Tag Archives | germany

World Cup winners and losers

The 2014 World Cup had it all. Goals galore on the pitch, surprise results, tears and triumphs: a cornucopia of sporting excitement for a worldwide audience of more than a billion, culminating in a deserved win for an exceptional team from Germany. But it also had a series of own goals off the pitch by […]

Read full story Comments { 1 }

German-Greek arms deal corruption allegations stir renewed debate

The Self Propelled Howitzer “PzH 2000” of German Defense Company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) “sets a worldwide standard”, according to the company. Athens bought the howitzers a decade ago for €200 million, a deal which is now the centre of allegations about dubious flows of money in connection with two former German parliamentarians. The PzH 2000 […]

Read full story Comments { 1 }

Germany is ready to sign UNCAC – at last

In the end, it was an overwhelming majority. Only seven members of parliament voted last Friday (21 February 2014) against toughening up German regulations to stop bribery of parliamentarians. 582 voted for it. The issue is the last major obstacle to Germany’s ratification of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). We now expect Germany […]

Read full story Comments { 1 }

Efforts to educate players and officials about match-fixing must be increased

Six people were arrested in the United Kingdom this week on suspicion of match-fixing following an undercover sting operation. It’s not yet clear what games were targeted, but one player named is a former Premier League striker, now playing in a lower division. The fixer is alleged to have come from Singapore, the centre of […]

Read full story Comments { 1 }

“But are you a real doctor?” Shortcut doctorates in Germany

Last month, German Education Minister Annette Schavan resigned after a university revoked her doctorate due to allegations of plagiarism. Only two years ago, the then-Minister of Defence, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg also stepped down for the same reasons. These two high-level cases, in addition to numerous other plagiarism cases involving German politicians (such as Members of […]

Read full story Comments { 6 }

“Universitywatch”: a wiki to name undue corporate influence at universities in Germany

Elisabeth Kahler and Christian Humborg work with Transparency Germany and prepared the launch of “universitywatch”. Berlin: Until 2011 Deutsche Bank funded two endowed chairs, one at the Institute for Applied Financial Mathematics at the Humboldt University Berlin and one at the Technical University Berlin. The steering committee named to appoint the chairs represented both sides […]

Read full story Comments { 5 }

GRI: Germany’s corporate reports do not deliver what they promise

Sustainability reporting is a marketing instrument. In order to enhance their image, companies pride themselves on reporting on their environmental and social impact in accordance with the GRI Guidelines. The Guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative are the leading standard of sustainability reporting worldwide and Application Level A is the highest stage of the system. […]

Read full story Comments { 2 }

Aid from China, India and Brazil: more transparent than the West?

The growing presence in foreign markets of emerging economies like Brazil, China and India is starting to be matched by development spending. China, for example, provided US$ 38.83 billion in “foreign aid” in 2009 – these are the most recent government figures and likely exclude other investments in development projects). Often, these countries eschew the […]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

How can business battle corruption?

President Barack Obama, speaking to the United Nations General Assembly about the true nature of democracy, mentioned corruption and bribery several times. I was particularly struck by this line: True democracy demands that citizens cannot be thrown in jail because of what they believe, and that businesses can be opened without paying a bribe. Unfortunately, […]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

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 […]

Read full story Comments { 2 }