Former French interior minister under formal investigation for criminal association in Sarkozy-Libya fundraising scandal
3 Dec 2020 14:55
FILE PHOTO: Former French President Sarkozy and former Elysee General Secretary, Claude Gueant,
with Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi ©
An interior minister who served in Nicolas Sarkozy’s government has been placed under investigation for “criminal association” by French judges as part of investigation into Libyan funding of the 2007 presidential election.
France’s national prosecutor's office confirmed on Thursday that former interior minister Claude Gueant is now under formal investigation on charges of criminal association.
The charges brought against him are part of an ongoing investigation into possible Libyan financing of former President Nicolas Sarkozy's presidential campaign in 2007.
While it is suspected that the accused spent €42.8 million to finance the campaign, nearly twice the maximum authorized amount, it is also alleged that the campaign was funded from the pockets of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Gueant was Sarkozy's chief of staff from 2007 to 2011 and held the interior portfolio in 2011 to 2012.
The former secretary general of the Elysee was already under investigation for nine offenses in this case, but charges of criminal association reportedly make it easier for the judges to bring the case to trial.
As his trial began on Monday, he told the court “I do not recognize any of the abominations which have been levelled at me for six years.”
French-Lebanese businessman who once claimed to transport Gaddafi funds to Sarkozy campaign by suitcase 'arrested in Beirut'
4 Dec 2020 17:46
(L) Ziad Takieddine © REUTERS / Gonzalo Fuentes; (R) Nicolas Sarkozy © REUTERS / Philippe Wojazer
Authorities in Beirut have reportedly arrested a French-Lebanese businessman linked to allegations of illicit Libyan financing for Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 French presidential election campaign, on foot of an Interpol request.
Ziad Takieddine fled to the Lebanese capital earlier this year after a French court sentenced him to five years in prison in a separate case involving millions of euros he’d allegedly received for arms sales to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
Takieddine previously claimed he had personally delivered suitcases carrying a total of €5 million from Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in Tripoli to Sarkozy’s chief of staff back in France in 2006 and 2007.
However, he retracted the claim about the Libyan funds last month, instead accusing the magistrate overseeing the trial of the former French president of having twisted his words to make him “say things that are totally contradictory” to what he actually said.
Takieddine will now be questioned by Lebanon’s general prosecutor to establish whether or not the charges against him are justified and can be proven in court, the AFP reported. If the case proceeds, his trial could be held in Lebanon, where he is a citizen, or in France, with him being extradited back there.
Sarkozy is currently on trial in a separate case, accused of corruption and influence-peddling for allegedly attempting to bribe a magistrate in return for information about an investigation into his party’s finances.
On Thursday, former French Interior Minister Claude Gueant was charged with being part of a criminal conspiracy over the Libyan funding investigation. Gueant was seen as a close ally of Sarkozy, working as his chief of staff from 2007 to 2011 and his Interior Minister from 2011 to 2012.
Liverpool mayor among group arrested over alleged bribery & witness intimidation in building corruption probe – reports
4 Dec 2020 18:44
FILE PHOTO. © Getty Images / Anthony Devlin
The first directly-elected mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, was reportedly arrested by Merseyside Police on Friday over alleged bribery and witness intimidation, as part of an investigation into development contracts.
A police statement detailing the arrests did not name the Labour mayor explicitly as a suspect in the "ongoing investigation", however, local reports have identified him as one of those detained.
Police said that those held include three men, aged 62, 33 and 46, "arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation." Two other men, aged 25 and 72, were arrested "on suspicion of witness intimidation."
Officers said the five had been taken to stations across Merseyside, "where they will be questioned by detectives."
A spokesperson for Liverpool City Council said it is "co-operating with Merseyside Police in relation to its ongoing investigation. We do not comment on matters relating to individuals."
Anderson or his office have yet to confirm or deny the reports of his arrest, however a Labour spokesperson confirmed that the mayor has been "administratively suspended" from the party, pending the outcome of the case.
Ukraine's Parliament Restores Anti-Corruption Legislation
Annulled By Highest Court
December 04, 2020 20:06 GMT
Ukraine's Constitutional Court
Ukraine’s parliament voted on December 4 to reimpose penalties for officials who provide false information about their incomes, defying an earlier ruling from the nation’s highest court.
Ukraine's Constitutional Court in October annulled key parts of the nation's anti-corruption legislation, sparking a widespread backlash at home and abroad. The decision threatened Western financial aid to Kyiv and visa-free travel to Europe Union countries.
The nation’s highest court declared unconstitutional a provision that required officials to submit electronic asset declarations. It also struck down legislation that made providing false income information a criminal offense.
Ukraine has suffered from widespread corruption for decades that has held back foreign investment and economic growth. The prior legislation, passed after the 2013-14 Euromaidan protests that pushed Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovuych from power, helped combat the problem by exposing and punishing those officials involved in graft.
The new bill passed by parliament on December 4 is less severe.
According to its provisions, an official who deliberately conceals assets worth between 1.3 million and 9 million hryvnya ($46,000 and $318,000) can be fined between 42,500 and 51,000 hryvnya ($1,500 to $1,800) or sentenced to between 150 and 240 hours of community service.
Those who fail to declare assets worth over 9 million hryvnya will face a fine of between 51,000 and 85,000 hryvnya ($1,800 to $3,000) and between 150 and 240 hours of community service or up to two years of “restrictions of freedom” that do not include imprisonment.
Additionally, any official convicted of hiding income can be banned from holding public office for up to three years.
Well, that might slightly improve government coffers, but will do nothing to rescue one of the most corrupt societies in the world.
Felipa Obrador and Pío López: AMLO’s relatives
pointed out by corruption and nepotism
By Yucatan Times
December 4, 2020
The most recent corruption case in AMLO’s family circle is related to his cousin, whose company obtained millionaire contracts from Pemex.
MEXICO CITY (Latinus/Carlo Loret de Mola) – Although the fight against corruption and nepotism are pillars of López Obrador’s government, various family members have caused him to be harshly criticized due to the lack of these principles.
First Cousin
The most recent case is that of Felipa Guadalupe Obrador Olán, first cousin of the president, whose company, Litoral Laboratorios Industriales, has been benefited with contracts from Pemex for more than 365 million pesos.
According to information obtained by Latinus through transparency, the company won in 2020, along with other companies, three contracts for 133 million pesos to carry out water analysis, noise assessment, and characterization of hydrocarbons and chemicals in Pemex Exploration and Production facilities.
It is essential to mention that in 2019, the same company won, along with Marinsa de Mexico, a contract for 231 million pesos to introduce chemical products to wells in shallow waters off the Yucatan peninsula, which will expire until 2022.
Litoral Laboratorios Industriales is based in Campeche and specializes in chemical analysis and water and hydrocarbons study. In the last decade, it has provided services to the federal government and Campeche and Tabasco’s states.
According to research by journalist Carlos Loret de Mola, the company has won direct awards with the Mexican Petroleum Institute (IMP), Airports and Auxiliary Services, the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), and the Institute of Security and Social Services for State Workers (ISSSTE).
It is worth mentioning that during the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto, Felipa Obrador’s company benefited from at least 25 contracts. However, unlike those awarded under the present administration, these were with a lower frequency and amounts.
Given this situation, López Obrador said that “the director of Pemex will surely inform” about the case, but insisted that his government will not allow acts of corruption, nepotism or influence by any member of his family.
“I cannot fail the people. Corruption, impunity, influence peddling, cronyism, nepotism, none of these scourges of politics can be allowed. If a family member does something wrong, he should be judged even if he is a child,” he said.
Likewise, the president recalled that in June 2019, he established a memorandum. He promised not to accept “under any circumstances” that any member of his family could do business with the government.
Brother
Another representative case of corruption in the family circle has to do with his brother Pío López Obrador -who’s videos were broadcasted- taking money from David León, ex-coordinator of Civil Protection, to contribute to the operations of the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) in Chiapas.
Due to those videos, AMLO was harshly criticized by the opposition and by public opinion. The head of the Federal Executive declared in a press conference that he was aware of such videos so that if the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) called him to testify, he would be willing to do so.
Sister-in-Law
However, there is still another case of corruption among the president’s family members, and it involves Concepción Falcón Montejo, wife of Ramiro López Obrador, AMLO’s brother.
In this case, she was identified as a participant in the alleged embezzlement of millions in Macuspana, Tabasco – the municipality where López Obrador is from – which would have caused the resignation of 11 local cabinet officials, among them the mayor of the district, Roberto Villalpando Arias.
The treasury’s embezzlement would have been for more than 200 million pesos between 2019 and 2020, from the deviation of resources corresponding to the Fund of Contributions for Social Infrastructure (FAIS) and the Fund of Contributions for the Strengthening of the Municipalities (Fortamun).
Cleaning up states as utterly corrupt as Mexico or Ukraine must be an impossible job, especially when your family is part of the problem.
One more PML-N MPA to face corruption case in Punjab
LAHORE: The Anti-corruption Punjab has registered another corruption case against a PML-N lawmaker, Malik Saif-ul-Malook Khokhar on Friday over allegations of corruption.
Khokhar has been accused of causing a huge loss amounting in the millions to the national exchequer through fraud and forgery, according to the Anti-corruption Punjab.
The case against the MPA was filed on the recommendations of Lahore's deputy commissioner, said the Anti-corruption Punjab officials.
The Anti-Corruption Punjab has accused the MPA of registering a forged surrender deed of a land measuring 22 canals, 11 marlas. Officials have alleged that he carried out the fraudulent activity with the help of the area's patwari (registrar) Iftikhar Ahmed and sub-registrar Raja Nadeem.
A surrender deed is prepared at the time of sale or transfer of a joint heirship.
Officials vowed to recover each and every rupee of the government from the accused.
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