Tag: bribes (last 300)
Senor Ten Percent’s assets
(ToL) Zardari has assets of $1.5B around the world, according to Pakistan’s main anti-corruption body.
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(ToL) French soldiers mutilated in Afghanistan, under-armed in area they believed quiet. The earlier Italian force was bribing warlords and never told them. [Bad, murderous handoff — but bribe sanctimony? U.S. does this in Iraq now.]
No escalation until we kick Karzai out
(NYT) Friedman: normal gov’t raises taxes and dispenses to institutions; Afghanistan raises $ from people who buy gov’t positions or protection.
Cutting power theft
(WSJ) N. Delhi Power has drastically cut power theft via insulated wires, informants and wireless meter reading, which eliminates bribes.
Chai pani at the CBI
(WSJ) The CBI wants to tackle graft, making examples of clerks who sell drivers licenses and forgers of university and bank-loan documents.
Water bill bribes rampant in India
(NYT) 40% of Indian water customers paid bribes to lower their bills. 33% paid bribes to expedite repairs.
S. Korean PM who killed self requested cremation
(BBC) Former S. Korean PM Roh Moo-Hyun apparently jumped off a cliff, leaving a note requesting cremation and a memorial stone near his house. He was under investigation for taking bribes.
In India, bribes *are* the system
(WSJ) Satyam is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s easy to hide a bribe from the auditors when invoices include — but don’t mention — payoffs. Bureaucrats accept one-lakh Louis Vuitton handbags for their wives.
Unlicensed nightclubs rampant in Bangkok
(BBC) 66 died in fire at an unlicensed Bankgkok nightclub. ‘The police in Thailand are businessmen, not policemen. When you have a residential permit you build it, and you change the purpose. Nobody cares because you pay the police.’ [Just like...]
Taiwanese never free of ‘chai pani’
(Taiwanreview) Gold joss notes are burned to grease the palms of officials in the next life so that they might better care for their wards. (ht: Shashwati)
Punch or pay
(Merc) In the ’90s, an Indian official demanded a bribe from an ibank, threatening to turn off the electricity. A former British soldier who worked there ‘calmly went up to him and punched him in the stomach.’
Chai pani in German
(NYT) Inside Siemens, bribes were referred to as ‘NA’� — a German abbreviation for the phrase ‘nutzliche Aufwendungen’, which means ‘useful money.’� Siemens’ bribe budget was $40-50M, and they paid even in relatively uncorrupt countries like Norway.
Adiga: I can live with corruption
(Guardian) In Madras, one party was run by a movie star, the other by his writer. Both took bribes, one delivered... Clean politicians have dishonest sons so they can sit under Gandhi photos... An honest politician has no goodies to pass out to get work done.
Show me the money
(ToI Photo) BJP MPs wave cash they allege they were given as bribes to vote for the coalition gov’t.