Page 2 - Corruption

Maharashtra legislature: Oppn members accuse Shinde govt of corruption

Opposition members staged a demonstration by taking out a foot march like 'warkaris' in the Maharashtra legislature complex on Tuesday and accused the Eknath Shinde-led state government of indulging in corruption. On Monday, both Houses of the Maharashtra legislature were adjourned for the day after the opposition stalled the proceedings demanding Agriculture Minister Abdul Sattar's resignation over a land 'regularisation' order passed by him when he was a minister in the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court last week issued a notice to Sattar who had ordered 'regularisation' of the possession of land reserved for public 'gairan' (grazing) in favour of a private person in the face of a civil court order. Earlier, the opposition members had also demanded Chief Minister Shinde's resignation after a Nagpur bench of the HC on December 14 ordered status quo on a decision taken by him of allotment of land meant for slum dwellers to private

MGNREGA fraud worth Rs 3 cr unearthed in Gujarat's Amreli; 4 booked

The accused have been booked for cheating, criminal breach, forgery and hatching conspiracy with common intent

More questions than answers as EU-Qatar corruption scandal unfolds

No one answers the door or the phone at the offices of the two campaign groups linked to a cash-for-favours corruption scandal at the European Union's parliament, allegedly involving Qatar. No light is visible inside. No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ), a pro-human rights and democracy organisation, and Fight Impunity, which seeks to bring rights abusers to book, share the same address, on prime real estate in the governmental quarter of the Belgian capital. The heads of the two organizations are among four people charged since December 9 with corruption, participation in a criminal group and money laundering. Prosecutors said in a statement that they suspect certain European lawmakers and aides were paid large sums of money or offered substantial gifts to influence parliament's decisions. Qatar rejects allegations that it's involved. The Gulf country that's hosting the soccer World Cup has gone to considerable trouble to boost its public image and defend itself against extensive ...

Circumstantial evidence enough to convict public servants for graft: SC

SC holds that direct evidence of demand for bribe by public servants is not necessary to convict them under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act

Ex-corporators write to Maharashtra CM alleging lack of transparency in BMC

Several former corporators of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation have written a letter, which they termed as an "SOS call", to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, alleging lack of transparency, financial mismanagement, policy paralysis and arbitrary transfers under the rule of state-appointed administrator and civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal. The letter signed by 94 former corporators cutting across the party lines, including former mayor Kishori Pednekar of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), claimed that the morale of officers was at an "all-time low" and the entire governance had come to a standstill as the operations were being run as per the "whims and fancies" of the administrator. In the letter written on December 12, they urged Shinde to "intervene immediately" and direct the administrator to publish a white paper on the state of affairs of the BMC, saying that they were unable to see the "deep rot" and "decline" of the BMC. The term of these corporators end

Four hit with corruption charges over EU lobbying scandal, two released

Four people have been charged with being part of a criminal group, money laundering and corruption in connection with an investigation into suspected influence peddling by a Persian Gulf country at the European Union's parliament, the Belgian federal prosecutors office said Sunday. The lobbying scandal, which allegedly involves Qatari officials, has already seen parliament Vice-President Eva Kaili relieved of her duties. The four are among six people held for questioning after Belgian police launched raids on at least 16 premises across the capital Brussels on Friday. None were named, but at least one is a member of the European Parliament and one a former EU lawmaker. The two others were released. It is suspected that third parties in political and/or strategic positions within the European Parliament were paid large sums of money or offered substantial gifts to influence Parliament's decisions, prosecutors said in a statement. Authorities have not identified the Gulf country ...

US slaps sanctions against Indian national, others on behalf of N Korea

The US has slapped sanctions on two individuals, including an Indian national, and seven entities for providing material support to, acting on behalf of, or being owned by North Korea's government-run animation studio, which utilised its workers to provide low-cost labour. The US took this action on Friday on the occasion of the International Anti-Corruption Day and on the eve of International Human Rights Day as part of its actions to promote accountability for corruption and human rights abuse around the world. According to the State Department, the US imposed sanctions on two individuals and seven entities for providing material support to, acting on behalf of, or being owned by the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) government-run animation studio, SEK Studio. The targets are: Kim Myong Chol, based in France; Everlasting Empire Limited, based in Hong Kong; Tian Fang (Hong Kong) Holding Limited, based in Hong Kong; Fujian Nan'an Import and Export Company, based in China

Tech developments have made it challenging to trace corruption: PK Mishra

The technological developments, while giving opportunities to prevent corruption, have also made it difficult to trace it, particularly in areas like cryptocurrency, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, PK Mishra, said on Friday. Delivering the keynote address at the International Anti-Corruption Day-2022 organised by the CBI on 'Anti-Corruption efforts - A sine qua non for Development and Security,' Mishra said the impact of corruption is especially heavy on common citizens, and even more on poorer and vulnerable persons in communities. Mishra said corruption encourages dysfunctionality in government and perpetrates economic inefficiency and can be a serious threat to national security. The top bureaucrat said that since liberalisation in India, the nature of corruption has become more complex. With technological development, there are opportunities to prevent corruption but also areas where corruption can be much more difficult to trace, particularly in areas like ...

Delhi court orders framing of corruption charges against Swati Maliwal

A court here on Thursday ordered framing of corruption and criminal conspiracy charges against DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal and others for "prima facie" abusing their official positions to appoint AAP workers to different posts in the women's rights body. The court also ordered that former Delhi Commission for Women members Promila Gupta, Sarika Chaudhary and Farheen Malick be put on trial. Special Judge Dig Vinay Singh said the perusal of minutes of the meetings held on various dates by the DCW, of which all four accused were signatories, were "enough to prima facie point to a strong suspicion that the appointments in question were made by the accused persons in agreement with each other". "After all, none of the three accused besides AI (Maliwal) ever objected to or gave a dissenting note to the illegal appointments. Rather the decisions were claimed to have been arrived at unanimously in those meetings," the judge said. He said in the case, "the circumstances prima facie strong

Congress only believes in stalling, delaying and misleading, alleges Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday alleged that the Congress only believed in 'atkana, latkana aur bhatkana' (stalling, delaying and misleading), and said those who looted poor people in the country were now abusing him for putting an end to corruption. He also alleged that the previous Congress governments never showed any interest in bringing the Narmada river water to the parched regions of Gujarat as the party was only interested in doing those works where there was scope to indulge in corruption. Modi was addressing a rally in Kankrej village of Banaskantha district, where voting for the second phase of Gujarat Assembly polls will be held on December 5. "Congress only believed in 'atkana', 'latkana' and 'bhatkana'. Elderly people from this region would tell you how Congress governments used to talk about bringing Narmada water in this parched region, but nothing was done on that front during their rule," he said. The prime minister accused the Congress of trying to stall t

NSE phone tapping: Court to hear pleas of Ramakrishna, Pandey on Dec 7

A Delhi court will hear on December 7 the bail applications of former NSE chief Chitra Ramakrishna and ex-Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey in a corruption case related to alleged illegal phone tapping and snooping on stock exchange employees. Special Judge Sunena Sharma adjourned the matter after the counsel appearing for the two accused prayed for adjournment on the ground that their petition challenging the rejection of their bail application in a connected money laundering case, being probed by the ED, is pending before the Delhi High Court which has reserved its orders. In view of request, let the bail applications of the accused be listed for arguments on December 7, the judge said in an order passed on November 30. Both the accused are currently in the judicial custody. The judge also directed the Tihar jail superintendent to produce Pandey before the court physically on the next date of hearing, as the accused himself will argue his bail application. According to th

Iraqi PM says nearly $2.5 bn embezzled from tax authority recovered

Iraq's government said on Sunday it will recover part of nearly USD 2.5 billion in funds embezzled from the country's tax authority in a massive scheme involving a network of businesses and officials. Approximately 182 billion Iraqi dinars, or USD 125 million, of the stolen sum will be recovered through the seizure of properties and assets belonging to a well-connected businessman complicit in the corruption scheme, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's office said in a statement. The amount retrieved was disbursed to Noor Zuhair Jassim, a businessman who was arrested in connection to the scheme along with officials from the government tax authority for withdrawing funds from a tax deposit account between September 2021 to August 2022. Al-Sudani stressed the ongoing investigation would not spare anyone involved in the scheme, and the government is working to recover the full amount stolen. Jassim confessed to holding the embezzled sum, the statement added. Al-Sudani also said th

PTI to resign from all Pakistan Assemblies, announces Imran Khan

Khan was ousted from power in April after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership

BJP govt in Gujarat legitimised corruption, alleges Manish Tewari

Congress leader Manish Tewari on Wednesday accused the BJP government of legitimising corruption in Gujarat and dubbed it a "dangerous sign" for democracy.With the Gujarat assembly elections round the corner, Congress has started agressively attacking the BJP who has been in power in the state for the last 27 years and the recent Morbi incident has provided an opportunity to the grand old party to accuse the Bhupendra Patel-led government in Gujarat for "legitimising corruption".Citing the recent Morbi incident that took place in the state which claimed the lives of over 130 people, the Congress leader said that the BJP has become "arrogant" as they(BJP) think they cannot be removed from power."You (BJP) legitimised corruption, and then you say that you want to implement this model in the entire country. The legitimisation of corruption is a dangerous sign for democracy," he said while urging people of the state to "break this arrogance" in the upcoming Assembly elections by ...

Twitter's big headache: Brand impostors thanks to the $8 verification

Users started creating accounts pretending to be major brands and politicians, fooling users and potentially jeopardizing Twitter's now-shaky reputation with top advertisers

Corrupt people destroying country, they get away with help of money: SC

Corrupt people are destroying the country and they get away with corruption taking the help of money, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday. The top court's oral remark came while it was hearing a plea filed by activist Gautam Navlakha that he be placed under house arrest instead of judicial custody in the Elgar Parishad case. Opposing his plea, Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the National Investigation Agency (NIA), told the top court that people such as Navlakha want to destroy the country. "Their ideology is of that type. It is not that they are innocent people. They are persons involved in actual warfare," Raju said. A bench of justices K M Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy then remarked, "Do you want to know who is destroying this country? People who are corrupt. Every office you go into, what happens? Who takes action against the corrupt? We should be accused of being biased." "We saw a video of people where people talk of crores of rupees to buy our so-called ele

Effective use of RTI will help building a corruption free country: Om Birla

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday said the effective use of the Right to Information Act (RTI) will help in building a developed and corruption free country as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Inaugurating the 15th Annual Convention of Central Information Commission (CIC), the Speaker said the main aim of the RTI Act is empowering citizens, bringing transparency, getting system rid of corruption and taking democracy to the people of the country in the true sense. Addressing the two-day convention titled "Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav: Citizen centric Governance through RTI", Minister of state for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Jitendra Singh said the non-domiciles and non-State subjects of Jammu and Kashmir will also now be entitled to file RTI related on issues related to Union Territory (UT) or agencies. Lauding the Commission for hearing petitions from newly carved out Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh during the peak of Covid lockdown, th

Rs 100cr worth unaccounted transactions post raids on J'khand MLAs: IT dept

The Income-tax department has detected "unaccounted" transactions and investments worth more than Rs 100 crore after it raided two Jharkhand Congress MLAs, their alleged associates and linked coal and iron ore businesses across the state last week. The CBDT said in a statement on Tuesday that 50 premises in Ranchi, Godda, Bermo, Dumka, Jamshedpur and Chaibasa in Jharkhand, Patna (Bihar), Gurugram (Haryana), and Kolkata (West Bengal) were covered during the searches launched on November 4. The two MLAs, on the day the searches were initiated, were identified by the officials as Kumar Jaimangal alias Anup Singh and Pradip Yadav. Jaimangal, a legislator from Bermo seat, also spoke to reporters outside his Ranchi residence that day confirming the action, saying he was extending all cooperation to the raiding teams. Yadav, who joined the Congress after splitting from the JVM-P, represents Poriyahat assembly seat. The Congress is a partner of the JMM-led ruling alliance in the state led

Imran Khan addresses nation, says he knew about the assassination plot

I already knew about their plan to attack me but I will continue to call out the corrupt who are stealing people's money, said Khan in his address to the nation a day after he was shot in the leg

Institutions acting against the corrupt need not be defensive: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said agencies and officials acting against the corrupt and corruption need not fear or be defensive while doing their work. Addressing an event at the Vigyan Bhawan here to mark the ongoing vigilance awareness week, Modi said the corrupt should not escape "at any cost" and they should not get political or social protection. "Corruption is an evil we must stay away from...we have been trying to change the system made by 'abhaav' (lack) and 'dabaav' (pressure) in the last 8 years," he said. Modi said all government agencies should work to change the system and tradition of corruption as India is celebrating 75 years of independence. He said the country needs to have "zero tolerance" for corruption in the administrative ecosystem and this would work for the idea of a developed India. The prime minister suggested that a ranking of government departments on anti-corruption efforts should be done and pending cases of corruption against officials