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Friday, August 13, 2004Our web site is www.OdiousDebts.org
by Susan Sachs and Judith Miller, New York Times, August 13, 2004 Toward the end of 2000, when Saddam Hussein's skimming from the oil-for-food program for Iraq kicked into high gear, reports spread quickly to the program's supervisors at the United Nations. How did Mr. Hussein amass so much money while under international sanctions? An examination of the program, the largest in the United Nations' history, suggests an equally straightforward answer: The United Nations let him do it. www.odiousdebts.org/odiousdebts/index.cfm?DSP=content&ContentID=11190 Corruption Choking Growth - World Bank by Sonny Inbaraj, ipsnews.net, August 12, 2004 BANGKOK, Corruption, coupled with non-transparent regulations, red tape and the lack of infrastructure, is choking economic growth in Cambodia according to a damning World Bank report released Thursday. The World Bank surveyed 800 businesses in Cambodia and four-fifths of the private sector sampled, according to the report, acknowledged the necessity of paying bribes. www.odiousdebts.org/odiousdebts/index.cfm?DSP=content&ContentID=11189 World Bank slams Cambodian investments Forbes (Associated Press), August 11, 2004 Rampant corruption has paralyzed private businesses and is hampering economic growth in Cambodia, the World Bank said Thursday in a damning report about the country's bribe-ridden investment climate. www.odiousdebts.org/odiousdebts/index.cfm?DSP=content&ContentID=11188 Look beyond bias to explain investment dearth by Tim Wakeford, Business Day (Johannesburg), August 12, 2004 Who benefits from weak and corrupt governments? Companies that require cheap production and every opportunity to circumvent statutory obligations. After all, it is cheaper to purchase the loyalty of political leaders than to have to service the more onerous tax and compliance costs. Ultimately "it takes two to tango" in any transaction that involves corruption, says Tim Wakeford of Growth Africa Md, Johannesburg in his Opinion piece. www.odiousdebts.org/odiousdebts/index.cfm?DSP=content&ContentID=11187 Report on Sri Lanka calls for independent anti-corruption authority by Anushika Amarasinghe and Jeff Lovitt, Transparency International, August 12, 2004 To curb corruption, public administration reform must include the strengthening of parliamentary oversight and accounting bodies like the Auditor-General's office, and new laws on Freedom of Information, Whistleblower Protection and Declaration of Political Party Funding, says Transparency International report. www.odiousdebts.org/odiousdebts/index.cfm?DSP=content&ContentID=11193 
Freed migrant leader He Kechang still fighting for justice Three Gorges Probe exclusive, August 11, 2004 Three Gorges Probe is able to report for the first time that 63-year-old He Kechang, jailed for three years for appealing to top Chinese leaders about corruption in the Three Gorges resettlement operation, has been released and is still struggling on behalf of people uprooted by the dam. www.odiousdebts.org/odiousdebts/index.cfm?DSP=content&ContentID=11184 Odious Debts Online News Service: Odious Debts Online covers the latest odious debts challenges around the world. It also provides updates on important developments in the field of scholarly research and advances in the legal precedents underpinning the Doctrine of Odious Debts. Odious Debts Online is produced by Probe International, a non-profit organization based in Toronto, Canada. Probe International's book, Odious Debts: Loose Lending, Corruption, and the Third World's Environmental Legacy by Patricia Adams (Earthscan UK), popularized the odious debts concept after its publication in 1991. Probe International maintains a rapidly expanding Internet resource and electronic library on odious debts at www.odiousdebts.org. All stories written by Odious Debts Online staff may be reproduced freely, although we ask that you credit Odious Debts Online and provide a link to www.odiousdebts.org.Keep us informed. Odious Debts Online welcomes submissions. Publisher: Patricia Adams Yes! Sign me up to receive Odious Debts Online! To contact the editors, please e-mail: |
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