This opinion piece from the United National Office on Drugs and Crime Corruption and Economic Crime Branch (UNODC) , provides a very interesting context regarding whistleblowing.

Another week , another example of corruption from the US president, as described by an opinion piece in the  The New York Times.

This article from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) provides a good review of complex cross-border anti-corruption enforcement activities and the uses of OECD.

It looks like a new law firm, Gaston and Cooney, in Washington DC has emerged to fill a gap that clearly exists in the US presently, mainly two senior lawyers who had been ousted from the US Department of Justice, previously working on the team that had investigated President Trump prior to his election.

So much of what the EU countries do in putting pressure and providing support to developing countries when addressing corruption is laudable and yet, at the European Parliament, they seem to shrink from transparency and accountability.

So much of the time we are fixated on solutions that are very pragmatic and practical, versus thinking about how we send messages about anti-corruption and how they really are being incorporated by the public and governmental officials.

This article, through the MacArthur Foundation, highlights the work of investigative journalists, which when we discuss anti-corruption pressure, is an important part of the anti-corruption landscape.

It’s always good to see the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) – Parliamentary Assembly, working on anti-corruption with the European Union (EU).

Just recently there was an explosion destroying two cars belonging  to Mr. Sigfrido Ranucci, an investigative journalist in Italy, reminding us of how dangerous it continues to be as an investigative journalist in Italy, as reported by The New York Times.

This past weekend China has weighed in on how serious it is taking anti-corruption. China’s third-highest ranking general, General He Weidong and eight other senior officials have been expelled from the ruling Communist Party and the military on suspicion of serious misconduct linked to corruption.

For many years there have been anti-corruption protests worldwide and they have been led by the youth.

Over the years we have seen an increase in cross-border corruption due to the interconnectivity of governments, as well as projects such as the Pan-European Motorway Corridor, which connects Hungary and eastern Croatia to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Adriatic Sea.

Unfortunately, this is a continuing theme, but it continues to be important to highlight state corruption, as the citizens of the United States are entitled to believe that their tax dollars are being used appropriately, not being diverted to autocrats.  This article, from MSNBC, from Rachel Maddow, may be less objective, but there are many valid points.

Every few weeks we see simple corruption, which in this case included kickbacks as well as hiding the money using family members. What is frustrating is not that it exists but that simple systems, which I and other colleagues worldwide advocate for, do not exist in many US county governments to catch these activities before they get to the point where we have to use enforcement after the fact.

The National Law Review  has highlighted some important issues regarding Denmark’s approach to anti-corruption enforcement, as underscored by the OECD’s most recent report. This article reminds us that even with being perceived as having the best corruption systems internationally, as per Transparency International, Denmark must and should do better in its enforcement regime.

This article, in the Financial Times, reminds us of the very pragmatic way to try to address fraud in government. As has been mentioned previously, whistleblowing is very important in trying to find out about fraud, bribery and other bad behaviors in government.

One area that is important in the fight against corruption is positive engagement of the private sector in corruption prevention. The National Law Review, highlights France’s use of audits and internal compliance in businesses.

This article, in The New York Times, provides a good overview of the issues that Ukraine must seriously address, which might provide some optimism in the approach to weapons procurement.

This article, from the  Foundation for Defense of Democracies, reminds us that illicit and shadowy money funds not only are bad for our economies but are dangerous to our rule of law systems.

This article, from Novinite, highlights what the EU can do if they find that there is a delay in agreed upon anti-corruption reforms by a government. In this instance the government of Bulgaria received a formal letter specifying the amount that will not be paid unless the required condition concerning the Anti-Corruption Commission is met.