Thirty experts were trained to deliver specialized training courses for judges on how to review corruption–related disputes and prevent corruption in the judiciary during a two-day session, organized by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine and the National School of Judges on 5-6 July 2016 outside Kyiv.

The trainees, judges-lecturers of five regional branches of the School, enhanced their knowledge of anti-corruption legislation, including national regulations and relevant international conventions, major aspects of judges’ ethics, including the identification and prevention of real and potential conflicts of interest, and judicial review of corruption-related disputes. The purpose of the session was to create a pool of experts able to deliver training courses for their peers at the National School of Judges on a regular basis.

According to the Judicial Education Concept adopted by the School, the training methodology was based on interactive techniques and included discussions, case studies, mini-lectures, various exercises and role plays, and screenings of short simulation videos on the topic.

To ensure the sustainability of OSCE efforts, the training course on anti-corruption will be submitted for institutionalization at the National School of Judges by the end of the year. This course will form part of the School’s mandatory curriculum for every judge appointed to the post.

The training session was part of a project by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine to enhance the quality of judicial education and training.

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The OSCE Presence in Albania held a ceremony on 22 June 2016 to award winners of a national essay competition for high school and university students called Young People Say NO to Corruption.

The three main winners, equally awarded, were Albion Bylykbashi from the Tirana Polytechnic University, as well as Arjeta Zenelaj and Keti Gjipali from Tirana University. Their essays have been chosen as the best among more than 100 entries and their prize is an opportunity to participate in Transparency International’s Summer School on Corruption in July 2016. Seven runners-up were also awarded and will take part in a study tour to visit institutions involved in the fight against corruption in Albania and experience first-hand their work and the way they co-operate with each other to fight corruption.

Attending the event were Acting Head of OSCE Presence in Albania, Robert Wilton, and National Anticorruption Co-ordinator, Minister for Local Government Issues Bledi Çuçi.

Wilton said that the Albanian authorities cannot win the fight against corruption on their own: “They need the energy and passion of young, dedicated people to make big changes in mentality and practice that are necessary to stamp out corruption.”

Çuçi said that in order to win the battle against corruption, the healthy parts of the society should find each other and heal the parts affected by corruption. He said, he was impressed by the level of discussions in a series of OSCE-organized awareness-raising lectures on anti-corruption in high schools and public universities across the country that preceded the essay competition.

The essay competition and anti-corruption lectures were part of a wider OSCE project supporting anti-corruption measures in Albania. This effort is funded by the Italian Development Cooperation, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Italian National School of Public Administration.

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Presidency and Special Investigating Unit officials briefed the Standing Committee on Public Accounts on Wednesday about investigations at the SIU following presidential proclamations.

I hate to compare any minister of God to a gangster. But the sad truth is that today there are a handful (well, maybe more) of unscrupulous preachers who share some of Capone's most disgusting traits. They are notoriously greedy. They are masters of deception and manipulation. They have bought their way into the charismatic religious subculture and used their uncanny hypnotic ability to control major Christian TV networks. And, like Capone, their days are numbered. Justice will soon catch up with them. These false prophets probably all started out with a genuine call from God, but success destroyed them. They were lured away from true faith by fame and money, and when their ministries mushroomed they resorted to compromise to keep their machines rolling. Now, in the midst of the Great Recession, God is closing in on them. But before we rejoice that these imposters are being removed from their pulpits and yanked off the airwaves, let's hit the pause button and reflect. How did these false preachers ever achieve such fame? It couldn't have happened without help from us. We were the gullible ones. When they said, "The Lord promises you untold wealth if you will simply give a thousand dollars right now," we went to the phones and put the donations on our credit cards. God forgive us. We were the undiscerning ones. When they said, "I need your sacrificial gift today so I can repair my private jet," we didn't ask why a servant of God wasn't humble enough to fly coach class to a Third World nation. God forgive us. We were the foolish ones. When it was revealed that they were living in immorality, mistreating their wives or populating cities with illegitimate children, we listened to their spin doctors instead of demanding that ministry leaders act like Christians. God forgive us. We were the naïve ones. When they begged for $2 million more in donations because of a budget shortfall, we didn't feel comfortable asking why they needed that $10,000-a-night hotel suite. In fact, if we did question it, another Christian was quick to say, "Don't criticize! The Bible says, 'Touch not the Lord's anointed!'" God forgive us. We have treated these charlatans like Al Capone-as if they were untouchable-and as a result their corruption has spread throughout charismatic churches like a plague. Our movement is eaten up with materialism, pride, deception and sexual sin because we were afraid to call these Bozos what they really are-insecure, selfish, egotistical and emotionally dysfunctional. If we had applied biblical discernment a long time ago we could have avoided this mess. There is no way we can know how many unbelievers rejected the gospel because they saw the church supporting quacks who swaggered, bragged, lied, flattered, bribed, stole and tearfully begged their way into our lives-while we applauded them and sent them money. When well-meaning Christians quote 1 Chronicles 16:22 ("Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm," NASB) to cover up corruption or charlatanism, they do horrible injustice to Scripture. This passage does not require us to stay quiet when a leader is abusing power or deceiving people. On the contrary, we are called to confront sin in a spirit of love and honesty-and we certainly aren't showing love to the church if we allow the charismatic Al Capones of our generation to corrupt it. ~ J. Lee Grady is contributing editor of Charisma and author of the new book The Holy Spirit Is Not for Sale. Follow him on Twitter at leegrady.

A police force formally rejects 72 complaints against officers by patients' relatives.

The Spanish authorities allowed a humanitarian disaster to occur in Valencia when a catastrophic flood hit the region. The government of Spain pays first priority to Ukraine, rather to its own people. Humanitarian crisis in Valencia due to government inaction On October 29, torrential rains hit Valencia inundating dry riverbeds and ravines filled with dead wood and debris. Floodwaters went upstream under pressure trapping thousands of people. To date, 217 bodies have been identified. According to European satellite emergency assistance system Copernicus EMS, the floods affected 15,633 hectares of land, including 3,249 kilometers of streets and roads. Over 190,000 people were affected, 17,597 residential buildings were ruined or partially damaged. Hospitals of the region work in overdrive due to disrupted logistics.

Screenshot from the site of Japanese company K.K. Mirai Genomics The Moscow Healthcare Department purchased more than 50 devices and hundred of thousands of test systems for SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus from a company called Medpromresurs. This sounds like good news, if it was not for the dodgy reputation of the company. Thieving businessmen are trying to cash in on the disease that their compatriots suffer from while keeping an eye on the funds from the state budget too. US funded Radio Liberty investigated the Moscow's purchase, that got links to 2019 scandal in Tatarstan. The story began in September 2019. During the Eastern Economic Forum, which was held last autumn, a little-known Japanese company K.K. Mirai Genomics promised to invest 2.5 billion rubles ($30 million) in the production of a diagnostic system for infectious diseases in the Republic of Tatarstan. The systems were supposed to be subsequently acquired at the expense of mandatory medical insurance - the state budget that is. Russian company PharmMedPolis-RT acted as a partner on the Russian side. Taliya Minullina, the head of the Agency for Investment Development of the Republic, put her signature on the agreement for the production of biochips for the diagnosis of influenza. The story was highlighted by a lot of Russian media for its connection to corruption and money-laundering issues. The chips were allegedly patented in Europe, the USA and Japan (coronavirus was nowhere near back then). Strangely enough, the supposedly patented trademark for the LifeRing molecular diagnostic system that consists of disposable chips is not manufactured in any of the above-mentioned countries. Moreover, as the Versia found out, the company's offices in Japan and the United States are located in cheap Class B office buildings, which does not go along with the promise to invest 2.5 billion, because a company like that simply does not have that much money.  However, methods for rapid diagnosis of influenza are not just being developed in our country - they are already in practical use. Moreover, the time that is required for testing biomaterial is even shorter in comparison with the time period that foreign-made chips need for the same purpose.  K.K. Mirai Genomics was a very little-known company indeed: it did not even have a website at the time when the deal was signed. Mirai never provided any specifications and descriptions of the technology, nor did it say anything about the results of clinical trials. Such facts did not stop the authorities of Tatarstan, though. 

Hear From Industry Leaders on The Role of Blockchains in Combating Corruption

Thirty experts were trained to deliver specialized training courses for judges on how to review corruption–related disputes and prevent corruption in the judiciary during a two-day session, organized by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine and the National School of Judges on 5-6 July 2016 outside Kyiv.

The trainees, judges-lecturers of five regional branches of the School, enhanced their knowledge of anti-corruption legislation, including national regulations and relevant international conventions, major aspects of judges’ ethics, including the identification and prevention of real and potential conflicts of interest, and judicial review of corruption-related disputes. The purpose of the session was to create a pool of experts able to deliver training courses for their peers at the National School of Judges on a regular basis.

According to the Judicial Education Concept adopted by the School, the training methodology was based on interactive techniques and included discussions, case studies, mini-lectures, various exercises and role plays, and screenings of short simulation videos on the topic.

To ensure the sustainability of OSCE efforts, the training course on anti-corruption will be submitted for institutionalization at the National School of Judges by the end of the year. This course will form part of the School’s mandatory curriculum for every judge appointed to the post.

The training session was part of a project by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine to enhance the quality of judicial education and training.

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ISSYK-KUL, Kyrgyzstan, 26 May 2016 – A two-day regional expert seminar which started today gathers some 60 anti-corruption practitioners, experts and policy-makers from 12 countries in Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia to discuss effective preventive measures to combat corruption in the extractive industries and education sectors and to exchange best practices.

Participants discussed how to improve government accountability and transparency in managing natural resources and assessed how to mitigate negative effects of the so-called “resource curse”. They also focused on corruption in the education sector, and how to enhance the quantity, quality, efficiency of, and access to education systems.

“The OSCE Centre in Bishkek is strongly committed to supporting the Kyrgyz Government in countering corruption and developing projects and initiatives aimed at strengthening good governance, economic growth and public integrity for the benefit of the Kyrgyz people,” said Yulia Minaeva, Senior Economic and Environmental Officer at the OSCE Centre in Bishkek. 

Ermelinda Meksi, Deputy Head of the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities, said: “Corruption, weak governance, and lack of transparency and rule of law undermine economic growth and impede trust in public persons and government institutions. Bribery and embezzlement of state resources deter domestic and foreign investments and deprive citizens of important public services. If unchecked, corruption can provoke social strife, fuel insecurity and even lead to conflicts.”

The practice-oriented and interactive seminar combined expert presentations, roundtable discussions and group work. It benefited from the participation of representatives of the UN Development Programme, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, and the Open Society Initiative.

Olga Savran, manager of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ACN), said: “This seminar helps public officials responsible for preventing corruption at national and sectoral levels learn about effective practical measures that do work, that improve the lives of citizens, and prevent the waste of public money.”

The seminar is co-organized by the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA) and the OECD ACN. It is hosted by the Kyrgyz Government and held as part of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek’s Economic and Environmental Dimension activities.

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Corruption risks, challenges in accountability and transparency as well as the legislative and regulatory frameworks in public procurement, customs and taxation, free competition and monopolies, were the focus of a workshop supported by the OSCE Office in Yerevan held on 28 and 29 May 2016 in Aghveran, in Armenia’s Kotayk region.

The event was attended by more than 60 people including officials from the Government Anti-corruption Programmes Monitoring Unit, the Ministry of Justice, the State Revenue Committee, the State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition, and the Internal Public Financial Oversight and Public Procurement Methodology at the Ministry of Finance. Representatives from business unions and associations, other non-governmental organizations, economists and journalists also participated.

“The Government of Armenia has underlined the importance of addressing corruption risks,” said Suren Krmoyan, Armenian Deputy Minister of Justice. “The private sector can play a crucial role in that and we are eager to make changes and take the initiative to address concrete issues.”

Naira Gyulnazaryan of the OSCE Office, said: “We hope that this event will promote close co-operation between the Government, business organizations and civil society towards fighting corruption in the business sector.”

The event was organized in partnership with the Armenia's Ministry of Justice, the European Union, the Armenian Lawyers' Association, the Anti-Corruption Coalition of Civil Society Organizations of Armenia and Freedom of Information Centre. It is part of the OSCE Office’s efforts to strengthen the engagement of civil society, business companies and associations in addressing corruption risks and to establish a solid platform among the government, civil society and private sector to contribute to state reform.

Challenges in customs regulatory frameworks were discussed at an event on May 25 in Gyumri and another discussion on state revenue issues in the regions will be held in Vanadzor. 

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The OSCE Presence in Albania held a ceremony on 22 June 2016 to award winners of a national essay competition for high school and university students called Young People Say NO to Corruption.

The three main winners, equally awarded, were Albion Bylykbashi from the Tirana Polytechnic University, as well as Arjeta Zenelaj and Keti Gjipali from Tirana University. Their essays have been chosen as the best among more than 100 entries and their prize is an opportunity to participate in Transparency International’s Summer School on Corruption in July 2016. Seven runners-up were also awarded and will take part in a study tour to visit institutions involved in the fight against corruption in Albania and experience first-hand their work and the way they co-operate with each other to fight corruption.

Attending the event were Acting Head of OSCE Presence in Albania, Robert Wilton, and National Anticorruption Co-ordinator, Minister for Local Government Issues Bledi Çuçi.

Wilton said that the Albanian authorities cannot win the fight against corruption on their own: “They need the energy and passion of young, dedicated people to make big changes in mentality and practice that are necessary to stamp out corruption.”

Çuçi said that in order to win the battle against corruption, the healthy parts of the society should find each other and heal the parts affected by corruption. He said, he was impressed by the level of discussions in a series of OSCE-organized awareness-raising lectures on anti-corruption in high schools and public universities across the country that preceded the essay competition.

The essay competition and anti-corruption lectures were part of a wider OSCE project supporting anti-corruption measures in Albania. This effort is funded by the Italian Development Cooperation, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Italian National School of Public Administration.

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Corruption risks, challenges in accountability and transparency as well as the legislative and regulatory frameworks in public procurement, customs and taxation, free competition and monopolies, were the focus of a workshop supported by the OSCE Office in Yerevan held on 28 and 29 May 2016 in Aghveran, in Armenia’s Kotayk region.

The event was attended by more than 60 people including officials from the Government Anti-corruption Programmes Monitoring Unit, the Ministry of Justice, the State Revenue Committee, the State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition, and the Internal Public Financial Oversight and Public Procurement Methodology at the Ministry of Finance. Representatives from business unions and associations, other non-governmental organizations, economists and journalists also participated.

“The Government of Armenia has underlined the importance of addressing corruption risks,” said Suren Krmoyan, Armenian Deputy Minister of Justice. “The private sector can play a crucial role in that and we are eager to make changes and take the initiative to address concrete issues.”

Naira Gyulnazaryan of the OSCE Office, said: “We hope that this event will promote close co-operation between the Government, business organizations and civil society towards fighting corruption in the business sector.”

The event was organized in partnership with the Armenia's Ministry of Justice, the European Union, the Armenian Lawyers' Association, the Anti-Corruption Coalition of Civil Society Organizations of Armenia and Freedom of Information Centre. It is part of the OSCE Office’s efforts to strengthen the engagement of civil society, business companies and associations in addressing corruption risks and to establish a solid platform among the government, civil society and private sector to contribute to state reform.

Challenges in customs regulatory frameworks were discussed at an event on May 25 in Gyumri and another discussion on state revenue issues in the regions will be held in Vanadzor. 

Related Stories

• OSCE enhances legal and human rights education in Armenia
• OSCE Office in Yerevan presents awards to best women entrepreneurs in Armenia
• Awards for promoting universal rights in Armenia presented by OSCE and international partners

"Nobody is above the law." Except pretty much every politician and billionaire. Jolt has revealed an official trailer for a new documentary film called The Bibi Files, which first premiered at the 2024 Toronto Film Festival this fall. It's described as "the documentary Benjamin Netanyahu tried to ban" by court order but it fell through. It might also be called a controversial doc, but it's only really "controversial" because it dares to tell the truth and show that Netanyahu is a corrupt, power-hungry, war criminal. Using never-seen-before interrogation footage, this investigation of Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his inner circle provides an unflinching gaze into the private world behind the headlines and the TV reports. Petty vanity and a sense of entitlement leads to corruption, and the unwillingness of the Netanyahus to give up power. The extreme right senses opportunity in Bibi’s weakness, and the dominos fall. Another powerful doc about the truth, but I still doubt it will change anything or have enough of an impact to really save more lives. We can only hope. Here's the main official trailer for Alexis Bloom's doc The Bibi Files, direct from Jolt's YouTube: Using never-seen-before interrogation footage, this investigation of Benjamin […]

Paula Reid, CBS News Justice Department Reporter, discusses the indictment of New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez on federal corruption charges. He's accused of accepting nearly one million dollars worth of gifts and contributions in exchange for political favors that benefited a friend.

A new report from global law firm White & Case LLP and the Risk & Compliance Advisory practice of KPMG LLP reveals the current state of compliance on key issues across industries, geographies, and organisational sizes. 

The problem is the corruption that is absolutely pervasive in the U.S. news media. There are newsrooms all throughout New York and Washington DC, where top editors are explicitly saying they do not want this story investigated. And they're being clear that the reason that they don't want to investigate it is because they think even if there's corruption that's exposed here, in their view Trump is worse. And therefore it would be malfeasance on the part of the media to report corruption on the part of Biden when Trump is so much more corrupt. What they're really saying is they see their role as journalists not as informing the public, to let the public decide which candidate is better and which is worse. They see journalism, the function of it is to defeat Donald Trump and elect Joe Biden. Continue reading →

Last year I reviewed Expeditions and ranked it #1 among all Stonemaier games on account of the challenging intellectual puzzle it presents. This year I have played my way through the new expansion, Gears of Corruption, and I’m delighted to let you know that it makes the base game even better. That the expansion so cohesively builds on the base game should not be a surprise to anyone who closely examines the original box for Expeditions. All expansion components perfectly fit in that box including the 2 new mechs that nestle in the placeholder cubbies clearly made for them.  That can’t be coincidence. There might a few features rolled into Corruption of Gears that were developed as a result of consumer feedback on the base game (I’m looking at you, wild meeple), but my theory is that Stonemaier did a Lord of the Rings maneuver with this game and its expansions, designing the entire game with most of the additions integrated up front, and then breaking it into base + expansions for marketing and distribution.

Here’s a detailed breakdown of the components and features in Gears of Corruption:

• 2 new mechs
• Both new mechs use map tokens as discards to gain a benefit. The Scarecrow adds an extra action to your refresh turn while the Mole lets you access hex actions covered with corruption tokens. The Mole felt especially powerful in play.
• Replacement mech mats for the original mechs + 2 new mech mats for the new mechs
• The new mech mats are GREAT. They have inset spaces for the guile, strength, and action tokens to prevent player components from sliding off the mat during player.
• Hero worker meeples
• These meeples function as wildcards, and everyone is given one at the start of the game. This speeds up play and helps avoid the heavy disadvantage for the 3rd player and after who can’t get to the gain worker hex on their first turn.
• Replacement discovery card for one of the original cards in the base game + 5 new discovery cards
• The cards are all items and most if not all of them provide ongoing benefits in the form of when you do X also do Y
• 7 mech cards
• These cards are used for drafting/assigning a mech mat to each player and they also provide a list of starting resources to shorten the length of the game
• 12 corruption cards
• These cards are used both to control an additional mech on the main board (representing a malicious presence among us) that inflicts penalties on players whose mechs it would otherwise bump into AND to provide additional corruption targets for vanquishing by players. If all the corruption cards are vanquished, the corrupted mech wandering the board returns to the box, the threat eliminated. Three cheers to the player who accomplishes that!
• 4 pairs of new starting cards (character + companion)
• The new character/companion combos are pretty standard but one of the pairs (Baaliahon & Zephon) plays off the corruption card scoring added with this expansion. I played as this fellow and was competitive in all my games. A+ would recommend! ***Interesting side note: While I was researching the origin of the name Baaliahon (turns out to be a Phoenician name that means so that Baal will favor), I came across the website for the artist and worldbuilder on Expeditions, Jakub Rozalski. He’s got fantastic stories and lore for the game as well as additional artwork on the site and I encourage you to check it out at https://jrozalski.com/projects/JvAvPZ
• 6 new corruption tiles in lower values that the base game
• These tiles have a strength of only 2, making it easier to remove them.
• 6th player capacity
• Playing with an additional player DOES increase the game length, but this is well balanced by the time saved thanks to the new hero worker meeples and mech cards
• Additional coins & map tokens

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Expeditions Gears of Corruption is a fantastic (although not absolutely mandatory) expansion for players who love the base game, like me. But this is not one of those expansions that fundamentally alters the overall feel or play of the game so if you’re among those that didn’t go gaga for the base, this will do nothing to change your mind. Yep, I see some of you over there complaining about the solitaire racing aspect of Expeditions and lack of strong player interaction, and to you ladies and gents I say go back to Scythe where you belong.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Publisher: Stonemaier
Designer: Jamey Stegmaier
Artist and Worldbuilder: Jakub Rozalski
Players: 1-6 (We played with 3, 4, and 6)
Actual Playing Time (vs the guideline on the box): About 90 minutes per game
Game type: worker placement, hand management
Retail Price: varies; direct from the publisher https://stonemaiergames.com/games/expeditions/gears-of-corruption/

Rating:

Massachusetts Sen. Liz Warren called out Donald Trump for 'corruption' even though he hasn't been sworn into office yet. Who would have thought Trump would violate a law that Warren wrote before getting the keys to the White House -- besides all of us?

Trump has not submitted a legally required ethics agreement stating he will avoid conflicts of interest, which must be signed before the presidential transaction occurs. According to the Presidential Transition Act, the signed agreement was due by Oct. 1.

Warren took to Xitter, and she was not pleased, but it doesn't do any good unless something is done about it.

Donald Trump and his transition team are already breaking the law.

I would know because I wrote the law.

Incoming presidents are required to prevent conflicts of interest and sign an ethics agreement.

This is what illegal corruption looks like. https://t.co/JJjJ59DgB5

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) November 11, 2024

Xitter had some thoughts:

read more

An anti-corruption charity finds significant concerns in £15.3bn worth of contracts awarded during the pandemic.

Expert

10 August 2020

Diagnosing social behavioural dynamics of corruption Other resource dora.popova 8 December 2021

This interactive toolkit identifies the types of social expectations which sustain selected corrupt practices and provides behaviourally-informed recommendations for changing them.

When tackling a problem as complex as corruption, it is important to understand why and how people behave in different situations where corruption occurs. In contexts where it is easier to engage in corruption than avoid it, identifying the social expectations and informal rules which sustain corrupt practices can advance corruption prevention and deepen collective action.  

Behavioural approaches to corruption offer a better understanding of diverse social settings, group dynamics, power distribution, social motivations, and expectations that contribute to a more tolerant environment for certain forms of the phenomenon. They are also highly complementary to traditional corruption measures, which tend to focus on the enforcement of legal sanctions and deterrents. Behavioural approaches, especially those inspired by social norms theory, highlight complex social characteristics and informal rules of specific corrupt practices, and effectively support implementation of more dynamic context-specific anti-corruption interventions.

Since 2016, the Chatham House Africa programme’s Social Norms and Accountable Governance (SNAG) project has adopted a behavioural approach based on social norms methodology to investigate the social beliefs which motivate different forms of corruption. Drawing on the project’s extensive evidence-gathering and analysis, this toolkit offers users navigable behavioural mapping of contextual factors, beliefs, and expectations surrounding common corrupt practices. 

It aims to support anti-corruption actors in diagnosing informal rules and social expectations which sustain corruption in some societies. It also proposes behavioural-informed guidance for developing or adapting anti-corruption interventions and activities, so they account for informal rules of behaviour such as social norms. 
 
The toolkit supports users to:

• Identify whether and how widespread corrupt practices are motivated by social beliefs and expectations.

• Understand how society influences the types of corrupt activity individuals engage in, or avoid, and the factors informing these choices

• Integrate empirical evidence and behavioural insights into anti-corruption strategies from diagnostics to design, and eventual implementation and evaluation

The toolkit presents evidence from SNAG’s research into three key corrupt practices – bribery, embezzlement, and electoral fraud. Each was examined in the context of typical situations in which they occur, such as law enforcement, healthcare, the power sector, voting, and education while critical factors such as religion, gender, and ethnicity were considered. 

The toolkit presents an overview of specific contexts and behavioural features of the practices and provides behavioural-informed recommendations. It also contains pop-up features with definitions and explanations of key concepts. The toolkit is designed to be expandable, allowing further content and behavioural dynamics to be added.   

Economic Recovery and Anticorruption in South Africa: Assessing Progress on the Reform Agenda 4 December 2019 — 3:00PM TO 4:00PM Anonymous (not verified) 25 November 2019 Chatham House | 10 St James's Square | London | SW1Y 4LE

South Africa has significant economic potential based on its resource endowment, quality human capital and well-developed infrastructure compared to the region. However, the country’s economic growth rate has not topped 2 per cent since 2013, and in 2018, was below 1 per cent. This has put a strain on citizens and communities in a country that still suffers from structural inequality, poverty and high unemployment. Economic recovery and anti-corruption were the central pillars of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2019 electoral campaign and he has set an investment target of $100 billion. However, voters and investors alike are demanding faster and more visible progress from the country’s enigmatic leader who has a reputation for caution and calculation.

At this event, Professor Nick Binedell will discuss the progress of and opposition to the president’s economic reform agenda and the opportunities for international investment to support long term inclusive and sustainable growth in South Africa.

Attendance at this event is by invitation only.

Can Liberation Movements Really Rid Southern Africa of Corruption? Expert comment sysadmin 16 December 2019

Southern Africa’s national liberation movements have survived ‘end of decade’ elections across the region. Combating corruption has been at the heart of many of the campaigns, but the question is can they succeed?

Swapo’s victory in Namibia two weeks ago was the last in a series of recent ‘end of decade’ elections that have returned dominant parties to power across Southern Africa. However, the “enduring appeal of liberation” is wearing thin.

Experiences across the region show that if governments are to deliver on their electoral promises, they must empower institutions, actively promote a culture of accountability and transparency within their party ranks and pursue economic reforms that untangle the web of party-state-business alliances. Such actions are critical for the survival of national liberation movements as the dominant force in the politics of Southern Africa – but will be difficult to implement.

Avoid political factionalism

South Africa, Botswana, Angola and Zimbabwe all saw new presidents take over just before elections. All used the rhetoric of anti-corruption to distance themselves from the tainted image of their predecessors. But acting on this requires a shift in mind-set in parties that have always preferred to deal with their problems behind closed doors. High profile adversaries from past regimes make tempting targets but could also drive party divisions.

In Angola, the transition of power was safeguarded by an agreement that former president José Eduardo dos Santos would be immune from prosecution. But this week his son faced corruption charges before the country’s supreme court, a high-profile example of a wave of anti-corruption cases across Southern Africa, driven by dominant parties wary of their future.

The allegations against José Filemino De Sousa Dos Santos, nickname ‘Zenu’, include a $500-million fraud involving the country’s central bank. Pressure is also mounting on Zenu’s sister Isabel — once prominent in Angola, she is now absent from public life.

Other leaders have had to tread more carefully. Immunity was a luxury Cyril Ramaphosa was neither willing nor politically able to grant Jacob Zuma in South Africa. Reliant on a few close allies at the top of the party, Ramaphosa lacks foot soldiers at the grassroots level, and his campaign against corruption within the ANC has faced persistent opposition.

Rebuilding institutions and empowering authorities takes time, and with few high-profile cases to point to, people are getting restless. This is also the case in Zimbabwe, where a worsening economic situation has left policy reformers politically isolated.

Party, state, and business

Long term incumbency has blurred the distinction between the party and the state. Liberation movements have created vast party-linked business empires. Political allegiance grants access to economic resources through appointments to lucrative positions in state-owned enterprises, preferential bids for tenders and licenses, and direct access to decision makers.

In Angola, this was fuelled by oil revenues. In South Africa, state capture flourished in an environment where the ANC and its constituent elements had significant power on the panels that chose leaders for state-owned enterprises (SOEs). In Namibia, an Icelandic fishing company paid backhanders to officials for fishing rights in what has become known as the ‘Fishrot’ scandal. Zanu-PF officials’ access to preferential foreign exchange rates present them with lucrative opportunities in Zimbabwe.

Ending this bureaucratic rent seeking goes beyond appointing ‘clean’ officials, which has been central to the anti-corruption campaigns in Angola and South Africa. Governments must also allow scrutiny of the state and empower those institutions designed for that role, such as the National Prosecuting Authority and the Public Protector in South Africa. Zimbabwe’s auditor general has published an in-depth report of the state of corruption in the country’s SOEs.

Companies must also be held to account for their role in aiding, and at worst directly benefitting, from state graft. International businesses have actively sought to benefit from corruption. They are now starting to face the consequences. A former Credit Suisse banker has pleaded guilty in the US over handling alleged kickbacks in Mozambique’s $2-billion “tuna bond” scandal. Global banks and consultancies continue to feel the squeeze for their complicity in state capture in South Africa.

Competition and pluralism

National liberation movements may only have a limited window within which to act. Across the region civil society campaigns and investigative journalists have shed light on some of the worst abuses of power. Anti-corruption campaigns are starting to bite. The state will continue to play a central role in Southern African economies, an important arbiter of economic transformation able to balance the region’s highly unequal and resource-dependent economies.

But opposition, civil society and the media are also critical for the progression towards democratic competition and pluralism in Southern Africa. Parliaments remain vital for holding rulers to account. Long used to unchallenged dominance, liberation movements have significant adjustments to make to rise to the challenge of a new era.

This article was originally published in the Mail and Guardian.

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