Pacific Anti-Corruption Updates (20 February 2021): Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, Fiji, PNG

-

COOK ISLANDS

Cooks deny "sinister move" over audit delays.  Official documents show Cook Islands auditors repeatedly raised issues over hundreds of millions in state assets, taxes, loans and cash.

https://islandsbusiness.com/past-news-break-articles/item/3136-cooks-deny-sinister-move-over-audit-delays.html

 

SOLOMON ISLANDS

CSOs and UNDP Raise Public Awareness on Anti-corruption.  Development Services Exchange (DSE), the umbrella organisation of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Solomon Islands, in partnership with UNDP successfully concluded the reflection workshop for five grantee organizations, beneficiaries of the Transparency and Accountability Project (TAP), which aimed to discuss the achievements of the CSO’s in combatting corruption, challenges ahead and plans for the future.

https://www.solomontimes.com/news/csos-and-undp-raise-public-awareness-on-anticorruption/10635

 

FIJI

Fiji will continue to withhold USP grant.  Fijian Minister for Economy highlighted in Parliament last week that Fiji will not release the University of the South Pacific (USP) grant of $27.7m (US$13.6 million) for the year 2020/2021 because of governance issues…[Minister] Sayed-Khaiyum adds that a simple independent investigation could solve governance issues within USP.

https://www.fbcnews.com.fj/news/fiji-will-continue-to-withhold-usp-grant/

 

USP Vice Chancellor Ahluwalia not a champion of good governance: Professor Naidu.  A former leading figure at the University of the South Pacific claims ousted Vice Chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia wasn’t always on the straight and narrow when it came to decision making…Naidu alleges that Ahluwalia is responsible for harassing and sacking several people, as well as the arbitrary appointment of his supporters to key positions.

https://www.fbcnews.com.fj/news/ahluwalia-not-a-champion-of-good-governance-naidu/

 

PNG

‘Too good to be true’: the deal with an Isis-linked Australian family that betrayed PNG's most marginalised.  A company owned by Australian brothers Mamdouh and Ibrahim Elomar – patriarchs of a notorious Sydney family linked to Isis and themselves formerly convicted of international bribery – have been found by a court in Singapore to have improperly paid more than $6m to a senior PNG official and his wife to buy a PNG timber company at an estimated discount of more than 90%.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/13/too-good-to-be-true-the-deal-with-an-isis-linked-australian-family-that-betrayed-pngs-most-marginalised

 

To know more about the UN Pacific Regional Anti-Corruption Project please contact:

Annika Wythes, Regional Anti-Corruption Adviser, UNODC, annika.wythes@un.org

Popular posts from this blog

Middle East & North Africa - Ukraine - Sri Lanka

-
Corruption fuels ongoing conflict. The Middle East and North Africa has been in a decline on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for years. The region is also ranked as the "least peaceful region" according to the Global Peace Index. Transparency International (TI) argues that corruption, conflict, and security are profoundly intertwined. TI: https://www.transparency.org/en/news/cpi-2022-middle-east-north-africa-corruption-fuels-ongoing-conflict   [Opinion] Ukraine's corruption purge is setting the stage for private investment-driven recovery. Corruption is regarded as a key threat to the Ukrainian economy, depriving public budgets and discouraging foreign direct investments (FDI). The current administration has taken strong anti-corruption action, and the country has witnessed a significant increase in FDI in recent years, says author. DevDiscourse: https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/business/2353089-ukraines-corruption-purge-setting-stage-...
Read more

The Pacific - Nepal - Eastern Europe & Central Asia

-
[Blog] How are perceptions of corruption in seven small Pacific countries? Larger Pacific Island neighbors are often garnering the lion's share of attention both from researchers and policy makers. How are the experiences of corruption in countries like Tuvalu, Tokelau, Niue, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), The Cook Islands, Palau, and Nauru? DevPolicy Blog: https://devpolicy.org/perceptions-of-corruption-in-seven-small-pacific-island-countries-20230223/   [Opinion] Two decades of new anti-corruption law in Nepal: Why it missed its mark. According to a Nepalese journalist, the Anti-Corruption law and Prevention of Corruption act of 2002 laid the foundation for numerous investigations, scandals, and court cases. To a large extent, they did however fail to enable significant conviction and return of assets. Online Khabar: https://english.onlinekhabar.com/anti-corruption-law-missing-target.html   [Blog] Growing security risks and authorit...
Read more

Global - Sub-Saharan Africa - Turkey & Syria

-
Invisible Trillions review: Global capitalism operates beyond the rule of law and threatens democracy. Raymond W. Baker's new book "Invisible Trillions" argues that "secrecy has become as important for corporations as transparent and taxable profits used to be". "Only radical improvements across the globe in financial transparency and accountability, and in regulatory capacity and integrity, can break this cycle of political decay and despair". The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/invisible-trillions-review-global-capitalism-operates-beyond-the-rule-of-law-and-threatens-democracy-199311   [Blog] The dynamics of violent extremism in sub-Saharan Africa. There is no better environment for the expansion of violent extremist groups than a vacuum in state authority. These groups begin to compete with the state and may even be initially attractive to communities weary of years of lawlessness, corruption, and chaos according to autho...
Read more