to the success of the project.
A light for Laos out of poverty: Nam Theun 2
(December 5, 2002) But the hydroelectric dam will only go ahead if Thailand buys its power and the World Bank guarantees international investors for their foray.
Powerful new corporation plans more Yangtze megadams
(December 5, 2002) China’s newest power giant, created with much fanfare in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People in September, aims to finance not only the completion of the Three Gorges project on the Yangtze River but also the construction of many more huge dams upstream, a respected Chinese publication reports.
European [Investment] Bank dilutes transparency
(December 5, 2002) The European Investment Bank, the development funding arm of the EU, is likely to find its new transparency rules do not satisfy social and environmental campaigners.
MoI plans 200-MW hydro-electric plant in Quang Nam
(December 2, 2002) The Ministry of Industry (MoI) is seeking government approval to build the 200-MW Dak My 4 hydroelectric plant near the Dak My River in Vietnamese central Quang Nam province, at a cost of VND3,500 billion
($229 million). The time to kick off construction was not announced.


