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Judge drops corruption charges against Portuguese ex-PM Socrates,
who still faces trial for alleged money-laundering
9 Apr, 2021 19:28
Portugal's former Prime Minister Jose Socrates leaves court after hearing he will not face corruption charges,
Lisbon, Portugal, April 9, 2021 © Reuters / Pedro Nunes
The corruption charges facing Portugal's former prime minister, Jose Socrates, since his arrest in 2014 have been dropped, but he will still stand trial for alleged money laundering, according to local reports.
Ivo Rosa, a judge at Portugal's highest criminal court, announced on Friday that Socrates would no longer face corruption charges due to insufficient evidence, weak arguments made by the prosecution, and because the period in which some crimes can be tried has expired.
The ex-PM denies all allegations against him and told reporters that there had been a "manipulation" of the legal process by the Public Prosecutor's Office, resulting in him being "arrested and defamed."
The 63-year-old also vowed to defend himself against three charges of money laundering, which he and a friend, businessman Carlos Santos Silva, still face, according to local media.
The pair are also reported to be facing three charges of the forgery of documents.
Socrates was originally alleged to have committed 31 crimes, ranging from tax fraud to corruption while in office, including during his tenure as PM from 2005 to 2011.
The socialist ex-leader was investigated as part of Portugal's biggest ever anti-corruption probe, 'Operation Marquis', after being arrested at Lisbon airport.
He spent months in prison before being placed under house arrest. Socrates denies allegations that he pocketed millions of euros as part of an arrangement with the then-chiefs of Banco Espirito Santo and Portugal Telecom.
Ex-president of Espirito Santo, Ricardo Salgado, will stand trial on charges of abuse of trust, Portuguese daily newspaper Correio da Manha reported.
Former minister Armando Vara is also said to be facing a money laundering charge, while Socrates' driver Joao Perna will stand trial for possession of a prohibited weapon.
Mexico arrests 30 marines over alleged forced disappearances
in city hit by drug cartel violence
13 Apr, 2021 16:26
Mexican marines awaiting the arrival of Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman the then most wanted drug lord on January 08, 2016, Mexico City, Mexico © Miguel Tovar / LatinContent via Getty Images
Dozens of marines have been arrested by Mexican police for allegedly playing a part in forced disappearances in 2014 in the northern city of Nuevo Laredo, the navy has said. The border area has been plagued by cartel drug wars.
The attorney general's office ordered the detention of the naval personnel who were carrying out “surveillance and deterrence” work in the city, which borders the US state of Texas, the navy said in a short statement on Monday night.
Mexico's navy has been a key arm of the government's military-led cartel crackdown in the last 15 years, but it has drawn complaints over alleged human rights abuses and forced disappearances.
Its statement did not go into details, but Nuevo Laredo has been afflicted with drug-related violence and turf wars between cartels for years.
In 2014, the bodies of the city's former mayor BenjamÃn Galvan Gomez and an associate were found dumped on a highway near Monterrey after the pair were allegedly kidnapped.
Two years earlier, the heads of 14 men were found in ice coolers in a vehicle near Nuevo Laredo's city hall, along with a message – apparently from the Sinaloa Cartel – that accused Galvan Gomez of working for a rival gang, Los Zetas.
In another separate incident in 2012, a bomb exploded in a car in the then-mayor's city hall parking spot, killing one person and injuring others.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has set up a militarized police force called the National Guard, but has also stressed the need for a “hugs, not bullets” approach.
Second UK inquiry into ex-PM David Cameron lobbying scandal
announced by select committee of MPs
14 Apr, 2021 18:37
The UK's Treasury Committee has announced it will hold an inquiry into the government lobbying scandal surrounding former Prime Minister David Cameron, which has now engulfed several ministers and is already facing a review.
The cross-party committee of MPs, which examines Treasury expenditure, administration and policy, said in a statement on Wednesday it has agreed “in principle” to an inquiry, which will be launched next week.
The group said their investigation will be into the “lessons” from the scandal, which involves collapsed financial lender Greensill Capital as well as former Tory PM Cameron.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday announced an independent review by legal expert Nigel Boardman into Greensill and the use of supply chain finance in government, although he did not explicitly mention lobbying.
Earlier on Wednesday, Johnson's Conservative government voted down a plan by the opposition Labour party to hold a wider parliamentary inquiry into the lobbying.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he wanted a “full” investigation into the scandal, which he said had exposed the “sleaze and cronyism” at the “heart” of the Conservative Party.
Cameron, who became an adviser for Greensill after he left Downing Street, allegedly lobbied ministers on its behalf in a bid to win government contracts for the firm.
His actions included sending text messages to Chancellor Rishi Sunak and taking Lex Greensill, the company's founder, for a private drink with Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
Mahmoud Abbas challenger says Palestinian president is
‘ultimately responsible’ for official corruption
'Enough is enough,' says former Fatah veteran Nasser Al Kidwa
Marwan Barghouti's wife, Fadwa, right, leaves the Palestinian Central Election Commission office after registering her husband's list for the upcoming parliamentary election in May, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, March 31, 2021. AP Photo
Nasser Al Kidwa’s discontent with Palestine’s ruling Fatah faction was years in the making.
After five decades, he was exiled from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's party and joined forces with one of Palestine’s most prominent political figures, Marwan Al Barghouti, for legislative elections in May.
“And then came, of course, a campaign of intimidation, a campaign of threats [and] all kinds of media attacks [by Fatah],” Mr Al Kidwa told The National.
Mr Al Barghouti will run in presidential elections set to take place later this year, Mr Al Kidwa said, confirming suspicions that the jailed leader is not only backing the move against Fatah but will be directly challenging Mr Abbas.
A nephew of former Palestinian president Yasser Arafat, Mr Al Kidwa's aspirations for change face a slew of challenges after decades of unaddressed endemic issues, including "largely dysfunctional [government] institutions" and deep-seated public distrust in officials.
A poll of 1,200 adults by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research found that 84 per cent believed the Palestinian Authority is corrupt.
Mr Al Kidwa agrees.
“It is the biggest internal issue affecting the people the most right now,” he said. “And Mahmoud Abbas is ultimately responsible.”
Mr Al Kidwa said his Freedom list wants to change the status quo of poor governance, legal inequality and diminished freedom of expression in the occupied territories after 15 years of Fatah rule.
“It’s going to be sweaty. It might even be bloody. We have to be prepared for all difficulties that might face us. But the bottom line is this: we don’t have a choice. Things reached a point where we either go down the drain or we stand up and say: enough is enough.”
The fate any Palestinian politician found guilty of corruption would lie in the hands of the Palestinian parliament which has been defunct for over a decade but could play a more vital role in the political scene after the legislative elections.
"Of course there are people above the law" in the Fatah government, Mr Al Kidwa said.
The road ahead for the first Palestinian legislative elections in 15 years is also murky as the Palestinian Authority insists they will not be held if Israel refuses to allow voting in east Jerusalem.
Analysts believe this could be a way out of holding the elections for Mr Abbas, who is polling unfavourably against the Barghouti-Kidwa alliance.
“With or without elections, things have already changed in the street. People broke the barrier of fear. For the first time in a long time, there is a discussion of political issues and new government," Mr Al Kidwa said.
Turkey’s ruling Islamists dogged by mounting corruption claims
Allegations of government corruption are adding to public anger
as the economy continues to decline
Turkish President and leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his supporters during a political meeting of his ruling party the AKP, in Ankara, March 24, 2021.
Amberin Zaman, al-monitor
April 19, 2021
Turkish authorities announced Monday they are expanding an ongoing investigation into allegations of human trafficking leveled against a local municipality run by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), adding to mounting public anger over endemic corruption and a weakening economy.
The municipality organized tours to European countries for people who wanted to leave the country, providing them with special visa-exempt passports in exchange for large sums of money, in what opposition lawmakers charge is a state-sponsored illegal migration scheme.
The government said it was investigating six more municipalities, including several run by opposition parties, on similar charges.
The scandal erupted in early March after it emerged that of a total 45 persons sent to Germany in September 2020 by the AKP-run Yesilyurt municipality in southeastern Turkey as part of its “project to raise environmentally conscious individuals,” only three had returned. The group had traveled on “grey” passports issued to Turkish citizens who take part in government-sponsored activities overseas.
The government launched an investigation, with one deputy governor and three other bureaucrats suspended from their duties so far. Details only began to fully emerge last week as various people involved in the scam began to speak out.
Sevilay Yilman, of the pro-government Haberturk daily, published excerpts of her conversation with a man who went on the junket in an April 19 column. The man, who said he was employed as a construction worker in Germany, presumably off the books, claimed one of the main organizers of the scheme was a former AKP mayor in his native Bingol province also in the mainly Kurdish southeast. The man, identified solely by his initials B.H., said, “Everyone who lives in Bingol knows this is the way to get to Germany, so long as you have 6,000 euros.” The man continued, “There are of course suckers who cough up 20,000 euros.” The Yesilyurt scandal was only the tip of the iceberg. “Between 2019-2020, at least 450-500 people who I still see here [in Germany] were spirited out of Bingol in this way,” the man said.
German authorities have reportedly launched their own investigation into the activities of a company in Germany run by a Turkish man named Ersin Kilit, who is implicated in the fraud. Kilit denies any wrongdoing and has pointed fingers at the AKP.
The human trafficking charges come amid a campaign mounted by opposition parties demanding that the government explain where some $128 billion in Central Bank reserves went after it was thought to have been spent to prop up Turkey’s ailing currency by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s son-in-law, former Economy Minister Berat Albayrak.
Albayrak resigned from his post last November a day after Naci Agbal, a former finance minister, was tapped by Erdogan to head the Central Bank. Agbal began raising interest rates and the lira began to rally, but he was sacked last month with some alleging that this was because he was investigating the fate of the $128 billion in reserves that Albayrak is accused of having burned through over the past two years.
Erdogan has angrily rejected the claims, and prosecutors have filed charges against the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) for hanging banners and posters that read “Where is the 128 billion?” on the grounds that these constituted an insult to the country’s president.
Erdogan suggested that the money had been spent on combatting and mitigating the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. But with Turkey now topping the list of countries most affected by the virus, with some 55,802 cases reported on April 18 despite a raft of new restrictions, the explanation rings hollow.
It hasn’t helped that Turkish Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan’s own efforts to battle the pandemic were allegedly crafted to enrich herself. She has yet to formally respond to CHP lawmakers’ claims that her ministry awarded contracts to buy 9 million liras ($1.1 million) worth of anti-COVID-19 sanitizers to a company she jointly owns with her spouse.
Oya Ozarslan, who is the Turkish chair of Transparency International, the global graft monitoring agency, noted that Turkey currently ranks 86 (with a score of 40) among 180 countries in the Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International. Compared to only seven years ago, the country dipped by 33 levels in its ranking and by 10 points overall. “Corruption has always been an issue for Turkey, but this rapid decline is very concerning. Over the years, the type and scale of corruption may have also significantly changed to grand corruption from petty [cases], and with the recent decline in the economy, people are becoming more susceptible to corruption issues,” Ozarslan said in emailed comments to Al-Monitor.
Disaffection with the government has been sharpened by the pandemic, notably as a result of the initial discrepancies between the number of cases reported by the Ministry of Health and those tracked by civil society. The uneven application of pandemic rules has added to public resentment, Ozarslan observed. While the AKP has organized a series of party congresses across the country and allowed its associates to organize funerals and other events in violations of government rules in the midst of the pandemic, “tens of thousands of people had to close their shops, lost their jobs and a number of people were even driven to suicide. This created a feeling of deep injustice,” she added.
Yet during its nearly 20 years of uninterrupted rule, the AKP managed to survive a string of corruption scandals, most notably in 2013 when a far-reaching probe unveiled links between Erdogan’s inner circle, Turkish state lender Halkbank and Iran’s multibillion-dollar sanctions-busting oil-for-gold trade. Halkbank is in the dock in a New York federal court over its central role in the scheme. Erdogan’s biggest worry is not the size of the fine the state lender is likely to be slapped with as much as what further revelations jailed Iranian-Turkish businessman Reza Zarrab, who signed a plea bargain with the prosecution, is likely to offer about Turkey’s ruling elite.
Ayse Cavdar, a Turkish anthropologist based in Berlin who has closely studied the AKP, noted that “the prevailing sentiment until recently within Erdogan’s base was that ‘they are not stealing for themselves but sharing the riches with us.’ The prevailing sentiment now is that 'what is stolen is no longer coming back to us,’” Cavdar noted.
As joblessness and inflation — and resulting poverty — continue to spiral, the AKP’s poll numbers are moving in the opposite direction. The withdrawal of government subsidies for low-income people hit by the pandemic has aggravated life for many. (The majority of the people who bought their way to Germany are believed to have gone to seek employment.) A survey conducted in March by Metropoll, an Ankara-based polling outfit, suggests that if an election were held today, the AKP would win 31.3% of the vote. That’s still 12 points ahead of the CHP but not enough to form a governing majority with Erdogan’s nationalist allies, the National Movement Party, which scores 7.8%. A bloc of opposition parties jointly musters 40%. More critically perhaps, the biggest and ever-swelling number of undecided voters are among those who voted AKP in the previous elections in 2018.
Erdogan’s foes, though, should not rush to celebrate. “Turkey is enduring soaring living costs, a relentless crackdown on civil liberties and a public health crisis, which would be enough to unravel most Western governments,” said Michael Daventry, a UK-based journalist who runs the Turkish politics website JamesinTurkey.com and analyzes Turkish polls. “These figures show Turkish voters clearly hold the [AKP] responsible for their hardship but aren’t convinced that opposition parties provide the remedy. And crucially, far fewer voters blame President Erdogan himself — he still commands enough trust for now to win any snap [presidential] election," Daventry predicted.
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