Showing posts with label Corruption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Corruption. Show all posts

Thursday, November 14, 2013

China: The Next Phase Of Reform

Forbes
The commitment and ability of China’s leaders to follow through on new policies and to meet rising expectations will be tested as they strive to balance competing social, economic, political and security challenges. Three decades ago, China embarked on a new path, creating a framework that encouraged the country’s rapid economic rise. The successes of those policies have transformed China, and the country’s leadership now faces another set of strategic choices to address China’s new economic and international position.

Monday, November 4, 2013

China targets Xinhua news agency, Commerce Ministry in new graft probe

By Adam Rose
BEIJING | Mon Nov 4, 2013 8:57am GMT
(Reuters) - China has sent investigators to six more provinces and four government departments, including Xinhua news agency and the Commerce Ministry, the ruling Communist Party's corruption watchdog said on Monday, in the latest move to tackle graft.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Ex-Minister in Greece Is Found Guilty in Bribery Case

October 7, 2013
By NIKI KITSANTONIS
ATHENS — In a landmark verdict, a former Greek defense minister and co-founder of the country’s once-mighty Socialist Party, Akis Tsochatzopoulos, was found guilty on Monday of setting up a complex money-laundering network to cover the trail of millions of dollars in bribes that he is said to have pocketed from government weapons purchases.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

The Surprising Relationship Between Corruption and Economic Growth

Posted By Park MacDougald   Tuesday, July 16, 2013 - 7:45 PM
Foreign Policy

Another day, another ballooning corruption scandal in southern Europe. On Monday, the former treasurer of Spain's ruling center-right Popular Party (PP), Luis Bárcenas, admitted in court to authoring handwritten ledgers detailing the secret flow of cash from private firms to top-level officials in the PP. Bárcenas also alleged, after months of speculation in the media, that Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy accepted regular payments from the illegal slush fund.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Parliament Votes to Indict Ex-Official in Greece

July 15, 2013
By NIKI KITSANTONIS
ATHENS — Greek lawmakers voted early Tuesday in favor of indicting former Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou over the way he handled a list of more than 2,000 Greeks with Swiss bank accounts, a possible source of much-needed tax revenue that was never exploited by the authorities.

In a secret ballot that followed a contentious debate, a majority of lawmakers in Greece’s 300-seat Parliament said that Mr. Papaconstantinou should stand trial on three charges: breach of trust, tampering with an official document and breach of duty.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Greece charges three ex-ministers over income declarations


ATHENS | Wed Mar 6, 2013 12:42pm EST
(Reuters) - A Greek prosecutor charged three former ministers on Wednesday for failing to declare the source of their wealth, the latest high-profile politicians in legal trouble as public anger rises at a political class widely seen as corrupt.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Greek court jails former top politician for graft


ATHENS | Mon Mar 4, 2013 10:47am EST
(Reuters) - A Greek court sentenced a former defense minister to eight years in prison on Monday for failing to disclose the source of lavish wealth that made him a symbol of the corruption that has plagued the country.

Once a powerful Socialist politician who almost became prime minister in the 1990s, Akis Tsohatzopoulos has been in jail pending trial since April last year as prosecutors probed allegations of fraudulently acquired wealth.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Ex-Mayor in Greece Gets Life in Prison for Embezzlement

By NIKI KITSANTONIS
Published: February 27, 2013
The New York Times
ATHENS — The former mayor of Greece’s second city, Salonika, and two of his top aides were sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday after being found guilty of embezzling almost 18 million euros, or $23.5 million, in public money — a rare conviction in a case involving the political corruption that has contributed to the country’s dysfunction and economic decline.

Friday, February 8, 2013

Is There Hope for a Recovery of the Greek Economy?


Posted: 02/08/2013 4:10 pm
Evangelos A. CalamitsisEconomist and former director at the IMF
The Huffington Post
After five years of a deepening economic recession and growing unemployment in Greece, one may wonder whether there is now hope ("elpida") for an end to the Greek fiscal and debt crisis, the restoration of the country's competitiveness, and a sustainable recovery of growth and jobs.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Greek budget deficit improves but savings cuts push jobless rate to new high


By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, January 10, 7:27 PM
Nikolas Giakoumidis/Associated Press
ATHENS, GreeceGreece’s coalition government on Thursday reported a steep drop in the budget deficit in 2012, but unemployment rose again at an alarming rate as state savings cuts continued to hurt the economy and erode living standards.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Greece’s Rotten Oligarchy


By KOSTAS VAXEVANIS
Published: January 6, 2013
The New York Times
Unfortunately, the bicycle of Greek democracy has long been broken. After the military junta collapsed in 1974, Greece created only a hybrid, diluted form of democracy. You can vote, belong to a party and protest. In essence, however, a small clique exercises all meaningful political power.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Scandal Hits Greek Tourism Agency


By ALKMAN GRANITSAS and NEKTARIA STAMOULI
ATHENS—A multimillion-dollar embezzlement case involving Greece's national tourism agency has dealt a new blow to the crisis-hit country's political establishment, which already is reeling from a scandal over its failure to go after wealthy suspected tax evaders.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Most Greeks say government crackdown on tax evaders failing: poll


ATHENS | Sat Dec 29, 2012 3:51pm EST
(Reuters) - More than two-thirds of Greeks say their government is failing to fight tax evasion, a poll showed on Saturday, a major focus of popular discontent along with austerity measures imposed to unlock bailout aid.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Greek prosecutors send Swiss account list to parliament



ATHENS | Thu Dec 27, 2012 2:11pm GMT
(Reuters) - Greek prosecutors sent a list of possible tax cheats to parliament, court sources said, in a case that has highlighted Athens' failure to crack down on the tax evasion that has contributed to the country's financial crisis.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Special Report: Greece's triangle of power


A nexus of media, business and politics lies behind the country's crisis, say critics.
 
By Stephen Grey and Dina Kyriakidou

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Greece Can Grow Again

Red tape, corruption, tax evasion—and a failure of marketing. Despite being the world's third largest olive oil producer, Greece sells 60% of its olive oil in bulk to Italy, where it is packaged and sold at a premium.
The Wall Street Journal
By JOHN SFAKIANAKIS
 

Thursday, December 6, 2012

For Greece, Oligarchs Are Obstacle to Recovery


By RACHEL DONADIO and LIZ ALDERMAN
The New York Times
ATHENS — A dynamic entrepreneur, Lavrentis Lavrentiadis seemed to represent a promising new era for Greece. He dazzled the country’s traditionally insular business world by spinning together a multibillion-dollar empire just a few years after inheriting a small family firm at 18. Seeking acceptance in elite circles, he gave lavishly to charities and cultivated ties to the leading political parties.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Greece takes bottom EU spot in global corruption index


Greece replaces Bulgaria as lowest-ranking EU state
* Italy below ex-communist Romania in global league table
* China realises tackling graft in its own interests-TI
* Russian NGO curbs make it harder to check corruption -TI

By Gareth Jones

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Greece flirts with tyranny and Europe looks away


Greek democracy is in peril and much of the fault lies with the EU's hard stance
Nick Cohen
The Observer, Sunday 4 November 2012

Friday, November 2, 2012

Tax Evasion Case Emerges as Latest Headache for Greece’s Coalition


November 1, 2012, 2:23 PM
The Wall Street Journal

By JENNY PARIS

A Greek journalist at the center of a tax evasion and media censorship controversy has emerged as the latest headache for Greece’s fragile ruling coalition.