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What’s next for Ukraine?

Ukraine said it planned to confiscate $290 million of assets believed to be stolen through corruption in 2016. So far they’ve recovered and returned to state budget just $5,683. While that’s a tiny improvement from $3,813 recovered last year, it shows the struggling country has a long way to go before it can successfully recover […]

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Photo by Derek Gavey/ Flickr

Pharma companies in Slovakia: Uncovering conflicts of interest

Two years ago, the leading German pharmaceutical company, Boehringer Ingelheim, applied to Slovak authorities for its new anti-diabetes drug, Synjardy, to be covered by health insurance.  Drug manufacturers are keen for their medicine to be covered since it would reduce its price and therefore could sell more. Boehringer estimated in its application that within four […]

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Cleaning up Georgia’s elections

Georgians are getting the message: elections are important and tampering with the process has consequences. This year, there were fewer violations, leading to a cleaner election. It was hard work, however. From when the election process started in June to when people went to the polls on 8 October, Transparency International Georgia was on the […]

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Anti-corruption and happiness go hand in hand

There is a clear link between the level of corruption in a country and people’s attitude to corruption. If you shrug your shoulders and accept there’s little to be done, corruption remains high and you are unhappy. If corruption makes you angry and you do something constructive about it, like pass laws and prosecute the […]

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Does Ukraine merit a new handout?

Yesterday the International Monetary Fund approved a further bailout of more than US$1 billion for Ukraine, a country trying to deal with an aggressive eastern neighbour and a ruling elite compromised by corruption. If the decision to resume payments was based on the normal loan conditions, the outcome would have been an obvious no. Ukrainian […]

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Reconstruction in Italy: We need transparency and monitoring activities 

It’s true, “Italians do their best in moments of emergency.” Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said it after the earthquake that devastated central Italy on 24 August. Italy’s President echoed the Prime Minister and we all tell it to ourselves every time that the images remind us that we are a country that rolls up […]

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Image, Courtesy of TI Italy

Thousands of citizens support whistleblower protection law in Italy – you can join them!

No country can fight corruption seriously unless the people who have the courage to speak out are protected. That’s why Transparency International Italy and Riparte il Futuro, an important anti-corruption association, launched our petition on 20 July calling on the Senate to stop stalling and approve whistleblower protection legislation now. A draft law, based on […]

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New whistleblower protection law in France not yet fit for purpose

Michel Sapin, the French Minister of Finance, promised to deliver a comprehensive anti-corruption law that included protection for those courageous enough to speak out against corruption and malpractice. The minister set the bar high when he said that the law should “cover all possible situations… and here, I obviously think of situations like the one […]

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The $6.5 million apartment on Starovolynskaya Street

How is it possible for the extended family of Russian politicians and civil servants to get a $6.5 million apartment situated in the Moscow equivalent of millionaires’ row? That was the question that came to mind when we started investigating 15 Starovolynskaya Street and the Rogozin family. Dmitry Rogozin is Deputy Prime Minister and in charge of the Ministry […]

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A new win for Ukraine in fighting corruption

On 15 March 2016, 278 Ukrainian MPs voted to approve a new e-declarations law called No.3755. The law will oblige public servants, politicians, managers of state and communal enterprises, and other employees who are paid from state budget such as doctors and teachers, to declare their full income and assets. It also requires them to […]

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