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New technologies for more accountability: Watch the Transparency Works conference

Our chapter in Lithuania in cooperation with the Sunlight Foundation held an international conference that brings together IT developers and NGOs to talk about online transparency initiatives, public monitoring of and citizen engagement in democratic processes from March 29-30. The event featured around 30 international speakers from more than 20 countries exchanging ideas about how […]

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Transparency International Russia follows the money in the €100 billion state procurement sector

The following was written by Gleb Gavrish, Press Officer, and Andre Jvirblis, Head of the Civic Activism Group, at Transparency International Russia. Under a new law, companies in Russia’s mаssive state-owned business sector must now publish rules for purchasing and service contracts, and report all public contracts worth 2500 Euros or more. Transparency International Russia […]

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Are German Lawmakers Finally Listening to the Whistles?

The following was written by Mark Worth, Transparency International’s Whistleblower Programme Coordinator, and Christian Humborg, Managing Director of Transparency International Germany. In a country where whistleblowers have helped expose poor care in a nursing home, dioxin-laden livestock feed, inadequate emergency services in hospitals, rotten meat, and mad-cow disease, one would think – and certainly hope […]

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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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French anti-corruption efforts coming up short

Ten French presidential candidates have already publicly engaged with our chapter Transparence International France’s 7 propositions for the fight against corruption – but President Nicolas Sarkozy has not. Transparence International France is calling on him to do so, along with all remaining presidential candidates. Just after his election victory in 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy said that […]

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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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From Banana Revolution to Gorilla Election

387 Under the shadow of the biggest corruption scandal in Slovak history, the country’s parliamentary elections on 10 March offer the public an opportunity to get rid of old methods of doing politics in Slovakia. When Iveta Radicova’s government lost a vote of no confidence in the Slovak Parliament over the issue of EU’s bailout […]

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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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The people speak out ahead of Russian election

Ahead of the presidential elections taking place in Russia this Sunday we interviewed  Elena Panfilova, Board Member of Transparency International and Director of our Russian Chapter. Where is the greatest change needed in Russia today? Russia needs competition to return to all spheres of public life; particularly in politics, in the economy and in the […]

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The Leveson inquiry has exposed Britain’s growing corruption problem

Yesterday, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers suggested to the Leveson inquiry that some sections of the press have been making regular payments to a network of corrupted public officials. In the past, it may have been easy for British citizens to pretend corruption is a problem that only exists overseas. However, Akers’s revelations now leave […]

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