corruption

Buy your bribe online

Team Observers — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:46:41 +0100

Published on the website "mstaml".

"Looking for well-connected person ready to accept a bribe for a job in telecommunications. Serious applicants only". In Saudi Arabia, this type of online classified ad is nothing out of the ordinary – it’s just another way to find a job.

The Saudi classified ad website "mstaml" (usager) is one of the most popular in the country, with up to 570,000 daily visitors. At first sight, it’s the Arabic version of any mainstream classified ad site, with postings for real estate, cars, jobs, electrical appliances and the like… On closer inspection, however, the site is peppered with hundreds of ads blatantly advertising all types of corruption, whether it be to obtain a job, a visa or government funding of some kind. According to our Observer, the practice is so common it is almost official.

"Looking for a work certificate for the period going from July 2003 to July 2008 in a large company. Name your price, as long as you get it for me"

Published on the website "mstaml".

Corruption, bribes, forged evidence – confessions of a Russian officer

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:52:38 +0100

A senior Russian police officer who dared to denounce the corruption of his olleagues in a YouTube video has been fired just two days after his confession.

So scandalous was the content of his upload, Major Alexeï Dymovsky managed to reach his desired destination - Vladimir Putin. Posted on Friday (Nov. 6), the seven minute confession has been viewed over 100,000 times in just three days. His main complaints: that young recruits only sign up to earn money through bribes, and that high-ranking officers order staff to forge evidence against innocent people in order to boost statistics.

Nothing new there - the police are thought to be the Russian public's least respected institution. For an officer to say it himself, however, is quite something. Indeed; an internal investigation was immediately launched by the Interior Minister. The result came 48 hours later: "These claims are not verified". By nightfall, Dymovsky had been discharged. The story doesn't end there however. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who the video was addressed to, says he is aware of it.

Moscow council is corrupt and xenophobic... they said so themselves

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:49:41 +0200

Muscovites were, on September 24, surprised to find adverts in the city streets suggesting that their council was corrupt, xenophobic and irresponsible. Carrying the council logo, the allegations seemed to be coming straight from the horse's mouth.

The posters only stayed on display for a couple of hours, but photos of the billboards appeared online a few days later. It was soon realised that the posters were a prank, put up illegally and swiftly removed by the local authorities.

The poster reads: "Tenders are supposed to be fair." Listed as sponsors are Moscow City Hall and Inteko. To an outsider it might seem quite innocent, but every Muscovite understands the hidden joke. Inteko, the capital's biggest development company, is widely believed to receive the most lucrative deals from Moscow City Hall.

Coincidentally, the owner of Inteko, billionaire Elena Baturina, is married to the head of the city council, Mayor Yuri Luzhkov.

"Driver, give way to expensive foreign cars with flashing lights! We are hurrying to work, not to steal!" The logo is that of the Moscow Traffic Police," which is reputed as one of the most corrupt organizations in Russia.

"Smoke. Drink Give birth to freaks." Logos of Moscow City Hall and Jaguar energy drink. Jaguar is the most popular drink amongst youths in Moscow. It has an alcohol content of 9 percent.

"A Georgian is not a friend to a Russian," with the logo of state channel TV 1 and the Nashi youth movement. Both institutions are openly anti-Georgian.

"A Khokhol is no brother to a Russian," with TV 1 and Gazprom. Khokhol is derogatory slang for Ukrainian. The slogan refers to the recent natural gas conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the clear anti-Ukrainian position transmitted on Russian state TV.

Some bloggers took the posters seriously, but the majority of them got the joke and applauded the artist behind it for his daring. They thought that he or she was a political activist, but they couldn't agree from which side.

One of our Observers in Russia tells us that he knows who was behind the prank but that he wishes to remain strictly anonymous. A non-political young man who was simply fed-up with certain aspects of organisation in the capital, he pulled off the stunt with the help of a few friends, and for less than 100 euros in total.

Six-year-old dreams of becoming a "corrupt official"

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:56:47 +0200

Looking on the bright side of going "back to school", one Chinese journalist decided to ask a group of infant school children what they want to do when they grow up. Most of the answers are pretty standard, but the last one comes as something of a surprise.

The video was filmed by a Southern Metropolis Daily journalist and posted on the paper's website. Following a torrent of reactions, the paper eventually decided to remove the post.

Thirty-five killed in a collapsed mine – is corruption to blame?

Team Observers — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:45:57 +0200

Photo posted on ce forum.

There were 93 workers in the mine when a sudden firedamp explosion occurred. So far, only 14 have come out safe and sound. The local government claims that it had ordered the mine’s closure for security reasons. So why did this tragedy occur?

The explosion happened on September 8 at dawn, in one of the many underground galleries of the mining town of Pingdinshan, in Henan province. The initial death toll is 35, but 44 minors are reportedly still blocked at the bottom. Only journalists from the official state agency Xinhua were authorised to cover the accident.

Britney Spears to vote in Afghanistan

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:21:47 +0200

Afghanistan heads to the polls today. The event however, is likely to be tarnished by election fraud. To prove just how easy it is to buy a fake voting card, one Afghan thought it amusing to get one in the name of... Britney Spears.

Source: Afpax

Reuters reports that a voter registration card under the identification of American pop singer Britney Spears has been circulating by email for the past few weeks and has even been on display in a bar in Kabul. According to website Afpax, who broke the story in June, the document was bought by a Kandahar resident in order to demonstrate "how easy it is to buy a usable Afghan voter registration card with any name or photo you want".

The post goes on to explain that the card is entirely valid because it was created, like thousands of others, by an electoral services employee. The name on the card is "Jamila", which means "she's beautiful" in Pashto. These documents are mass produced and cost less than a euro in the major cities. This one in particular seems to prove that the anti-fraud systems in place are not very vigilant. In a country where almost all women are veiled, a white, blond and bare-skinned applicant should have raised a few eyebrows. Concerns over fake voting cards were raised again recently when in some provinces huge numbers of women signed themselves up to the electoral roll. Such a sudden and mass interest was perceived as suspicious in a country where the majority of women rarely show up to vote.

Tourists "pissing" on the Great Wall of China

Ségolène Team Observers — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:47:37 +0200

Images showing dozens of tourists sleeping on the Great Wall of China have infuriated Chinese Web users. One of them blames the authorities who, he says, are easily corrupted by bribes.

The photos, taken on August 3, were posted on various Chinese forums, causing outrage amongst concerned Wall-lovers. Camping is banned on the wall, but as these images prove, the law is not enforced.

These photos were originally posted on the bbs.123 forum along with the following comment, entitled "Angry! Foreigners eating, drinking, shitting, pissing and sleeping on the Great Wall!" Originally translated into English by chinaSMACK.

On the night of August 3, about 100 foreign tourists stayed overnight on the Great Wall. Just their tents and sleeping bags alone required a truck in order to be transported up the mountain, and the Jinshanling management granted clearance, pretending to be ignorant. Looks like ‘Protecting the Great Wall and tourism environment' doesn't compare to a tempting bribe.

What's more, this kind of thing happened just two days after a newspaper published an investigative report on the problem of illegal overnight stays on the Great Wall! These people just cannot wait to earn money! It's clear that both the management and individual bosses are in collusion with each other like snakes and rats living together in a nest!

Since 2003 people have been setting up one-night ‘hotels' for tourists, renting sleeping bags to foreign tourists at a price of 400-500 Yuan (€50) per person. This reporter was told by Luanping County Great Wall Management that people used to be allowed to stay for one night on the Great Wall, but had to pay 100 Yuan (€10) per person and the 50 Yuan (€50) entrance fee, but that it is no longer allowed. Yet, there are still foreign tourists living on the Great Wall.

Many of those coming to the 4A-level Jinshanling Great Wall scenic area [the area graded the most historically valuable] are foreign tourists. After arriving at Jinshanling Great Wall, there are people on the sides hawking sleeping bags for personal profit. Jinshanling Great Wall itself is an area susceptible to lightning, and in the past there have been incidents of tourists being struck by lightning! When I think of the Brit William Lindesay leading a group of foreigners picking up trash on this portion of the Great Wall, doing everything to protect the Great Wall for 20 years, I don't know whose faces should be redder, foreigners or Chinese..."

Islamic sect leader filmed in custody before his killing

Ségolène Team Observers — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:59:06 +0200

This video shows Nigerian Islamist militant Mohammed Yusuf just before he was handed over to the police. Hours later, he died. The footage of the sect leader being interrogated by the army strongly implies that the he was not killed in battle, as initially reported by the authorities.

The details of 39-year-old cleric Mohammed Yusuf's death remain unclear. Blamed for the anti-state violence which saw five days of bloodshed in Nigeria's northern Borno state, Yusuf was killed by authorities on the afternoon of Thursday 2, his bullet-riddled body put on display outside the police station.

It was initially reported that he died during an exchange of fire. But inconsistencies between the police and the army revealed that he had actually been arrested and detained. It emerged that he had been found hiding in his wife's parents' goat pen in the town of Maidiguri, and arrested by the army, who then interrogated him - seen in the video - before handing him over to the police. It was after this that he died. The police deny responsibility for his death, however, saying only that he died trying to escape the authorities. On Wednesday President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua ordered an investigation into his death.

Corruption made in Lebanon

Emmanuel F24 — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:54:07 +0200

Father Elias Akary belongs to the Syriac Orthodox church, one of many Oriental orthodox churches in the Middle East. He was supposed to campaign for Metn MP Michel Murr, a man who has dominated the political landscape of the Mont-Lebanon region for 40 years. But when Father Akary changed his mind and decided to join the campaign of Murr’s rival, Ibrahim Kanaan, Michel Murr went mad.

In Lebanon, ballot papers are printed by the political parties to be distributed either on election day or the day before at polling stations. Instead of distributing Murr’s ballot papers, Akary distributed Kanaan’s ones. Michel Murr summoned Akary to his party HQ to ask him to retrieve all his opponent’s ballot papers or face the Lebanese secret services, attached to the ministry of defence. A threat that cannot be taken lightly as the defence minister is Murr's own son!

On June 9, OTV, a television channel close to General Aoun’s party, the Free Patriotic Movement, broadcasted the recording of this conversation. The FPM party, which Kanaan belongs to, intends to complain to the Constitutional Council against Michel Murr for “attempt of corruption, menaces and priest sequestration”, citing General Aoun.

Transparency-Lebanon reports in a press release published the day following the elections that several candidates gave money to some voters in exchange for their vote: a vote is worth 800 dollars in Zahle (Bekaa province), between 60 and 100 dollars in Saida (south) and can reach 3000 dollars in Zghorta (north).

Cheers to construction shortcuts in China!

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:38:03 +0200

Nine people were crushed to death and 16 seriously injured when 200 metres of motorway collapsed in the Hunan province of China on May 17. The local media says that the company charged with demolishing the construction is who's at fault for the catastrophe.

The three kilometre flyover was built in 1995 and was in the process of being demolished. The operation was supposed to be dealt with by demolition giant "Nanling Civil Explosion" (NCE). But the company had chosen to contract the work out to a smaller company, which was under-qualified for the job at hand. According to the Chinese media, the entirely illegal scheme would have allowed the NCE to profit from the deal by paying the under-qualified - and therefore cheaper - company to do the work.

Traffic was stopped from using that section of the road on May 5. Driving underneath the flyover however, was still allowed.

On May 15 the subcontracted company began carrying out tests in order to evaluate the amount of explosives needed for the job. Two days later, workers were drilling holes into the supporting columns when 200m of the road gave way onto passing traffic.

Nine people have been arrested, including the managers of the companies involved. Three high officials have also been dismissed from their posts.