SaafNations ( A Global Forum for Citizens of Humanity )

Thu Sep 2, 2:38 PM By The Associated Press VIENNA - An international anti-corruption academy, billed as the first of its kind, has opened in Austria.Officials say the aim of the new facility in the Vienna suburb of Laxenburg is to serve as a place for research, training, networking and the development of policies to prevent and battle corruption. It is a joint initiative of the Vienna-based United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the European Anti-Fraud Office, Austria and others. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday at a conference marking the academy's inauguration that fighting corruption was a "shared responsibility" and pledged full support to the new institution. He urged others to do the same. A full program of classes and activities is scheduled to start next year. ____ Online: IACA: http://www.iaca-info.org/

By Stabroek staff July 23, 2010 in Letters Dear Editor, In 1968 Samuel Huntington argued that by greasing the wheels of the economy and so removing bureaucratic and other practices that impede investments and development, political corruption is efficiency-enhancing and inevitable (“Political Order in Changing Societies”). However, notwithstanding Huntington and others, national societies caught in the spiral of massive political plunder (see following table) rejected this view. Estimates of Funds Embezzled by Heads of Government Heads of Government Funds Embezzled Mohamed Suharto, President of Indonesia, 1967-98 US $15 to 35 billion Ferdinand Marcos, President of Philippines, 1972-86 US $5 to 10 billion Mobutu Sese Seko, President of Zaire, 1965-97 US $5 billion Sani Abacha, President of Nigeria, 1993-98 US $2 to 5 billion Slobodan Milosevic, President of Serbia/Yugoslavia, 1989-2000 US $1 billion Jean-Claude Duvalier, President of Haiti, 1971-86 US $300 to 800 million Alber...

A Bay of Plenty company director was today jailed for four years jail for tax evasion of more than $700,000 Harbhajan Singh Kahlon was earlier found guilty in Tauranga District Court of 23 charges of GST-related tax fraud and later admitted a further 46 charges of tax evasion involving PAYE. The Inland Revenue Department said in a statement today that Kahlon's business was to supply labour for vine management, squash picking and kiwifruit picking in and around Tauranga, Te Puke and Palmerston North. The scam involved Kahlon, as head contractor and director of his company Kalgidhar Enterprises, engaging 39 sub-contractors as "invoice writers", to supply him with false documents to falsify GST returns filed with the IRD. Falsified documents helped to create a paper trail when Kahlon and his company claimed extra tax credits, as well as evading the assessment and payment of GST by submitting invoices for work purported to have been sub-contracted out when it was not, or ...

Tuesday, June 01, 2010 CANCUN, Mexico -- Mexican federal police have arrested the mayor of the resort city of Cancun on drug trafficking, money laundering and organized crime charges. Gregorio Sanchez, who took a leave of absence from his mayoral post to run for governor of the Caribbean coastal state of Quintana Roo, was taken into custody at Cancun's international airport after arriving on a flight from Mexico City. While Mexico's 2010 elections have been marred by violence and allegations of drug cartel involvement, officials said they could not immediately remember another case in which a gubernatorial candidate has been arrested on drug charges. "This takes us all by surprise, it is unprecedented," said current Quintana Roo Gov. Felix Gonzalez Cantu. Ricardo Najera, a spokesman for the federal Attorney General's Office, said the charges allege Sanchez played a role in fomenting or aiding drug trafficking. Sanchez's website published an article in ...

Abba Gana Shettima 29 April 2010 analysis In his inauguration speech in 1999, former President Obasanjo resolved to tackle corruption in the country, thereby giving us a glimmer of hope after decades of unaccountable military rule. The former President argued that, 'corruption will be tackled head-on. No society can achieve its full potential if it allows corruption to become the full-blown cancer it has in Nigeria'. Also, in his second inauguration speech in 2003 the former President reiterated his determination to continue the war on corruption, and even claimed some triumph in the battle, promising that 'we are determined to fight this evil to a standstill'. Obasanjo's successor, Umaru Musa Yar'adua, now recuperating from a debilitating ailment and temporarily off the political scene, also promised, shortly after he was sworn in as president in May 2007 'to intensify the war against corruption, more so because corruption is itself central to the sprea...

BANGALORE --The Indian unit of Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) has time until May 28 to respond to a federal agency's charges that it evaded $322 million of taxes, two people familiar with the matter said Thursday. India's Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, which investigates tax evasion, recently completed an 18-month probe that concluded the U.S. computer giant had avoided paying proper duties by undervaluing imports of computers, printers, scanners and other devices over a five-year period.