This past Friday, the former Illinois republican state senator William “Sam” McCann was taken into custody after allegedly breaching his bail conditions before facing trial on corruption charges. According to a report by the local CBS affiliate in Chicago, McCann’s trial was supposed to start last week but was postponed when he failed to contact his probation officer and was admitted to a hospital in St Louis for an unspecified health issue. McCann is accused of taking money intended for his third-party gubernatorial campaign. McCann apparently spent $60,000 on an F-250 truck and a Ford Expedition SUV. It never ceases to amaze me what corrupt schemes politicians come up with; compared to the LA Councilman last week, this is small potatoes, but political powers in its many forms causes people to commit irrational actions.
Author: petercrispin
70 Arrested in New York Housing Scandal.
Yesterday, an indictment in New York City was unsealed, alleging a massive kick-back scandal involving 70 New York City Housing Authority employees. According to a report in the New York Times, it is the largest number of bribery charges the Department of Justice has ever handed out, as seventy people were arrested. According to a report by the local NBC affiliate in New York, $2 million in bribes were demanded from $ 13 million worth of contracts. Most of the kickbacks were demanded before the work on houses or apartments were started as a way to grease the wheels. It appears that the house of cards at the Housing Authority finally came tumbling down.
Former LA Councilman Sentenced to 13 Years in Prison After Bribery Scandal.
Last week, a former Los Angeles councilman, Jose Huizar, was sentenced to 13 years after being found guilty of bribery and tax evasion charges. According to a report in the AP, Huizar was the chair of the Los Angeles Planning and Land Use Management Committee, allowing him to approve high-rise buildings and other large-scale developments. While in office, Huizar accepted $1.5 million in bribes, which included tickets to sporting events, casino chips, and political contributions. According to a report in The Hill, David Lee, the real estate developer involved with Huizar, will also serve time for his part in the plot. It is also curious to note that Huizar, at the time of his arrest, was trying to get his wife Richelle to take over his seat when his term ended in 2020. It is crystal clear that Huizar liked those two cornerstones of political life: power and money.
TI Corruption Index Shows a Decline in Law and Justice Causes a Rise in Corruption.
On Tuesday, Transparency International (TI) released its annual Corruption Perception Index, which shows how corrupt a country is perceived to be. TI ranks country from 0 to 100; the closer a country is to 0, the more corrupt it is; for example, Somalia was ranked 11 out of 100, meaning that TI views them as the most corrupt country in the world. On the other hand, Denmark was ranked 90 out of 100, meaning they were the least corrupt. According to TI’s website, the biggest threat to stopping corruption is the weakening of law & order worldwide, as there is a general lack of accountability from leaders in both democracies and authoritarian regimes. However, there is some good news: according to a report by the Atlantic Council, Ukraine has increased its score from 33 to 36 in the past year, which TI rates as one of the most considerable improvements globally.
Ukraine Embroiled in Another Corruption Scandal.
This past weekend, the Ukrainian government uncovered another large-scale corruption scandal involving missiles for the war effort. According to a report in Aljazeera, employees at a weapons manufacturer called Lviv Arsenal and members of the Ministry of Defense allegedly embezzled $40 million. It was intended to be a payment for missiles used in the war effort. Instead, the money was moved to several offshore accounts, and the military did not receive the 100,000 missiles they ordered. According to a report in NPR, the prosecutor general of Ukraine has announced that the funds have been recovered and will shortly be added to the defense budget. This scandal highlights two major issues. Firstly, corruption is still rife in Ukraine despite significant strides in anti-corruption efforts. Secondly, those 100,000 missiles would have been very handy for the war effort, and instead, several people decided to create a nice little earner for themselves.
Bulgaria and its connections with Russia & Corruption.
Bulgaria has a long and fraught history as a country where corruption has thrived for many years. According to an article in Forbes, Bulgaria is one of the only members of the EU that has not imposed sanctions on the Russian Federation as a state and on Russian individuals. Even Hungary, led by Viktor Orban, has imposed sanctions on Russia. Bulgaria’s lack of movement on sanctions is mainly because the government has close links to Russia at a governmental level and with the oligarchs. According to a report by the European Council on Foreign Relations, one of the main reasons for such a high level of influence is because of an attempted political coup by Russia in 2016. While the coup failed, like it did in Montenegro, it showed that Bulgarian society faces a massive challenge in eradicating Russian influence.
Update on Arevalo.
Back in August, I wrote a piece on the newly elected president of Guatemala, Bernardo Arevalo, who positioned himself as an anti-corruption activist. Last week, Arevalo was finally inaugurated, but only after a last-ditch attempt by his opponents to challenge his authority. According to an article in the New York Times, his opponents in Congress passed a budget that would severely restrict his ability to spend government funds on healthcare and education, two of his main priorities. There have also been numerous legal challenges by his conservative opponents, including a threat to arrest his vice president Karin Herrera on seemingly spurious and politically motivated challenges. In the coming months, Arevalo and Herrera will face further challenges to their authority from conservative opponents and organized criminal threats.
Update on Singapore Corruption.
Last July, Singapore, a country not traditionally known as a hotbed for corruption, indicted their transport minister on corruption and bribery charges. Yesterday, Subramanian Iswaran formally resigned from his post. According to a report by Reuters, Iswaran allegedly took bribes from a Singaporean property magnate called Ong Beng Seng. Records show that in return for advancing Seng’s business interests, Iswaran received tickets to sporting events and musicals and flights on Seng’s private jet. This all comes as a major surprise because, according to Transparency International, Singapore is ranked in the top five of the least corrupt countries in the world, paying their cabinet ministers some of the highest salaries in the world. Iswaran’s fate is still unknown, but one has to assume that Singapore will use him as an example to future ministers of what happens when you take bribes.
China’s Ongoing Battle Against Corruption.
China and, more importantly, President Xi Jinping’s battle against entrenched corruption is continuing to make headline news. According to a report in Bloomberg, Xi’s most recent comments will put large swathes of the Chinese economy on edge, and that could continue to fuel uncertainty both domestically and abroad if one of the world’s biggest economies is in a state of constant turmoil. According to a report by CNN, Xi is primarily focused on misconduct in the healthcare, financial, and infrastructure sectors. These actions raise an interesting question: can corruption ever be truly stopped? While there have been some examples, such as Ukraine, where Zelenskyy has made some impressive strides in the last year, by and large, corruption and greed will always occur. If a country with China’s resources can’t fully root out corruption, then no one can. Catching a few big fish will always look good, but there will always be small fish in a pond that will induce greased palms and the benefits those bring.
Unrest in Ecuador.
Recently, in Ecuador, there has been a rise in violence, particularly post-Covid. However, yesterday, a TV station called TC in the city of Guayaquil was stormed by several gunmen. According to a report in Axios, the attack on the TV station was related to a well-known leader of a notorious gang, Adolfo Macias, escaping from his cell in a maximum-security prison. According to an article in the BBC, 130 prisons are being held hostage by inmates across several prisons across Ecuador. The Ecuadorian president, Daniel Noboa, sworn into office in November, has recently announced an ambitious plan which, according to Reuters, includes building new maximum-security prisons, developing a new gang-related intelligence unit, and procuring new weapons for the security services. This plan would cost $800 million, with the US government contributing 200 million primarily for acquiring the weapons. It appears that Noboa faces a massive task in controlling the prison system and limiting gang-related influences in Ecuadorian society.
Crispin Corruption Report 