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The Liberian Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) in late May said that several government officials had refused to co-operate with its recent phase of the Assets Declaration Verification Exercise. LACC chairwoman Frances Johnson-Allison told a 21 May news conference on the release of its report into the first phase of the exercise that 18 government officials had failed to co-operate, despite receiving “multiple notices” from the commission.

Switzerland’s Federal Council on 22 May opened a consultation procedure (due to end 12 September 2013) on the preliminary draft of the Federal Act on the Freezing and Restitution of Assets of Politically Exposed Persons obtained by Unlawful Means. The new law would allow Switzerland to freeze the assets of politically exposed persons (PEPs) and would set up a framework to confiscate and return assets to the countries from which they were taken.

Canada’s troubled SNC-Lavalin has been hit with a Standard & Poor’s (S&P) downgrade as the ratings agency warned of the risk of weaker profit in the wake of corruption scandals surrounding the firm’s operations in Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Bangladesh. S&P cut its ratings from BBB+ to BBB with negative outlook.

Ethiopia’s Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (FEACC) has made its first charges following several recent arrests of Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority (ERCA) officials and local businessmen. Kumlachew Yeshambel, a team leader at ERCA, was charged with taking 200,000 birr ($10,600) in bribes. The FEACC has asked for more time to investigate a batch of new detainees, including local architect Begziabhere Alebel. An estimated 50-60 people have now been detained on suspicion of corruption since the arrests began in early May. The most senior of those arrested is ERCA director-general Melaku Fenta, who has ministerial rank. The FEACC head has said that the arrests followed two years of surveillance, but some local analysts and specialist newsletters question whether the arrests are serious and whether figures such as Fenta are being used as scapegoats to protect powerful officials of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front.

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) designated Côte d’Ivoire an EITI compliant country on 22 May. The EITI board commended the improved quality of the country’s 2011 EITI report compared to its previous report – all companies reported their payments, showing the government received over $393m in taxes, fees and royalties from the oil, gas and mining sectors in 2011. Oil and gas revenue increased from $220m in 2010 to almost $300m in 2011, with extractive industries contributing 10% of overall fiscal revenue in 2011, up from 6% the previous year. Côte d’Ivoire underwent its first EITI validation in late 2010 but did not reach compliance.

A French court in late April ruled that NGO the Catholic Committee Against Hunger and for Development did not libel President Teodoro Obiang Nguema in a 2009 report. The report, entitled ‘Biens mal acquis, à qui profite le crime?’ said that Obiang and ten family members had laundered about $26.5m in property deals via an account at Santander bank Madrid between 2000 and 2003. The latest court ruling follows a lower court decision that the report’s allegations were covered by the right to free speech.

The Office of the Ombudsman has said that the names of those convicted of embezzlement of public funds may soon be made public. The office already releases the names of those found guilty of low-level corruption – farmers, taxi drivers, local defence personnel – but is under pressure to reveal those found guilty of bigger crimes. 


The High Court trial of former public service commissioner Teckla Lameck, her business partner Kongo Mokaxwa and Chinese national Yang Fan is under way in Windhoek. Lameck, sometimes with her husband Festus, was a co-investor with middleman Knowledge Katti in local oil companies such as Kunene Petroleum, Kunene Energy, Namibia Industrial Development Group and Beehive Investments. Lameck, Mokaxwa and Fan are accused of defrauding the Ministry of Finance through the supply of Chinese X-ray equipment to local customs authorities.

The government launched an anti-corruption initiative in late April backed by the country’s inspector general, Hassan Sultan. “From the public procurement process to electoral reform and international co-operation, corruption can have a negative impact on a wide range of important functions of the state, and it is our responsibility to eradicate it wherever it is found,” he said. The launch came a few days before Sultan travelled to London for the UK-Djibouti Trade and Investment Forum.

Former Delta State governor (1999-2007) James Ibori has lost his appeal against a 13-year prison sentence handed down in April 2012 by London’s Southwark Crown Court after he admitted ten counts of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering. Ibori, a powerful southerner, was arrested in Dubai in 2010 and extradited to the UK to stand trial. He is one of the few senior Nigerian politicians to be successfully prosecuted for corruption.

The Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (FEACC) has announced the 10 May arrest of 13 high-level government officials on charges of corruption. Those arrested include Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority director-general (with ministerial rank) Melaku Fenta, his deputy, Gebrewahid Woldegiorgis, and the authority’s chief prosecutor, Eshetu Semayat. Local media reports say some businessmen have also been arrested as part of the FEACC investigation, including KK Trading’s Ketema Kebede, Intercontinental Addis Hotel owner Simachew Kebede and Netsa Trading owner Nega Egziabher.

Missouri-based TJGEM LLC has filed a case (1:2013cv00382) in the Columbia District Court against the Republic of Ghana, former finance minister Kwabena Duffuor, Accra mayor Alfred Vanderpuije and US company Conti Construction. In the 76-page complaint filed in late March, TJGEM details how company officials travelled to Accra several times in 2011 to hold meetings with Vanderpuije about TJGEM’s potential involvement in a multi-million dollar sewerage project in Accra.

A former consultant with US pipeline contractor Willbros International has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to pay some $6m in bribes to Nigerian officials. The consultant, Paul Novak, was also managing director of Addax Nigeria before it was sold to Sinopec.

South Africa’s Protection of State Information Bill, which was passed by a majority vote in parliament in late April and is now before President Jacob Zuma for signing, has been criticised by a number of bodies, including the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), the Right2Know campaign and the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

The former head of state electricity company Société Nigérienne d’Electricité (Nigelec) Foukory Ibrahim has been arrested and jailed on suspicion of embezzling some CFA20bn (£25.7m). Ibrahim was an ally of former president Mamadou Tandja, who was toppled in a February 2010 military coup. Ibrahim had immunity as a serving MP for the Mouvement National pour la Société du Développement, which is now in opposition, but this was lifted last year.