Fueling Kleptocracy: Transparency in the Extractives Industry: Nate Sibley on how an imminent move to repeal a law requiring U.S. oil, gas, and mining firms to report payments to foreign governments would play into the hands of kleptocrats.
Practicing and Prosecuting Foreign Corruption: Casey Michel talks to Steve Levine about the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a controversial case study, and prospects under the Trump administration. (With Podcast)
New Year, Same Old Pipeline Politics: Natalie Duffy and Ilya Zaslavskiy discuss how Nord Stream 2 could strengthen Putin’s hand in Europe. (With Podcast)
United States
- An effort to kill an anti-corruption provision requiring U.S. extractives firms to disclose foreign payments is gathering pace in Congress. (WSJ)
- Will Trump end the federal crackdown on dirty money in U.S. real estate? (Miami Herald)
- A lawsuit alleges that foreign payments to Trump’s businesses violate the Constitution. (NYT)
- …But there are reasons to suppose the case will fail and backfire. (GAB)
- Trump and Putin are likely to discuss lifting sanctions during a telephone call on Saturday. (Reuters)
- Key unverified claims in the intelligence report on links between Russia and Donald Trump are said to have originated from the head of a U.S.-Russia business group. (WSJ)
- Trump will never release his tax returns, says a top advisor – despite previously promising to do so. (WaPo)
- U.S. counterintelligence agencies investigated Gen. Mike Flynn’s links to Russia. The FBI found no wrongdoing. (WSJ, WaPo)
- Western Union was fined $586 million by the U.S. for failing to stop hundreds of millions of dollars being sent to China – much of it to human smugglers. (Bloomberg)
Russia
- FSB officers have been arrested on treason charges allegedly linked to cyberattacks during the U.S. elections. (RFE/RL)
- Sergey Chemezov, a Putin ally, bought a huge gold field in a barely contested state auction. (Bloomberg)
- Meanwhile, it is still impossible to determine who exactly bought one-fifth of state oil giant, Rosneft. (Bloomberg)
- Sanctions helped turn a Russian fisherman into a billionaire. (Bloomberg)
- Two London-based traders were convicted of defrauding Russian bank Otkritie of £141 million. Read background on Otkritie here. (FT)
China
- Chinese corruption prosecutions dropped for the first time in five years – by 20 percent. (FT)
- Australia temporarily delayed the implementation of an extradition treaty with China – whose most-wanted corruption suspect, Gao Yan, is believed to be hiding Down Under. (Australian)
Europe
- Sciences Po, a prestigious French university, cancelled a lecture by David Satter (a Hudson Institute Senior Fellow and KI advisor), apparently self-censoring to avoid offending Russian authorities. (BuzzFeed)
- Companies House holds the public records of 3.75 million UK firms, but just six staff check for fraudulent accuracy breaches in filings. (Herald Scotland)
Africa
- A new report explores how the South Sudanese military’s “weapons of mass corruption” are keeping the country in turmoil. (Enough Project)
- Gambia’s former president finally gave up power and left the country – along with millions of dollars and a cargo plane full of luxury cars. (WaPo)
- A former Guinean mining minister pleaded not guilty to U.S. charges of laundering $8.5 million he received in bribes from a Chinese conglomerate. (Reuters)
Middle East
- A Syrian opposition group described deals signed between the Assad regime and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as “looting” the Syrian people. (Reuters)
Eastern Europe
- A paper trail appears to link Petro Poroshenko with the airline which helped Viktor Yanukovich flee Ukraine. (OCCRP)
- Ukrainian police arrested an Uzbek man, believed to be related to the Karimov family, for financial crimes involving hundreds of millions of dollars. (OCCRP)
Global
- Transparency International released its 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index. Results show that corruption and inequality foment populism – but that populism usually makes things worse. (TI, RFE/RL)
- “For those wondering if the robust 2016 enforcement action by regulators has made a dent in global corrupt practices, the answer is not really.” (WSJ)
