Showing posts with label Political Corruption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Political Corruption. Show all posts
24 October 2011
Building Integrity and Reducing Corruption in Defence and Security: 20 Practical Reforms
This is the second edition of the TI Defence and Security Programme's Handbook, Building Integrity and Reducing Corruption in Defence and Security: 20 Practical Reforms. This Handbook has a simple purpose: to show busy decision makers how significant progress can be made in tackling corruption risks in defence and security. In it, we recommend ways to diagnose corruption risks and how to lead change in defence and security establishments. We discuss military operations, the procurement process, and budgets and assets, and show how nations are tackling corruption risks in each of these. This edition of the handbook came about in response to the positive reaction to the first edition, and draws upon lessons we have learned in the past three years of our work. People from some 35 nations have contributed to the ideas and approaches described here.
29 September 2011
Preventing misuse of public funds by criminal organisations
Public funds should be made fully traceable to prevent mafia-style organisations from misusing them, says a resolution approved by the Civil Liberties Committee on Thursday. MEPs also call for a special EP committee to investigate infiltration of the public sector and the legal economy by organised crime.
Organised crime, especially Mafia-style crime, takes advantage of globalisation, the abolition of borders in the EU and differences among EU Member States' laws to make substantial profits and go unpunished. This is possible because criminal organisations have created a support network and consolidated infiltrations into the political world, the civil service and the legal economy, says the resolution.
Organised crime, especially Mafia-style crime, takes advantage of globalisation, the abolition of borders in the EU and differences among EU Member States' laws to make substantial profits and go unpunished. This is possible because criminal organisations have created a support network and consolidated infiltrations into the political world, the civil service and the legal economy, says the resolution.
08 July 2011
The Bokov Affair: Russian high ranking police official detained, faces $46 mln embezzlement charges
The head of the CIS anti-organized crime bureau, Lt.Gen. Alexander Bokov, has been detained in Moscow on embezzlement charges, spokesman for the Russian Investigative Committee Vladimir Markin said on Wednesday.
Bokov, whose 2009 registered annual income was one million rubles (about $33,000), has been accused of stealing $46 million.
The official is suspected of extorting $46 million in 2005 from a Russian businessman for assistance in buying a majority stake in a transport company, Markin said.
"The businessman handed at least $4.5 million to Bokov's accomplices in 2006, but Bokov didn't make any moves on the deal," the spokesman said.
Bokov, whose 2009 registered annual income was one million rubles (about $33,000), has been accused of stealing $46 million.
The official is suspected of extorting $46 million in 2005 from a Russian businessman for assistance in buying a majority stake in a transport company, Markin said.
"The businessman handed at least $4.5 million to Bokov's accomplices in 2006, but Bokov didn't make any moves on the deal," the spokesman said.
04 July 2007
Political Corruption in Poland
Please have a look at this paper http://www.forschungsstelle-osteuropa.de/con/images/stories/pdf/ap/fsoAP65.pdf
and tell us something more about this issue in Eastern European Countries
and tell us something more about this issue in Eastern European Countries
Political Corruption: an Introduction to the Issues
Please find an interesting paper on the following link http://www.cmi.no/publications/1999/wp/wp1999-7.pdf
Emails expose sordid tale of political corruption
To understand the nature of the Abramoff scandal that rocked Washington in 2006, it is especially helpful to look at the email files that US Senate Indian Affairs Committee have put on the Internet. These emails reveal a sordid, day-by-day account in Abramoff's own words documenting how he maneuvered government officials and others in Washington to transfer millions of dollars in fraudulent fees from his clients into the coffers of the political establishment in Washington.
Auditors attack EU spending again
From 2006: European Union auditors have drawn attention to irregularities in EU spending for the 12th year running, in their report on the 2005 budget. The auditors declared the accounts reliable overall, but criticised the spending of funds on the ground, particularly aid for poorer regions.
Firms accused of bribing Saddam to be investigated by fraud office·
The Guardian February 14, 2007
The Serious Fraud Office has launched an investigation into allegations that a number of major UK-based firms paid bribes to Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. The firms being targeted include the drug giants GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly. The international oil traders and UK bridge-builders Mabey and Johnson are also to be investigated.
They are on a long list of international companies accused in a UN report of paying kickbacks under the discredited oil-for-food sanctions regime, which enabled Saddam to illicitly amass an estimated $1.8bn. Ministers have agreed to fund the investigation with £22m over three years.
The Serious Fraud Office has launched an investigation into allegations that a number of major UK-based firms paid bribes to Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. The firms being targeted include the drug giants GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly. The international oil traders and UK bridge-builders Mabey and Johnson are also to be investigated.
They are on a long list of international companies accused in a UN report of paying kickbacks under the discredited oil-for-food sanctions regime, which enabled Saddam to illicitly amass an estimated $1.8bn. Ministers have agreed to fund the investigation with £22m over three years.
Papers and Articles on State Failure
Beck et al. 2001Beck, Nathaniel; Epstein, David; Jackman, Simon; O'Halloran, Sharyn (2001): Alternative Models of Dynamics in Binary Time-Series-Cross-Section Models: The example of state failure. Paper presented at the 2001 Annual Meeting of the Society for Political Methodology, Emory University, 18-22 July 2001.
Hesselbein; Golloba-Mutebi; Putzel 2006Hesselbein, Gabi; Golooba-Mutebi, Frederick; Putzel, James (2006): Economic and Political Foundations of State-Making in Africa: Understanding state reconstruction. London: Crisis States Working Paper No. 3, Series No. 2.
Korteweg; Ehrhardt 2006Korteweg, Rem; Ehrhardt, David (2006): Terrorist Black Holes: A study into terrorist sanctuaries and governmental weakness. Den Haag: Clingendael Centre for Strategic Studies
World Bank Independent Evaluation Group 2006World Bank Independent Evaluation Group (2006): Engaging with Fragile States: An IEG review of World Bank support to low-income countries under stress. Washington D.C.: The World Bank Group.
Hesselbein; Golloba-Mutebi; Putzel 2006Hesselbein, Gabi; Golooba-Mutebi, Frederick; Putzel, James (2006): Economic and Political Foundations of State-Making in Africa: Understanding state reconstruction. London: Crisis States Working Paper No. 3, Series No. 2.
Korteweg; Ehrhardt 2006Korteweg, Rem; Ehrhardt, David (2006): Terrorist Black Holes: A study into terrorist sanctuaries and governmental weakness. Den Haag: Clingendael Centre for Strategic Studies
World Bank Independent Evaluation Group 2006World Bank Independent Evaluation Group (2006): Engaging with Fragile States: An IEG review of World Bank support to low-income countries under stress. Washington D.C.: The World Bank Group.
21 May 2007
Bibliography on political corruption
Dear All,
I would like to invite those of you who are interested in case studies on political corruption to read my working paper on corruption in Albania, published within the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Working Papers Series.
You can easily download it in a PDF format here.
I would be glad to have your comments as well as your general suggestions on this issue.
I would like to invite those of you who are interested in case studies on political corruption to read my working paper on corruption in Albania, published within the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Working Papers Series.
You can easily download it in a PDF format here.
I would be glad to have your comments as well as your general suggestions on this issue.
17 May 2007
Political Corruption: a general outline
ECPR Standing Group on Organised Crime Blog
Research line on Political Corruption
Only in the last few years has corruption been analysed as a political phenomenon. Mostly newspapers and the media deal with scandals and bribery stories. The common definition of corruption deals with the use of public resources to gain private benefits; it is, however, a more complex issue which originates from several contexts and frameworks, implies numerous tools and indices, causes multidimensional consequences. Placed on a vertical line, it could start from a basic acceptance of bribery by a civil servant for obtaining a better and more rapid service (petty corruption), going through the subtraction of State money and the transformation of the institutions into personal feuds, by involving key State sectors (medium scale corruption), escalating into a larger connections which engage directly the most important State representatives (grand corruption). It is true that the diversity of actors and interests, which are involved, necessarily produce a wide range of consequences and effects; nevertheless, the main outcome remains the withdrawal of the public authority in front of illegal behaviour. This phenomenon seems to affect every country in the international system, even the more developed and efficient democracies. It reaches, however, its highest level/form in countries undergoing transition and/or in those countries in which weak institutions and immature political elites are not able to plan adequate policies. This leads to the development of what Ethan Nadelmann defines as “institutionalized corruption” (Nadelmann, 1993) and which affects such contexts like the Balkans. The Corruption Index, made every year by Transparency International, aims to measure the level of corrupt practices and behaviours, following some rigid indices, like the amount of bribes as well as the number of prosecutions.
At the same time, the increasing interest in corruption is also due to the rising use organised crime groups are making of it. In 1996, UN Commission on Crime Prevention stated:
Organized criminal groups have demonstrated their preference towards ‘systemic’ corruption designed to ensure the preservation of a congenial and low-risk home base or a comfortable environment in the host countries. Such a method of operation may be characterized by widespread use of bribery and favours to ensure the malleability of key positions and agencies; political funding to ensure that politicians elected to office will be indebted to the criminal organizations; carefully targeted ‘payoffs’ to law enforcement personnel to provide intelligence; and the provision of financial incentives to members of the judiciary to ensure that the penalties for criminal activities are either not imposed or are modest. These links between the underworld and the ‘upper world’ have a corrosive effect on governance [1].
Corruption – mostly on a political and institutional level – is the required condition to successfully manage illegal traffics and to avoid official controls. Thus, it is becoming a broader dimension which any organised crime group should take into account.
This research line had been launched with the hope of increasing academic interest in this issue and, at the same time, to push scholars and practitioners to reflect more on its global effects.
It aims to collect as much bibliographical resources as possible, as well as short articles and papers dealing theoretical framework and/or case studies.
Our suggestion is to continue to implement research on well-known areas, like the Balkans but also to focus on some “unexplored” ones, like Central Asia or Caucasus.
It is clear that no restriction is scheduled and that every comment and intervention will be considered useful to the general discussion and to help develop an innovative analysis on the issue.
[1] Report no. E/CN.15/1996/2 april 4th, 1996, Commission on crime prevention and criminal justice in Review of priority themes, Implementation of the Naples political declaration and global action plan against organized transnational crime, par. F, ‘Linkages between the licit and the illicit and the problem of corruption’, p. 8.
Research line on Political Corruption
Only in the last few years has corruption been analysed as a political phenomenon. Mostly newspapers and the media deal with scandals and bribery stories. The common definition of corruption deals with the use of public resources to gain private benefits; it is, however, a more complex issue which originates from several contexts and frameworks, implies numerous tools and indices, causes multidimensional consequences. Placed on a vertical line, it could start from a basic acceptance of bribery by a civil servant for obtaining a better and more rapid service (petty corruption), going through the subtraction of State money and the transformation of the institutions into personal feuds, by involving key State sectors (medium scale corruption), escalating into a larger connections which engage directly the most important State representatives (grand corruption). It is true that the diversity of actors and interests, which are involved, necessarily produce a wide range of consequences and effects; nevertheless, the main outcome remains the withdrawal of the public authority in front of illegal behaviour. This phenomenon seems to affect every country in the international system, even the more developed and efficient democracies. It reaches, however, its highest level/form in countries undergoing transition and/or in those countries in which weak institutions and immature political elites are not able to plan adequate policies. This leads to the development of what Ethan Nadelmann defines as “institutionalized corruption” (Nadelmann, 1993) and which affects such contexts like the Balkans. The Corruption Index, made every year by Transparency International, aims to measure the level of corrupt practices and behaviours, following some rigid indices, like the amount of bribes as well as the number of prosecutions.
At the same time, the increasing interest in corruption is also due to the rising use organised crime groups are making of it. In 1996, UN Commission on Crime Prevention stated:
Organized criminal groups have demonstrated their preference towards ‘systemic’ corruption designed to ensure the preservation of a congenial and low-risk home base or a comfortable environment in the host countries. Such a method of operation may be characterized by widespread use of bribery and favours to ensure the malleability of key positions and agencies; political funding to ensure that politicians elected to office will be indebted to the criminal organizations; carefully targeted ‘payoffs’ to law enforcement personnel to provide intelligence; and the provision of financial incentives to members of the judiciary to ensure that the penalties for criminal activities are either not imposed or are modest. These links between the underworld and the ‘upper world’ have a corrosive effect on governance [1].
Corruption – mostly on a political and institutional level – is the required condition to successfully manage illegal traffics and to avoid official controls. Thus, it is becoming a broader dimension which any organised crime group should take into account.
This research line had been launched with the hope of increasing academic interest in this issue and, at the same time, to push scholars and practitioners to reflect more on its global effects.
It aims to collect as much bibliographical resources as possible, as well as short articles and papers dealing theoretical framework and/or case studies.
Our suggestion is to continue to implement research on well-known areas, like the Balkans but also to focus on some “unexplored” ones, like Central Asia or Caucasus.
It is clear that no restriction is scheduled and that every comment and intervention will be considered useful to the general discussion and to help develop an innovative analysis on the issue.
[1] Report no. E/CN.15/1996/2 april 4th, 1996, Commission on crime prevention and criminal justice in Review of priority themes, Implementation of the Naples political declaration and global action plan against organized transnational crime, par. F, ‘Linkages between the licit and the illicit and the problem of corruption’, p. 8.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
