The business case for fighting corruption

With countries under pressure to create growth and jobs, especially for the young generation just entering the job market, dealing effectively with corruption is not only an ethical imperative; it is an imperative for the well-being of the economy and society. Elaine Dezenski, Senior Director and Head, Partnering Against Corruption Initiative, World Economic Forum, explores […]

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Bribery in Hungary: A Close Encounter of the Third Kind

‘All countries share a responsibility to combat bribery’, according to the OECD anti-bribery convention. But a bribery case in Hungary that has seen action in several other countries, but not Hungary itself, is testing that principle. There is no obstacle stopping British or Swedish law enforcers who investigated the sale of fighter jets to Hungary […]

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On the frontline against corruption in Europe

Last Friday, Cobus de Swardt, Managing Director of the global Transparency International Secretariat in Berlin, was visiting Brussels for an interview in the Euronews show “On the Frontline” (OTFL) for a special edition titled “Is there a corruption crisis in Europe?” which aired yesterday. The discussions around this show started already back in August when OTFL […]

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The Stench of Corruption in an Indian Slum

A review of a book with strong corruption themes. Next week we will run a blog post about corruption in literature. Please post your suggestions below. The stink of rotting garbage hangs over Annawadi, a Mumbai slum built on a garbage dump surrounding a sewage lake. But even more harmful to the residents of Annawadi […]

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Barriers to preventing corruption: what do businesspeople say?

Last week, on 12 September, three former Hewlett-Packard managers were charged in a corruption investigation over improper payments aimed at winning a 35 million euro (US$45 million) computer sales contract in Russia some nine years ago. The former German Hewlett-Packard subsidiary has been charged with bribery, breach of trust and aiding in tax evasion. But […]

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MEPs help to make the EU 0.0014286% more transparent

Compared to the EU’s 2011 budget of around 140 billion Euros, 2 million Euros (that’s 0.0014286% of 140 billion Euros) doesn’t sound like much.  However, a fight – which is expected to come to a head this week – between the European Parliament and the European Commission over this relatively small sum of money may […]

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Local communities fight corruption at the (grass) roots

Transparency International is a household name in Bangladesh, thanks to one of the biggest chapters in our movement. The efforts of Transparency International Bangladesh to engage people from all over the country have resulted in a 5,000+ strong volunteer base and tens of thousands more participating in activities and campaigns. Founded in 1996 Transparency Bangladesh […]

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Record-breaking whistleblower award completes the circle

On 12 September 2012, the US Internal Revenue Service awarded Bradley Birkenfeld $104 million for providing information on how the Swiss bank UBS AG helped thousands of US citizens hide billions of dollars from tax authorities. Mark Worth, Transparency International’s Whistleblower Programme Coordinator, discusses what this means for whistleblowers and would-be whistleblowers everywhere. The big […]

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Making Slovak state companies more transparent

318 A new index measures transparency in state-owned companies. Ján Podhorský was appointed to lead Tepláreň Košice, hundred percent state-owned  heating plant, in August 2010, soon after national elections. Podhorský  was one of the hundreds of politically appointed managers who came to lead state companies after the electoral change. Nothing unusual in Slovakia, where two […]

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Bribery in Nigeria tackled globally, but not at home

Companies caught bribing in nigeria have paid billions in fines, but not in Nigeria. A nigerian NGO tries to find out why. One of the reasons why there are so many foreign bribery cases going on related to Nigeria (see box below), is basically that corruption in Nigeria is deeply entrenched in almost every area […]

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