Page 6 - Corruption

Former Bank of China chairman sentenced to death on corruption charges

The former chairman of the Bank of China, Liu Liange, was on Tuesday sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for corruption and illegal issuance of loans. He was found to have accepted bribes worth over 121 million yuan (USD 16.8 million), a court in Jinan city in China's eastern Shandong Province said in its verdict. Liu was deprived of political rights for life, all of his personal property will be confiscated, and all his illegal gains must be recovered and turned over to the state treasury, the court sentence read, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The court found that Liu had taken advantage of his various positions at the Export-Import Bank of China and Bank of China, respectively, to assist others in matters such as loan financing, project cooperation and personnel arrangements -- while illegally accepting bribes in return. Moreover, he was found to have knowingly facilitated the issuance of loans totalling more than 3.32 billion yuan to unqualified companies in ...

Imran Khan arrested in protest case hours after bail in corruption case

The chances for the release of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan vanished after he was arrested in a protest case hours after getting bail in a case of alleged corruption, a media report said on Thursday. The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday granted him bail in the second Toshakhana case related to the purchase of an expensive Bulgari jewellery set at a throwaway price, igniting hopes of his release. However, hours later, Rawalpindi police arrested him late at night in connection with a case registered at New Town Police Station on terrorism and other charges. The police alleged that Khan, while imprisoned in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, had called for a protest in Rawalpindi on September 28. Dawn newspaper quoted a police spokesperson as saying that Khan had been detained in the case filed on September 28 and a team has been tasked to probe the charges. The charges include violations of the Anti-Terrorism Act, defying the government ban on public gatherings, obstructin

Karnataka Lokayukta conducts multiple raids in connection with 4 cases

Around 25 places belonging to officers were raided and records were checked by the Karnataka Lokayukta

ED launches new raids against 'lottery king' Santiago for money laundering

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday conducted fresh searches against Chennai-based 'lottery king' Santiago Martin, the single biggest donor to political parties with over Rs 1,300 crore in electoral bonds, as part of a money laundering investigation, official sources said. The action comes after the Madras High Court recently allowed the ED to proceed against Martin as the Tamil Nadu Police had decided to close the predicate or primary FIR against him and a few others and a lower court accepted this police plea. Sources said multiple premises linked to Martin were being searched on Thursday in Chennai and some other places. The federal agency last year attached assets worth about Rs 457 crore in a case against Martin linked to an alleged loss of over Rs 900 crore to the Sikkim government by fraudulent sale of the state lottery in Kerala. Future Gaming Solutions India Pvt. Ltd. is the master distributor of Sikkim lotteries and the ED has been investigating Martin, known as the .

Protesters blame rampant corruption for roof crash that killed 14 in Serbia

Anti-government protesters in Serbia on Monday demanded arrests and the resignations of top officials over the deadly collapse of a concrete roof at a railway station that killed 14 people in a northern city this month. The rally in Belgrade blamed the collapse on rampant corruption and sloppy renovation work on the station building in Novi Sad part of a wider deal with Chinese state companies involved in a number of infrastructure projects in the Balkan country. Borislav Novakovic, a former mayor of Novi Sad, accused the ruling populists of filling their bloody pockets while filling cemeteries in Serbia." The state was "responsible for the crime that took 14 lives, he added. The crowd chanted jail in response. The several thousand protesters demanded that Prime Minister Milos Vucevic and his government step down and that those responsible for the collapse be arrested. Authorities have opened an investigation and Serbia's construction minister submitted his resignation last week,

Corruption prevented Soren from using Rs 4.4 trn central funds: BJP

Attacking the Hemant Soren government in Jharkhand, the BJP on Saturday alleged that the JMM-led coalition has failed to properly utilise central funds to the tune of over Rs 4.4 lakh crore over the last decade, with the amount being equivalent to funding 737 Chandrayaan missions or the cost of 4,510 Vande Bharat trains. The saffron party accused the state government of failing to effectively utilise over Rs 2.5 lakh crore allocated by the central government over the past five years due to mismanagement and corruption. "Despite receiving significant support from the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre which allocated over Rs 4.4 lakh crore since 2014 -- equivalent to funding nearly 737 Chandrayaan missions or the cost of 4,510 Vande Bharat trains -- the Soren government failed to utilise it properly," party leader Gourav Vallabh alleged. Addressing reporters here, Vallabh alleged that the Jharkhand government was neck-deep in corruption and neglected its citizens despite the

Singapore hides repression, corruption, says son of its ex-PM Lee Kuan Yew

Singapore has become much more repressive, and corruption in the Asian financial hub has worsened in the decade since the death of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, according to his youngest son who fled to Britain to seek asylum from what he described as a campaign of persecution to silence him. Lee Hsien Yang, who has been granted political refugee status in the UK, told The Associated Press that Singaporean authorities have weaponised the country's laws against critics and that he is just the most prominent example of a growing number of Singaporeans fleeing abroad to seek protection from their own government. Lee cited a tightening of laws on security and rights of assembly and a sharp increase in the number of asylum-seekers from the city-state over the past decade under the rule of his estranged brother, Lee Hsien Loong, who was prime minister until he stepped down earlier this year. Singapore has this veneer that purports to be a sort of affluent, democratic, free country.

Malaysian court orders ex-PM Najib to enter defence in his 2nd graft trial

Malaysia's High Court on Wednesday ordered imprisoned former Prime Minister Najib Razak to enter a defense in his second corruption trial over the multibillion-dollar looting of the 1MDB state investment fund. Najib set up the 1Malaysia Development Berhad state fund shortly after taking power in 2009 to promote economic development, but the fund amassed billions in debt. Investigators allege more than USD 4.5 billion was stolen from the fund and laundered by his associates to finance Hollywood films and extravagant purchases. The prosecution established its case on four charges of abuse of power to obtain over USD 700 million from the fund that went into Najib's bank accounts between 2011 and 2014, and 21 counts of money laundering involving the same amount, trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah said Wednesday. He said evidence showed Najib had a vested interest in 1MDB, and his pivotal role in all relevant transactions that eventually plunged the fund into debt. Testimony by witness

Jailed Malaysia former PM Najib apologises for mishandling of 1MDB scandal

1MDB, a sovereign wealth fund co-founded by Najib in 2009 while he was premier, has faced corruption probes over the alleged misappropriation of over $4.5 billion by high-level officials

Peru's ex-President Toledo gets over 20 yrs in prison for corruption case

Peru's former President Alejandro Toledo on Monday was sentenced to 20 years and six months in prison in a case involving Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, which became synonymous with corruption across Latin America, where it paid millions of dollars in bribes to government officials and others. Authorities accused Toledo of accepting $35 million in bribes from Odebrecht in exchange for allowing a highway to be built in the South American country. The National Superior Court of Specialized Criminal Justice in the capital, Lima, imposed the sentence after years of legal wrangling, including a dispute over whether Toledo, who governed Peru from 2001 to 2006, could be extradited from the United States. Odebrecht, which built some of Latin America's most crucial infrastructure projects, admitted to US authorities in 2016 to having bought government contracts throughout the region with generous bribes. The investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice spun probes in several ...

CBI chargesheets Karti Chidambaram, others in Chinese visa corruption case

The CBI has filed a charge sheet against Congress MP Karti Chidambaram and others in connection with alleged bribery in facilitating visas of Chinese nationals for a power company in 2011 when his father P Chidambaram was the Union home minister, officials said on Thursday. In its charge sheet submitted before a special court here, the CBI has named Karti Chidambaram, the Lok Sabha MP from Sivaganga, his alleged close associate S Bhaskararaman, company Talawandi Sabo Power Ltd (TSPL), a subsidiary of Vedanta and Mumbai-based Bell Tools, through which bribes were allegedly routed, they said. The agency has invoked charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, and forgery under the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, they said. Other charge-sheeted accused include Viral Mehta, Anup Agarwal, Mansoor Siddiqui and Chetan Shrivastava, they said. The CBI has filed the charge sheet after two years of probe into its FIR registered in 2022 where it had alleged t

Ex-Singapore Minister Iswaran accepts charges, begins 12-month jail term

S Iswaran has was accused of accepting gift worth $306,000 from Malaysian billionaire Ong Beng Seng and businessman David Lum

Delhi polls: Kejriwal attacks BJP, says will campaign for PM Modi if

Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal quipped that one engine of the BJP's double-engine government failed after the Lok Sabha elections, while the other is failing during assembly elections

Japan's new PM expresses regret for governing party's slush fund scandal

New Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba opened his first policy speech in office Friday by expressing deep regrets over the governing party's slush funds scandal that dogged his predecessor. Ishiba replaced Fumio Kishida on Tuesday with the paramount mission of quickly pacifying public anger over financial misconduct in the Liberal Democratic Party and regaining support ahead of an Oct 27 parliamentary election. I will achieve politics that is not for politicians but for the people, Ishiba said, pledging to provide sincere explanations and ensure that lawmakers abide by the rules. He set five policy pillars to uphold, including security, economy and disaster resilience. Ishiba said he will bolster Japan's military capability to defend itself from threats from China, Russia and North Korea under the framework of the Japan-US security alliance. He did not mention two goals he advocated before taking office making the Japan-US security alliance more equitable and establishing a .

MUDA case: Complainant appears before ED to give evidence, produce records

Social activist Snehamayi Krishna, one of the complainants in the alleged MUDA 'scam' case, appeared before the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) here on Thursday to give evidence and produce records in connection with the investigation initiated by the federal agency, sources said. The ED on September 30 registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), equivalent to an FIR by police, against the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over the alleged irregularities in allotment of 14 sites to his wife Parvathi B M by the MUDA (Mysuru Urban Development Authority). The ED, which had taken cognisance of the FIR registered against the Chief Minister by the Lokayukta police on September 27, had summoned the Mysuru-based RTI activist to appear in person before the investigation officer at Bengaluru Zonal Office of the ED to give evidence and produce records in connection with the probe or proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, the sources said. Based on Krishna's ...

Singapore, among least corrupt nations, jails ex-minister for first time

A Singapore court has sentenced ex-minister S Iswaran to 12 months for accepting over $300,000 in gifts - an event which marks the first jail time for a former cabinet member in Singapore's history

Got over Rs 2 crore? You can become a Sarpanch in this Punjab village

Three contenders - Atma Singh (BJP), Jaswinder Singh Bedi, and Nirbhair Singh - competed for the 'Sarpanch' post in Punjab's Gurdaspur village, with Atma Singh's Rs 2 crore bid being the highest

Singapore to start landmark graft trial of former minister S Iswaran

The case against Iswaran, a former party member, is a test for a party that has long relied on its reputation for clean governance to win all elections since Singapore's independence in 1965

Lokpal forms inquiry wing to probe graft cases against public servants

Over a decade after a law governing it was passed, anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal has constituted an inquiry wing for conducting preliminary probe into graft-related offences committed by public servants. The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act 2013 (Act of 2013) came into force on January 1, 2014, when it received assent of the President. However, it began functioning only on March 27, 2019, following the appointment of its chairperson and members. To discharge its statutory functions, Section 11 of the Act obligates the Lokpal to constitute an inquiry wing for the purpose of conducting preliminary inquiry into any offence punishable under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, alleged to have been committed by the specified public servants and functionaries. The full bench of Lokpal, in its meeting held on August 30, 2024, has decided to constitute an inquiry wing of the Lokpal, according to an official order. Lokpal chairperson has been authorised to commence the selection process for

Two ex-Goa MLAs were paid in cash by AAP for poll-related expenses: CBI

Two former Goa MLAs who contested the 2022 state Assembly polls on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) tickets have alleged that they were paid in cash by a party volunteer for meeting campaign-related expenses, the CBI has said in its chargesheet in the Delhi excise policy case. The agency has alleged that of the total of Rs 90-100 crore of ill-gotten money paid by the "South Group" to tweak the excise policy in its favour, an amount of Rs 44.5 crore in cash was sent to Goa for meeting election-related expenses. In its fifth and final supplementary chargesheet in the case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has alleged that the role of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, along with that of another accused Durgesh Pathak, a Delhi MLA and the AAP in-charge for the Goa polls, has surfaced in the transfer of the ill-gotten money and its use to meet election-related expenditures. The CBI has alleged that two former MLAs -- Mahadev Narayan Naik and Satyavijay Naik -- were approached by Pathak