Politics & Diplomacy Jun 19, 2013

Montreal mayor held in graft probe

The mayor of Canada’s second-largest city was arrested Monday, along with two former city councilors, and faces fraud and corruption charges linked to alleged mafia extortion. Montreal Mayor Michael Applebaum was picked up by police at his home in the early morning hours and ...

World Jun 15, 2013

Cameron faces G-8 battle over anti-corruption plan

by Jamie Doward

British Prime Minister David Cameron’s hopes of securing at the G-8 summit next week a major anti-corruption agreement that would force companies to reveal who really owns them is hanging by a thread, amid fierce opposition from both the Russian and Canadian governments, as ...

Crime Jun 15, 2013

Argentine ex-President Menem given seven years for arms smuggling

Former President Carlos Menem on Thursday was sentenced to seven years in prison for organizing contraband arms shipments to Croatia and Ecuador during his tenure. Menem, 82, who currently serves as a senator, is due to begin serving his sentence immediately, the president of ...

Crime Jun 11, 2013

China ex-rail boss admits guilt, seeks mercy

The man who once ran China’s powerful Railways Ministry wept as he admitted his guilt and sought leniency Sunday at his trial on corruption charges, one of the country’s highest-level graft cases in years. Liu Zhijun, 60, who oversaw the ministry’s high-profile development of ...

Asia Pacific Jun 11, 2013

In business, Pakistan's government bleeds dry

With every flight, Pakistan’s state-owned airline demonstrates the economic challenges facing the country’s new government. Each time a plane belonging to Pakistan International Airlines takes off, odds are the aircraft is more than 25 years old and not in the best of shape. It ...

Politics & Diplomacy Jun 6, 2013

Urban shift aided PM but brought corruption

by Peter Beaumont

The protests triggered in Turkey by plans to redevelop a park into a shopping mall at first seem an unlikely cause for public anger. In reality, the demonstrations over Taksim Square’s Gezi Park go to the very heart of Turkey’s modern discontents. Why it ...

World Jun 1, 2013

Massive corruption at Sochi Olympics alleged

Russian officials and businessmen have stolen billions of dollars during the years of preparations for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, a prominent Russian opposition figure claimed Thursday. Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister who has become a critic of the Kremlin, and ...

Business May 30, 2013

Politics, bribery allegations cloud Uganda's grand oil exploration plans

Even before the first drops flow, Uganda’s oil sector is beset by bribery allegations against officials, tax-related cases abroad that cost the government millions in legal fees, and the alleged interference of a president whose firm control of the sector worries transparency campaigners. Uganda, ...

World May 26, 2013

'Ruby' in Berlusconi case denies own statements

The woman whom prosecutors allege had sex in exchange for money with Silvio Berlusconi while he was Italy’s prime minister spent her second day on the witness stand Friday, denying her former sworn descriptions of racy escapades at his “bunga bunga” parties and of ...

World May 26, 2013

Guatemala extradites ex-president to U.S.

Guatemala extradited former President Alfonso Portillo to the United States on Friday to face charges of laundering $70 million of swindled government funds through U.S. banks. Portillo, president from 2000 to 2004, thus becomes the first former Latin American leader ever to be extradited ...

World May 21, 2013

Aide to Canadian prime minister resigns over expenses scandal

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s chief of staff stepped down Sunday over an expenses scandal that also has forced the resignation of a conservative senator. Nigel Wright announced his resignation following revelations that he gave a $90,000 gift to a senator to help repay improper ...