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Will the fruits of Africa’s commodity boom be lost to corruption?

As the prices of oil and other non-renewable commodities begin to soar once again, anti-corruption activists from DR Congo, Ghana, Liberia and Zimbabwe were in Brussels last week with the message that there is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to get their economies on a sustainable development path, a path that has been blocked by corruption in […]

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Bias and corruption in Russia shows up in Western courts

In Russia we do not always find justice in our courts or when dealing with law enforcement. Despite all the talk of judicial reform and some modest progress, there is a lot of room for improvement.  Now the situation has become a subject of debate and scrutiny not only domestically, but also abroad. Increasingly I […]

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A Hazy Awakening – Corruption risks capturing Hungary

In the picture of Hungary painted by Transparency International Hungary’s report on the country’s institutions last week, the colours would be quite blunt, with opaque areas in grey representing shady figures and institutions bound together very closely. In less artistic terms, it seems that nowadays private interests prevail over public interests, and Hungarians have just […]

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A Green Resource Curse: rare earth metals

A global trade dispute is brewing over the rare metals inside many of our favourite technologies such as smart phones or hybrid cars. Last year, an article published in Transparency International’s Climate Change edition of the Global Corruption Report warned about the corruption risks in the countries where many of these valuable raw materials are […]

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Motivating business to counter corruption

Recent years have seen a steady increase in the acknowledgment of the important role businesses play in the global fight against corruption. This has manifested itself in a likewise increasing number of business- oriented anti-corruption initiatives as well as the establishment of business specific anti-corruption legislation (e.g. corporate offense clause for failing to prevent bribery […]

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Power failure in Zimbabwe – taking to the street against corruption

***Since this blog post was first published, the text has been modified to note that the date of the march was moved from 24 March to 31 March*** In Zimbabwe, corruption is a daily burden all citizens have to carry: be it the bribes they pay or the disastrous public services they receive. When it […]

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Old Boys’ Networks keep tarnishing Finland’s corruption-clean reputation

“Finland is not a country, Finland is a club.” This statement was made by the Minister of International Development Heidi Hautala on 18 February, after a week of hot debate around old boys’ networks, the role of the state in supervising state-owned companies, and the launch of a Transparency International Finland report on how the […]

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EU on the cusp of extractive transparency reforms

A newly discovered diamond field in Cameroon might contain as many as 250 million carats – 2.5 times the total world output of diamonds in 2007. The nearby village of Mparo, meanwhile, lacks running water, asphalt roads or telephones. Its mud-brick schools lack benches or books, No electricity flows through its power lines. An electrification […]

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India’s state companies open up

A year of intense anti-corruption protests has put corruption issues high on the agenda in the world’s biggest democracy. While leaders have failed to deliver stronger legislation, a report from TI India shows that state-owned companies have made progress. In India, it takes over 1000 days to get a contract recognised. No wonder that bribery […]

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The hidden price tag of defence contracts

The Indian government recently decided to spend $11 billion  to purchase Rafale fighter jets from Dassault Aviation. The deal includes a commitment from the company to spend $6 billion in the country– a typical “offset” contract that often accompanies defence sales and can be spent on projects ranging from direct technology transfer to those unrelated […]

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