(November 6, 2009) A recent article by scientists in the U.S. provides further evidence that the Zipingpu dam’s reservoir may have triggered the devastating May 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China. The Wenchuan earthquake killed nearly 90,000 people and unleashed a chorus of speculation that the Zipingpu reservoir may have contributed to the severity of the earthquake, or helped to trigger it.
Acknowledgements
(March 18, 2009) Friends and colleagues have been exceptionally generous in helping me finish this book. Margaret Barber deserves special thanks for her painstaking research, and for her good cheer throughout. I am also especially grateful to Susan Fitzmaurice for her artistic judgement and for her commitment to the complicated task of producing this book. Both made an otherwise stressful job a joy.
U.S. expert echoes Chinese concerns about dam-induced earthquakes
(June 5, 2008) U.S. engineer Dr. Philip Williams has added his voice to concerns expressed by a Chinese expert that the Zipingpu reservoir, now cracked and damaged as a result of China’s devastating May 12 earthquake, could actually have induced the earthquake.
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.
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.
PRESS RELEASE Mekong hydro consultants convicted of bribery in Africa
(September 18, 2002) A major Canadian engineering firm that has worked on hydro projects and resettlement planning in Asia’s six-country Mekong region has been convicted by the Lesotho High Court on two counts of bribery.
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.
June 2002 Campaign Letter
Cracks in the dam, first discovered in 1999, have multiplied and grown. Some now extend from the top to the bottom, putting millions at risk.
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.
Patricia Adams
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
Probe International
Lisa Peryman
Probe Media
Other News Sources
Probe International 