Anti-Corruption
Financial Chinoiserie
Monday, March 30th, 2015A most peculiar crisis is developing for the Chinese economy – and, indeed, for the regime — while the world’s attention is riveted on the chaos and terror in the Mideast and Russian aggression in Ukraine. Not the smallest element is the clever manipulation by Beijing’s strategists of the world’s... ...
South Korea -Realizing Change after the Ferry Sinking*
Wednesday, June 11th, 2014The April tragedy of the ferry Sewol sinking off the coast of South Korea has brought the country to an important crossroads. Over the last two months, there has been a collective national attempt to pull the country together by addressing some of the immediate issues and questions that have... ...
The Corrupt Academy*
Saturday, December 28th, 2013“One has to start somewhere.” That’s how the president of the American Studies Association justified the ASA’s vote to boycott Israel when he was asked why the organization had ignored the vast number of human rights abusing states that pepper the planet. He might have added, where else do we... ...
US Aid to Afghanistan for Condos In Dubai? Why The Obama Administration Doesn’t Seem To Care
Wednesday, January 26th, 2011In his State of the Union speech last night, the President stated: “The Afghan government will need to deliver better governance. But we are strengthening the capacity of the Afghan people and building an enduring partnership with them.” It is not a secret that President Karzai’s government is rife with... ...
Congress Should Stop Funding UNRWA
Tuesday, January 25th, 2011The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold hearing today on “The United Nations: Urgent Problems that Need Congressional Action,” including recommendations to stop funding the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Perhaps now that the U.S. debt crossed 14 Trillion dollars, would be a good time to stop funding this corrupt organization that fosters the Palestinian... ...
Clinton’s Iranian Connection
Friday, January 2nd, 2009On Dec. 19, 2008. at 2 p.m., the New York-based Alavi Foundation, which supports Iranian causes, contributed between $25,000 and $50,000 to the William J. Clinton Foundation. This can be best described as the ultimate chutzpah, for on the very same day, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of... ...
Putin's Growing Appetite
Monday, September 29th, 2008President George W. Bush meeting today (Monday Sept. 29) with Ukraine’s President, aims at strengthening Viktor Yushchenko’s stand against the Kremlin. On the agenda is Russia’s growing threats against and meddling in Ukraine’s domestic politics in effort to derail its pending integration into NATO. This meeting, as Bush’s condemnation of... ...
No Bulgarian Sanctions: Government Will Fight Corruption
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008Bulgaria’s efforts to fight corruption have not gone unnoticed. On June 6, International Monetary Fund Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn praised Bulgaria’s economic stability. A day earlier, Bulgaria was accepted as a member of the World Bank’s “Reformers’ Club;” the nation ranks among the top 10 of the 200 countries surveyed. According... ...
Bulgaria’s PM Has Both The Will And The Potential To Carry Out Reforms
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008THIS TIME BULGARIA IS DETERMINED TO SUCCEED Corruption and organized crime is a worldwide vice, not just a Bulgarian phenomenon, says Chris Braham, Law Enforcement & Management Consulting Global Services Chris Braham is a member of the international team headed by Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, the Director of the American Center... ...
Brussels Often Criticizes Bulgaria, Sometimes Without Grounds
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008DR. EHRENFELD: FIGHT CORRUPTION NOW The Bulgarians should take their Premier’s courage as an example, says Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld is the director of the US Centre for the Study of Corruption and the Rule of Law. She is in Bulgaria together with two US experts at the... ...
Russia’s New ‘State Oligarchy’
Monday, December 17th, 2007Left: Vladimir Putin with Oligarch Oleg Deripaska – The landslide victory of President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party in December’s parliamentary election and Putin’s nomination of Dmitry Medvedev to succeed him cements Putin’s position as Russia’s Leader. Now, he can freely accelerate the state’s takeover and consolidation of Russia’s remaining heavy... ...
Russia’s Artful Dodger
Tuesday, September 18th, 2007Alcoa Inc.’s shares may have fallen 30% since their July 2007 peak, but that only makes the world’s second largest aluminum producer a more tempting takeover target. A few foreign companies have expressed interest, including United Company Rusal (UCR, registered “offshore” in Jersey), now the world’s largest aluminum conglomerate. Rusal’s... ...
Business…Russian Style
Wednesday, June 27th, 2007The Transparency International 2007 global report released on May 24 documents widespread Russian corruption and lack of independence in Russia’s legal system, and its courts in particular. This, according to the report, is due to the government’s growing political interference. Novaya Gazeta, Russia’s best-known opposition newspaper, claims that corruption in... ...
Ukrainian Premier Outlines Plans For The Future
Monday, April 23rd, 2007The April 2 decree of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko to dissolve the parliament and hold new legislative elections generated a political crisis that is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. Reminiscent of the social unrest during the 2004 Orange Revolution, demonstrators are again filling Kiev’s main squares. This crisis originated... ...
Carter's Arab Financiers
Thursday, December 21st, 2006To understand what feeds former president Jimmy Carter’s anti-Israeli frenzy, look at his early links to Arab business. Between 1976-1977, the Carter family peanut business received a bailout in the form of a $4.6 million, “poorly managed” and highly irregular loan from the National Bank of Georgia (NBG). According to... ...
Saudi Accountability?
Tuesday, November 14th, 2006Responding to last week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Saudi Arabia’s role in the war on terror, entitled “Saudi Arabia: Friend or Foe in the War on Terror?”, Riyadh’s ambassador to the U.S., Prince Turki al-Faisal,charged the committee members with ignorance.” Judging by the statements made at the hearing, it... ...
Care International And Misinformation
Friday, October 20th, 2006One must read Susan Estrich and Harvey Silverglate’s letter in response to our Monday Op-Ed as being a product of their duty as attorneys to zealously advocate for their client, Emadeddin Z. Muntasser (“Financing jihad: did he or didn’t he?” Wednesday). They incorrectly accuse us of having “uncritically lifted” our... ...
Russia After Dark
Wednesday, September 6th, 2006Confronted with criticism over its increasingly restrictive policies, lack of economic freedom and growing corruption, Russian Economics Minister German Gref boasts that direct foreign investment in Russia grew 100 percent in the first quarter of 2006. But jubilant investors should beware. A recent report from the Council on Foreign Relations... ...
Risky Russky Business
Wednesday, June 28th, 2006Russia is neither capitalist nor democratic. The West’s need for Russia’s energy and cooperation regarding Iran, Iraq, China, and the “War on Terrorism” will likely lower the standard demanded for a full membership in the G8 group, to allow Moscow’s ascendance to the rich nations’ club, at the St. Petersburg... ...
Putin’s Dubious ‘Democracy’
Monday, June 26th, 2006http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20060625-103510-1214r.htm Russia launched another strike against democracy on June 15, when 14 Duma members, representatives of Russia’s five Duma factions, submitted amendments to ban any public political criticism by individuals and/or organizations, including demonstrations against the government. This comes on the heels of an announcement of further restrictions on foreign... ...
Saudi Interest In America
Tuesday, January 17th, 2006A financial jihad against the U.S. economy? Many are aware of widespread Saudi investments in the United States, but few know how potentially harmful they are. Moreover, U.S. policy-makers remain unaware of this grave danger. On Sept. 28, 2001, after the attacks on the United States, Osama bin Laden called... ...
The UN Gives Hamas A Raise
Friday, January 6th, 2006http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=20788 The decision taken at the end of December 2005, by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to provide a large increase in salaries for its thousands of workers, contributes directly to HAMAS’ coffers. The significant raise takes effect this month. The 7.5 – 21% increase... ...
Suing The Palestinian Authority
Tuesday, November 29th, 2005Victims of Palestinian terrorism should take note of Palestinian Authority finance minister Salam Fayad’s recent resignation. Fayad is said to be particularly upset because PA Prime Minister Ahmed Fayad is said to be particularly upset because PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei arranged that the $350 million being donated to the PA in 2005 is paying to employ... ...
Another Free Pass To The Palestinians
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2005http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=20268 The Palestinian Authority has yet to comply with even one agreement they have signed since the Oslo Accord. They have violated the Oslo agreement, Oslo II, and the Road Map. Each agreement required the PA to disarm its terrorists and to empower its “security forces” to protect the safety of Israelis as... ...
Katrina And The War On Terrorism
Tuesday, September 13th, 2005The failure of governments to assist the disenfranchised citizens in Egypt, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories should be a lesson to the U.S. during the fallout from the disastrous hurricane Katrina. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in Gaza, succeeded mainly because they provided the social,... ...
The Business Of Terror
Friday, June 17th, 2005On May 11, 2005, Muhamed Mubayyid was arrested and charged in Boston’s District Court for filing false tax returns on behalf of Care International, for which he acted as treasurer.[1] Mubayyid was also the Customer Services manager of the company known as Ptech, a privately owned technology company based in... ...
In Arafat’s Footsteps
Wednesday, May 25th, 2005“Abu Mazen talks about how important it is to stop terrorism, however, he considers all terrorists that have committed atrocities against Israel, as heroes,” said Brig-Gen. Yossi Kupperwasser, Chief Intelligence Analyst for the IDF, yesterday morning. He continued, “He [Abu Mazen] says that terrorism is not good, however, he takes no actions... ...
Kofi's Other Blind Spot
Friday, April 22nd, 2005The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) released a report on March 2, 2005, expressing its concern regarding “the increasingly sophisticated trade of opiates from Afghanistan.” Yet, Secretary-General Kofi Annan failed to even mention illegal drug trafficking as a global threat in his March 21st plan to improve international security and... ...
Business Before Safety
Monday, February 7th, 2005When airlines’ profits come first. “It is currently not cost-effective to spend billions of dollars equipping America’s 6800 commercial airliners with systems to guard against attacks from shoulder-fired missiles,” concludes the latest RAND study “Protecting Commercial Aviation Against the Shoulder-Fired Missile Threat” published last week. “Cost-effective”? What is more valuable... ...
Where Corruption Rules – The U.N. Is Thoroughly Tainted
Tuesday, December 14th, 2004Had the U.S not gone ahead with its plan to liberate Iraq, we would have never discovered the extent of the corruption in the U.N.’s Oil-for-Food program. But while Oil-for-Food is the biggest, scope-wise, of any known corruption in an international organization, it is merely the culmination of years of... ...
Arafat's Billions
Friday, July 23rd, 2004The news about Yasser Arafat’s demise still proves to be premature. As long as the official Palestinian Authority daily Al Hayat Al Jadida calls for “a bloodless overthrow, which Yasser Arafat will execute against Arafat Yasser,” and most other Palestinian papers continue to support him, he is free to demonstrate... ...
Arafat's Pilfered Profits
Thursday, July 22nd, 2004The Palestinian president has stolen billions from his own sick, starving citizens. The news about Arafat’s demise proved yet again to be premature. He is continuing to demonstrate that despite tottering under the failure of the Intifada against the Israelis, the Bush Administration’s disgust, the UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen’s reprimand,... ...
The Saudi Connection – Their Oil Thicker Than Our Blood
Tuesday, June 1st, 2004http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/ehrenfeld200406010834.asp “Forum shopping” is the latest tactic employed by wealthy Saudis seeking to skirt American justice. First, the Saudis funded the World Trade Center terrorist attack that cost the lives of 3,000 Americans. Now the same Saudis are funding a cynical campaign using English libel law to attack Americans’ First... ...
The Teflon Terrorists
Tuesday, May 11th, 2004Yasser Arafat and his Palestinian Authority continue to use — and steal — aid money to fund terror activities. So why does the aid keep pouring in? Never mind that Yasser Arafat has siphoned off billions in international aid funds from the Palestinian National Fund, and the Palestinian Authority’s budget... ...
Palestinian Aid Audit
Saturday, December 13th, 2003This week, the International donor community has been gathered in Rome to approve another contribution of $1.2 billion to the Palestinian Authority for the 2004 budget. The United States, Japan, the European Union and Norway, are the biggest contributors, joined by the Arab League countries and the International Monetary Fund.... ...
Aid Donors Turn A Blind Eye To Palestinian Terror
Thursday, December 11th, 2003Donors convening next week in Rome for an international conference on funding the Palestinian Authority’s budget are likely to fork over a further $1 billion, ignoring the PA’s ongoing use of aid to pay for terrorism. If testimony given to the European Parliament just last month is any guide, supporters... ...
Eurocash – What Does The Palestinian Authority Do With European Money?
Wednesday, December 10th, 2003When the international donors’ conference convenes in Rome next week to consider a new contribution of $1 billion to the Palestinian Authority, it is likely to continue to ignore the PA’s ongoing funding of terrorist activities. According to Hannes Swoboda, a member of the European parliament’s ad hoc working group... ...
The Palestinian Authority Corruption
Wednesday, November 19th, 2003This report was originally published on – http://www.public-integrity.org/articles/publications42.htm, on November 19, 2003 “War is a dream; peace is a nightmare.” This statement was made by the chairman of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Yasser Arafat, on June 6, 2001, in an interview with Radio Palestine. It vividly explains both the Intifada... ...
Arafat’s Seat: Power, Money, And Terror
Monday, November 17th, 2003In an interesting coincidence, both CBS and the BBC carried “exposes” earlier this month of Yasser Arafat’s use and abuse of the Palestinian Authority’s monies. Among the “revelations” were the payments of $50,000 per month as “living expenses” to members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, the terrorist wing of Arafat’s... ...
Paying For Terrorism
Thursday, October 23rd, 2003Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority has systemically diverted funds donated for the development of the Palestinian state to fund terrorism. “Where is the Money Going?” an independent study by the New York- based Center for the Study of Corruption and the Rule of Law, to be released in Brussels today by... ...
Too Early To Trust
Thursday, July 31st, 2003“If you’re interested in peace in the Middle East, then all of us must work together to dismantle terrorist organizations, to cut off money to terrorist organizations,” President Bush said during this week’s press conference with Prime Minister Sharon. The president’s statement, however, is belied by the administration’s decision last... ...
Punishing And Rewarding Terrorism
Wednesday, April 9th, 2003http://www.public-integrity.org/articles/publications32.htm While America is fighting to liberate the Iraqi people and rid the world of one terrorist regime, it is about to legitimize another by rewarding it with statehood. Going forward with the socalled “Road Map” for Israeli- Palestinian peace now, before real changes take place in the Palestinian Authority,... ...
Banking On Terror
Thursday, February 27th, 2003A rumor that the European Parliament had passed legislation to begin an investigation into the Palestinian Authority’s use of EU funds, is just that. Francois Zimeray, a MEP (Socialist Party, France) was quoted in Haaretz on February 24 as saying to the World Jewish Congress that such an investigation is... ...
The European Union And The Palestinian Authority
Friday, February 21st, 2003“Instead of coming clean, the EU Commission headed by Patten, and the Conference of Presidents thought it was better to sweep the investigation under the carpet.” The European Union’s inability to join the US in its war on terrorist regimes is nothing new – it has funded, and continues to... ...
Why Does The Commission Fear A Pa Probe?
Tuesday, January 28th, 2003Don’t Europeans have a right to know how a terrorist spends their money? The European Union has given Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority 540 Million euros since 2000, and the PA has yet to produce a comprehensive account of what it’s done with the funds. And yet the European Parliament has... ...
EU & The Pa Money Trail: What Happens To Aid Money
Monday, January 27th, 2003Time is running out for the European members of parliament to launch a probe into the longstanding claim that the Palestinian Authority has misused European taxpayers’ money to finance terrorist attacks. British MEP Charles Tannock initiated a petition six months ago to investigate how 540 million Euros given to the... ...
EU Funds For Pa Terror
Friday, January 24th, 2003Time is running out for the European members of Parliament to launch a probe into the longstanding claim that the Palestinian Authority has misused European taxpayers’ money to finance terrorist attacks. The British MEP Charles Tannock initiated a petition six months ago to investigate how 540 million euros of aid... ...
Arafat's Legacy: A Case Study In Terror Funding
Thursday, October 31st, 2002“The U.S. approach to curtail money flow to terrorists is inadequate,” an Independent Task Force on Terrorist Financing, sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations, concluded earlier this month. The verdict came on the heels of Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus’s statement: “I’m getting the feeling that we really... ...
Where Does The Money Go? A Study Of The Palestinian Authority
Tuesday, October 1st, 2002October 1, 2002 This paper was part of Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld’s testimony before the committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parlament. CONTENTS The Palestinian Authority: Where Does the Money Go? The PLO The PA Funding to the PA from International Donors Funding to the PA from Crime and corruption... ...
Understanding Terrorist Financing: Past As Prologue – A Statement By Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld
Tuesday, September 24th, 2002Mr. Chairman, members, and distinguished guests, it is my honor to contribute to these discussions on the subject of terrorist financing. I’m here to shed light on the past, with the hope that this prologue of terrorist funding can be used as a tool to hasten its epilogue. Terrorism is... ...
Arafat's Purse: What It Funds
Friday, September 13th, 2002“Palestinians deserve a government that serves their interests and listens to their voices,” said President George W. Bush in his address to the U.N. Thursday. But Palestinian reform, thus far, is a case of déjà vu all over again. Arafat is still running the place, and no major changes have... ...
Has Arafat Secretly Amassed A Fortune?
Thursday, August 15th, 2002This is a partial transcript from The O’Reilly Factor, August 14, 2002. Click hereto order the complete transcript. Watch The O’Reilly Factor weeknights at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET and listen to the Radio Factor! BILL O’REILLY, HOST: In the “Impact” segment tonight, the chief of Israel’s military intelligence says... ...
Arafat's Stash – The Guy's A Billionaire. Where Does His Money Come From?
Thursday, August 15th, 2002Yesterday’s news that Yasser Arafat has a $1.3 billion personal slush fund is no surprise. The information disclosed by Israel’s military-intelligence chief emphasized that the stash was not skimmed from aid intended for the Palestinian people (donated by the likes of USAID and the EU), but he refrained from identifying... ...
No Partner: Arafat Cannot Be Negotiated With.
Tuesday, June 11th, 2002Yasser Arafat should not be given “another chance.” He already had too many. The strategy of Arafat and the Palestinian Authority entails the continuous manipulation of “peace talks” through deliberate use of terrorism, most recently through a campaign of “homicide bombings” of unprecedented magnitude. Each new chance Arafat had since... ...
Q&A Portion Of The Hearing Entitled, "Are Yasser Arafat And The Palestinian Authority Credible Partners For Peace?"
Thursday, June 6th, 2002Mr. SAXTON. You have each documented for us your perception of the character of Yasser Arafat. I would just like to open up with kind of a general question about our understanding of terrorist leaders, as exemplified by Chairman Arafat. It seems to me that, over the years that we have been... ...
Testimony At The Hearing Entitled, "Are Yasser Arafat And The Palestinian Authority Credible Partners For Peace?"
Thursday, June 6th, 2002Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is my honor to contribute to the committee’s important deliberations on the question, are Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority credible partners for peace? The answer is a resounding no; and today, unfortunately, there are 17 more dead young men and women to demonstrate again... ...
Prepared Statement For The Hearing Entitled, "Are Yasser Arafat And The Palestinian Authority Credible Partners For Peace?"
Thursday, June 6th, 2002Mr. Chairman, it is my honor to contribute to the Committee’s important deliberations on the question, “Are Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority Credible Partners for Peace?” The answer is a resounding “No!” The reason for this is found in volumes of evidence documenting an unbroken record of deceit, incitement,... ...
Arafat's Corruption
Tuesday, April 16th, 2002We all know that the Palestinians deserve better. But there is no chance until the world confronts a major problem: the immense corruption of Arafat and the Palestinian Authority. Overlooked is the fact that Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza demonstrated against Arafat and his cronies just before the... ...
Intifada Gives Cover To Arafat's Graft And Fraud
Friday, June 22nd, 2001Foreign leaders applauded President George W. Bush’s call for greater transparency in governance in written remarks to the Global Forum on Fighting Corruption held in The Hague on May 28. What remains to be seen is how the Bush administration addresses the appalling corruption of Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian... ...
Corruption Lives
Tuesday, June 5th, 2001The Principality of Monaco, a French protectorate, lives mainly off its financial industry, which like other tax havens has its share of dirty money. Despite Monaco’s claim that things are under control, it is under pressure from France to clean up its act and stop the “dirty money” and “money... ...
Down And Out In Palestine
Thursday, March 15th, 2001Any attempt of the Bush administration to restart the peace process in the Middle East must first recognize why the Palestinian economy is on the brink of collapse. According to surveys by the research center of the Israeli Yad Tabenkin, the West Bank per capita gross domestic product (GDP) before... ...
Don't Bank On Corruption
Friday, December 29th, 2000Four years after the war on corruption was launched by James D. Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank, and after many international conventions, multilateral and international agreements against bribery and corruption, corruption still appears to be on the rise. Understandably, Horst Kohler, managing director or of the International Monetary Fund... ...
Cleanup In Indonesia
Friday, November 10th, 2000It is impossible to overestimate the sheer magnitude and complexity of Indonesia’s economic and political problems. These include the rise of radical Islam, nationalism, and the old habits of cronyism that hinder serious steps towards democracy. As radical Islamists, nationalists, and friends of the former dictator Soeharto work to further... ...
Fighting International Graft: Lending Bodies Can Bolster War On Corruption
Wednesday, September 29th, 1999It was James D. Wolfensohn, the president of the World Bank, who on October 1996 suggested a “war” against corruption, warning that: “the international community simply must deal with the cancer of corruption, because it is a major barrier to sustainable and equitable development.” His statement led the international lending... ...
Don’t Underrate Arafat’s Bank Account
Thursday, December 2nd, 1993Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat is currently traveling in Europe with an outstretched palm. Mr. Arafat is warning that the peace process in the Middle East will collapse without financial aid from the West. The PLO is asking for $9 billion to $12 billion in aid over the next... ...
