UK DfID implicated in money-laundering investigation

UK DfID implicated in money-laundering investigation

Our friends at Corner House and Jubilee Debt Campaign have monitored how the UK government has given aid money to corrupt private equity firms in Nigeria. Below is the press release. It’s long, but well worth reading if you want understand how Western aid policy can undermine development. Campaigners slam Government’s development approach as DfID-backed...

Egyptian businessman admits personal motivation for gas deal with Spain / Eni

Businessman Hussein Salem – on the run from corruption charges in Egypt –  admitted his personal & political motivations in signing Egypt’s controversial gas export deals with Israel (via pipeline) and Spain (via Damietta LNG), in discussion with Egyptian journalist Mohamed Heikal: “Yes I made gas deals with Israel. We have a lot of gas...

Is Syrian propaganda tool and oil company Gulfsands dodging EU sanctions?

Propaganda tool? London-based Gulfsands Petroleum is operating as a propaganda tool for the Assad regime. In an interview from last Wednesday, the company’s communications director Ken Judge made statements that claimed Islamic extremists had infiltrated protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s 11-year rule. Yet the Syrian uprising is evidently supported by a broad swathe of the...

Wikileaks cable shines light on ENI corruption in Uganda; Heritage offered to pay bribes in Congo

• SECRET US CABLE SHINES LIGHT ON ENI CORRUPTION IN UGANDA • HERITAGE OFFERED TO PAY BRIBES IN CONGO ‘’If Tullow’s allegations are true – and we believe they are …” US Embassy, Kampala, 17 December 2009 A secret United States diplomatic cable (below and here) published by Wikileaks last week has exposed the real politics...

Tar Sands & corruption in Colorado

As the California Zephyr climbs slowly into the Rockies, my fellow train passengers in the observation carriage stare in silence through the enormous windows, as we pass hundreds of miles of narrow gorges, red rock cliffs and frozen waterfalls. Coyotes run through the snow as the train approaches, while studious bald eagles perched above streams ignore us,...

Oil corruption in Congo (Brazzaville) – documentary

Yet another strong documentary from Al-Jazeera’s People & Power series, this time on oil corporations operating in Congo (Brazzaville), corruption and gas flaring.   Congo Brazzaville is one of the poorest countries in the world, despite the fact that it produces nearly 300,000 barrels of oil a day.Denis Sassou Nguesso, the country’s president has been in...