Tag Archives | featured

The role of the press at the Olympic Games: a first-hand account

With their hands up in the air, ministers, four-star generals and International Olympic Commission (IOC) officials danced to some of the most famous samba tunes at the closing ceremony of the Olympics in Rio last month. While carnival was taking over the Maracanã Stadium and the entire world was watching the party, politicians hugged each […]

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Ireland’s horror week in sport: perpetrators and victims of the unOlympic Games

If you think FIFA is a mess, then take a look at the Olympic Council of Ireland and the International Boxing Association (AIBA). Just today the Brazilian police arrested Patrick Hickey, head of the Irish and European Olympic committees over illegal Olympic ticket sales. AIBA is in the firing line for allegations over bought judges […]

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Cairo

Playing with numbers won’t cure Egypt’s corruption

“There is corruption in local government,” admitted President Abdel Fattah el Sisi at a presidential youth forum in Cairo in early August. “But, what can we do?” he laughed. “Sack and jail Hisham Geneina” was one sarcastic suggestion on Twitter. Geneina was the head of Egypt’s top auditing body until earlier this year when he […]

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Russian flag

What to think when Russia walks into the Olympic stadium

For a Russian, waiting for the Olympics to begin is not easy. There are many conflicting emotions and questions. Is it right to ban some but not all athletes? Do we blame our Ministry of Sport for devising a doping programme and cover-up, the International Olympic Committee or the World Anti-Doping Agency? Is it only […]

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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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FIFA: another own goal?

On 13 May at the first FIFA Congress since he was elected president of football’s world governing body, Gianni Infantino claimed FIFA was over its corruption crisis. He also announced the appointment of someone outside football as the new general secretary, Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura from Senegal, a former businesswoman who has worked in various senior posts […]

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Makula logs in Zambia

Caution and optimism in Zambia as forest scheme scales up

The bark of the mukula tree has medicinal properties, the outer wood is prized for furniture and flooring, and the dense core is valuable to Chinese rifle manufacturers. With hundreds or thousands of dollars packed into each plant, mukula forests represent a gold mine for Zambia. But an entrenched web of corruption ensures only powerful […]

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US Department of Treasury

U.S. response to the Panama Papers: A step in the right direction but more action is needed

The massive leak dubbed the Panama Papers has given the UK Anti-Corruption Summit on May 12 an unexpected boost. Those coming to the summit, now including the U.S., are lining up to make announcements about the steps they are taking to tackle corruption and specifically financial secrecy. On Thursday the Obama Administration announced a series […]

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Let’s celebrate whistleblowers: a case from Italy

We first met Andrea Franzoso in 2013, when Transparency International Italy organised a training course on anti-corruption and whistleblowing for Ferrovie Nord Milano, the northern Italian transport company he works for. At that time Andrea was a member of the internal audit unit of Ferrovie Nord Milano. He was immediately enthusiastic about the topic of […]

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Let’s celebrate whistleblowers

Four medical doctors received Transparency International Sweden’s Whistleblower of the Year (“Årets Visselpipa”) award earlier this month for speaking up against the gross ethical misconduct of a celebrated surgeon whose organ transplants turned out to be fatal. Whistleblowers provide a great service to society. The case of the Swedish doctors is a good example of […]

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