Conflicts of interest alleged in ‘multi-layered web of influence’
as Big Pharma pays millions to informal Parliament groups
25 Jun, 2021 14:14
FILE PHOTO: ©REUTERS / Yves Herman
Health-related semi-formal working groups of the British Parliament are taking millions in donations from the pharmaceutical industry, which presents an obvious potential for conflicts of interest, a new study has said.
All-Party Parliamentary Groups, or APPGs, are the less-regulated cousins of select committees, where MPs and peers interested in a certain topic can work together. There are currently over 700 of them, focused on issues from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, and from a genetic condition called ‘22q11 Syndrome’ to zoos and aquariums.
Just like the formal parliamentary working groups, APPGs can raise awareness of certain problems, hold inquiries, and produce reports, but they have fewer formal rules as to how they should operate. For example, they are allowed to involve external organizations to co-author their publications, or take funding from external sponsors to cover their administrative expenses or organize events.
A new study published in the scientific journal PLOS One focuses on 146 health-related registered APPGs and the money some of them received from the drug industry.
Between 2012 and 2018, pharmaceutical companies provided almost £2.2 million ($3 million), or roughly 30 percent of all funding received by 58 such groups, the study’s authors estimate.
The money in question was paid either by drug companies themselves or through industry-funded patient organizations, which authors of the study consider lobbyist vehicles for the corporations. They said the arrangement is part of a “multi-layered web of influence” that corporations have on policy making.
The APPGs for Cancer and Health were the biggest recipients by value, with the former receiving virtually all its funding (99.61 percent) from industry sources. 22 groups received 100 percent of their external funding from them.
“We suggest that, in the context of health related APPGs, payments from the pharmaceutical industry represent institutional conflicts of interest as they create circumstances where the primary interest (policymaking in the interests of public health) is at risk of being unduly influenced by the secondary interest (the pharmaceutical industry’s goal of maximising profits),” the study said.
The researchers backed up their argument by pointing to the content of the output that the informal groups have made over the years. Seven publications by APPGs for Cancer and HIV that involved input from external organisations named 28 contributors from 13 different companies. Nineteen of them had provided payments to the APPG publishing the report, which “suggests that there is a link between providing payments to APPGs and being involved in their activities.”
Speaking to the Guardian, the authors of the study stressed that they were not alleging any impropriety on the part of the APPGs they looked into. But the groups “are a key part of policymaking and it is clear that corporate money is entering the APPG bloodstream,” Emily Rickard and Dr Piotr Ozieranski, from Bath University’s Department of Social and Policy Sciences, said.
They believe that Big Pharma’s influence on healthcare policies has to be analysed holistically, and that there need to be stricter transparency rules for APPGs to manage conflicts of interest. Parliament is currently examining the institution and whether it requires additional regulation.
Brazil’s top court tosses graft cases against ex-President Lula,
furthering new bid for presidency
25 Jun, 2021 08:19
The Supreme Court of Brazil has reset two cases against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, which had been brought by a judge that the court had earlier found biased, bringing him closer to a new run for president.
A magistrate of the Supreme Federal Court invalidated all evidence brought in the two cases by Sergio Moro as part of the large-scale corruption investigation known as ‘Lava Jato’ (Operation Car Wash). The court earlier found Moro biased against Lula, as he is commonly known in Brazil, and overturned a criminal conviction that he passed on the former president in 2017.
The conviction barred the socialist Lula from running against right-wing candidate Jair Bolsonaro in the 2018 presidential election, which resulted in the latter’s win. Moro then became justice minister under President Bolsonaro.
A series of leaks of communications between the ex-judge and others involved in the prosecution of Lula, which were published by journalist Glenn Greenwald, indicated that the conviction was the result of a plot to bar him from returning to power. At one moment, Deltan Dallagnol, the lead prosecutor in the operation, called Lula’s arrest “a gift from the CIA,” which some people interpreted as evidence that the Donald Trump administration was involved in the plot.
In March, the Brazilian Supreme Court agreed that political bias was present in the case and ruled to overturn Lula’s conviction. It also accused Moro of seven counts of felony judicial bias during his handling of Lava Jato.
This week’s ruling by Supreme Court Magistrate Gilmar Mendes expands that decision to the two cases that Moro launched against Lula while serving as a judge in the city of Curitiba and orders the nullification of “all the decision-making actions” by him. The decision comes days after a federal court acquitted Lula on corruption charges in yet another case.
The news means that it is becoming less likely that Lula will be convicted of a crime and be barred from running in next year’s presidential election in Brazil in a repeat of the 2018 scenario. While he didn’t officially announce his candidacy, Lula is expected by many to run against Bolsonaro, whose policies he has harshly criticized. A poll last month indicated that Lula would win by a comfortable margin, should he and the incumbent president go to a run-off.
Lula, who was in office from 2003-2010, has denied all corruption allegations against him. He still faces three trials, one in Brasilia and two in Sao Paulo.
Peru’s Fujimori demands ‘international audit’ of ballot after
leaked tapes point to attempt to bribe her way into presidency
29 Jun, 2021 12:14
As Keiko Fujimori’s chances of flipping an election loss fade, she demanded a foreign ‘audit’ of the results she has challenged. Last week, she was implicated in an alleged attempt to bribe a jury reviewing her fraud complaints.
The right-wing candidate is struggling to legally overturn the outcome of the June 6 presidential election. The final count put her behind leftist contender Pedro Castillo by just over 44,000 votes, but she sought to annul some 220,000 ballots based on claims of irregularities.
On Monday, she sent a letter to acting president Francisco Sagasti, urging him to ask “international organizations” to conduct an audit of the vote, stating that it was the only way for Peruvians to “know the truth.” She said that, without an external checkup, the legitimacy of the next president would forever be in question and that it was Sagasti’s “historic mission” to deliver one.
Fujimori didn’t say which international organizations she believes should lend legitimacy to the election. The Organization of American States (OAS) called it free and fair, as did many governments, with the US State Department even describing it as a “model of democracy.”
The petition seems to demonstrate Fujimori’s expectation that the National Jury of Elections (JNE), a special four-person judicial body that reviews election complaints, would not take her side. On Monday, the JNE rejected 10 claims by her Popular Force party, bringing the confirmation of Castillo’s win closer. More hearings are expected this week.
The JNE resumed work after replacing one of its members last week. Judge Luis Arce stepped down on Wednesday, saying he refused to carry out the duty after being suspended for alleged pro-Fujimori bias and conflict of interest. His replacement was sworn in on Saturday.
Earlier, Arce’s name came up in leaked tapes allegedly exposing a plot to bribe three members of the JNE so that they would rule in Fujimori’s favor. The plot was attributed to Vladimiro Montesinos, the former powerful intelligence chief under ex-president Alberto Fujimori, the father of the embattled candidate.
In the tapes that were released on Tuesday, Montesinos seemed to instruct a contact in the military about who he should contact to influence the JNE. In another one, a politician claimed that Arce asked for $3 million for each judge willing to vote in support of Fujimori’s claims. The authenticity of the tapes and the possible crimes they indicate are now being investigated by the Peruvian Prosecutor General’s office at the JNE’s request.
The bribery plot scandal was particularly explosive due to the fact that Montesinos is currently serving a 25-year prison term for crimes he committed while in office. He is in custody at a naval base. It was reminiscent of a 2000 outcry over a video, in which he was shown bribing an opposition congressman to support the party of his boss. It was one of the final blows before the downfall of Alberto Fujimori. He is likewise serving a sentence over corruption and abuse of human rights during his presidency.
Keiko Fujimori herself is facing corruption allegations and spent about 13 months behind bars in pre-trial detention between 2018 and 2020, before being released on parole.
Her refusal to concede to Castillo has further fuelled Peru’s political division. Supporters of the two candidates regularly hold mass protests in their support, but so far have managed to avoid major violence. Fujimori has the backing of urban elites and the conservatives, while Castillo, a teacher and union organizer, has won the hearts of poor rural residents.
Castillo was decried by Fujimori as a communist who would ruin Peru’s fragile economy with expropriation of property and other similar policies. His actions after scoring the majority vote, however, somewhat alleviated such fears. He appointed several moderate economic advisers and last week announced he would ask Julio Velarde, a respected chair of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru, to retain his position under his presidency.
The support for Fujimori, meanwhile, seems to have dwindled, as evidenced by an editorial printed at the weekend by the influential conservative newspaper El Comercio, which harshly criticized her attempts to stall the certification of election results.
Of course, we can't assume that a newspaper has no political bias, but....
Former South African president sentenced to 15 months in prison
for failing to appear at corruption inquiry
29 Jun, 2021 11:47
South Africa’s Constitutional Court has ruled that the country’s former president, Jacob Zuma, should serve 15 months in prison for contempt of court after he refused to cooperate with and appear at a corruption inquiry.
Zuma refused to appear at the corruption inquiry earlier this year, despite the presiding judge demanding he give evidence. The former president’s legal team argued he did not have to testify, citing a series of technicalities.
“Mr. Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma is sentenced to undergo 15 months’ imprisonment,” the judge stated, issuing the court’s order, and gave him five days to surrender to police.
The corruption inquiry judiciary had previously filed an application with the Constitutional Court, requesting that Zuma be sentenced to two years behind bars for contempt of court after he refused to attend or provide affidavits.
The former leader repeatedly denied any wrongdoing throughout his nine-year term, which began in 2009 and ended with his ousting in 2018. The charges center on claims that he allowed several prominent businessmen to exploit state resources and wield undue influence over government policy.
A spokesperson for Zuma told South African media that he would be issuing a statement later today, but did not provide any further information about his response. The former president has in the past claimed he was being “vilified” and unfairly accused of being “the king of corrupt people.”
Just incredible!
Indians cry ‘discrimination’ as AstraZeneca’s local vaccine left off
EU’s green list, but identical European-made one included
29 Jun, 2021 09:28
vaccines, which is working on a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Pune, India
(FILE PHOTO) © REUTERS/Euan Rocha
People in India have slammed a decision by the European Union not to include the Indian-made Covishield vaccine – a locally produced copy of the AstraZeneca shot – in its vaccine passport program, labeling it an “insult.”
On Monday, Adar Poonawalla, the head of the Serum Institute of India (SII) said the European Medicines Agency (EMA) had elected against including Covishield in the list of vaccines sanctioned within the EU scheme.
The program, which, from July 1, opens European borders to people who have been inoculated with approved EU vaccines, includes AstraZeneca’s vaccines produced in the EU and the UK but not the identical version made by the SII, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. The list also includes the Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson shots.
Poonawalla said on Twitter that he was aware that many Indians were now facing issues traveling to the EU, having been administered the Covishield jab, and promised to resolve the matter as soon as possible.
The online reaction to the EU decision has been damning, with many accusing Brussels of double standards and “vaccine racism.”
Some called it “discrimination,” and questioned why the EU would differentiate an Indian firm renowned for its vaccine-making capacity from European manufacturers, when the shot was “made with proper technology transfer from the mother company.”
Another described the EU’s move as “shocking,” noting: “Needless formality that SII has to specially apply, considering the two are literally the same,” Meanwhile, one Twitter user said it was clearly a “a policy decision” by Brussels, and one that was “quite frankly, very insulting.”
Others were keen to point out that the Covishield vaccine, approved by the World Health Organization, and used around the world, had also been exported to the UK. “This is for Covishield, which is approved and used in the UK and some countries in the EU, until they stopped it,” one person noted, referencing that five million Indian-made AstraZeneca vaccines had been exported to Britain earlier in the pandemic, albeit without Covishield branding.
The EU had attempted to make up for the shortfall in European AstraZeneca production by procuring direct from the SII, although it is not clear whether any Indian-made AstraZeneca was administered within the EU.
The SII has now filed for authorization for its copy of the AstraZeneca vaccine to be used in Europe and therefore included in the EU’s program. The Economic Times reported that India’s foreign ministry had raised the issue with the EMA.
An AstraZeneca spokesperson said they were working to ensure the “inclusion of Covishield as a recognized vaccine for immunization passports” in the EU.
South Korea police investigating treason charges against president
By Elizabeth Shim
June 28 (UPI) -- Police in South Korea are investigating charges against President Moon Jae-in after a North Korean defector and the former head of the Korea Medical Association accused Moon of treason.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's criminal investigation division said it is conducting a probe after Park Sang-hak of Fighters for a Free North Korea and Choi Dae-jip, a physician, filed the charges with the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, News 1 reported Monday.
The complaint against Moon was filed May 13, according to local newspaper Herald Business. The two men accuse the South Korean leader of "joining an enemy state" and harming South Korean national interest. The president also is being charged with abuse of authority and "crimes that benefit the enemy," the report said.
Choi, who clashed with Moon at the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic in 2020 over Moon's decision to not ban travelers from China, has resigned from his leadership position at KMA. On Monday, Choi addressed South Korea's anti-leafleting law, according to reports.
"After Vice Chairwoman of the Korean Workers' Party Kim Yo Jong made a commotion about the launch of 500,000 leaflets to North Korea, the commissioner of the National Police Agency ordered an investigation and raided Park's office," Choi said, according to News 1.
Choi also said "the president cannot give specific investigation orders to police and prosecutors" -- implying Moon interfered with Park's case.
South Korea's criminal code forbids actions that could be classified as treason, including "joining forces with an enemy state." Government actions taken against Park are the equivalent of treason, according to the activist and Choi.
"Although the dissemination of North Korean leaflets is an effective way to provide stimulating information about the outside world to North Koreans and induce changes in the North Korean system, it has been met with obstruction," Park and Choi said in their complaint.
South Korea's leaflet ban is the "act of joining with the enemy, North Korea," they said.
South Korea has defended the leaflet ban, citing resident safety near the demilitarized zone.
Really?
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