Corruption

Global anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency International, is calling for the immediate resignation of Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud. “Those who are being investigated should resign first so that investigations can be carried out without any influence or interference by those in power. We hope that Prime Minister Najib Razak will call upon the Chief Minister of Sarawak to resign as Chief Minister until investigations by MACC will be completed,“ said Transparency International Malaysia Secretary-General Josie M Fernandenz in a television interview.

The trial of two environmental inspectors, charged with dereliction of duty and bribery over the pollution of drinking water for 1.5 million, has begun in Liuzhou, southern China.

A new report released by the Swiss NGO the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) puts the assets of the family of Malaysian tycoon Taib Mahmud (Taib), the long-term Chief Minister of the Malaysian state of Sarawak, at over USD20 billion.

Switzerland’s Attorney General has opened a criminal investigation into the country’s largest bank, UBS AG, over suspected money laundering of timber corruption proceeds from the Malaysian state of Sabah.

Every two seconds, an area of forest the size of a football field is clear-cut by illegal loggers around the globe, but a new World Bank report shows how countries can effectively fight illegal logging through the criminal justice system, punish organized crime, and trace and confiscate illegal logging profits. The report, Justice for Forests: Improving Criminal Justice Efforts to Combat Illegal Logging, says that to be effective, law enforcement needs to look past low-level criminals and look at where the profits from illegal logging go.