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Spotlight on Corruption@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social |
62 followers 65 following 53 posts
Shining a light on the UK's role in corruption at home and abroad
linktr.ee/endcorruptionuk
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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As the article notes, meanwhile the government’s promised ‘fundamental reforms’ to the revolving door rules, widely regarded as broken, are nowhere in sight. See Sue’s blog from last week:
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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Our Executive Director @suehawley.bsky.social is quoted as saying: “it clearly looks as if some former ministers … are taking their eyes off the day job to swan around the world on jollies … and cash in on their political connections to secure lucrative jobs.”
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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Great Andrew Kersley article in yesterday’s Observer on the risk of retiring MPs checking out early and using their remaining time in Parliament to line up new jobs or enjoy jollies paid for by foreign governments.
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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You can read our letter to the NAO and the full background to this deeply worrying case on our website:
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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As this story by David Pegg and Rob Evans notes, a “timely, targeted” investigation is now necessary to establish and report on the facts, and for parliamentarians and the public to understand the MOD’s role in this national scandal and any ongoing corruption risks.
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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Fantastic to have the support of legendary anticorruption campaigner Lord Hain for our joint request with @transparencyuk.bsky.social for the National Audit Office to investigate the Ministry of Defence’s accounts in the wake of the recent UK-Saudi #bribery trial.
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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In our latest blog, @suehawley.bsky.social examines current oversight of the revolving door, the reforms the government promised and what others like the Committee on Standards in Public Life have previously recommended. With the next general election on the horizon, the time to act is now.
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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It would be a cynical and damaging legacy for this government to leave if its promise of a legally binding ministerial deed and fines for breaches, are not introduced this side of an election.
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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That means that after the next election, the only sanction current ministers who breach the rules could face from the regulator ACOBA is – as its chair Lord Pickles has put it – “an unpleasant letter from me and a couple of days of bad publicity in the press.”
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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If the polls are correct, many current and former ministers will be looking for post-election job opportunities, but nine months after the government committed to fundamental reform to the ‘revolving door’ between politics and business, there’s no sign of the promised changes.
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Naomi Fowler
@naomifowler.bsky.social
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Here's the latest Corruption Diaries episode, out weekly, the tales of anti-corruption veterans. In this episode the Bank of Credit and Commerce International comes onto Jack Blum's radar: "We will not do business with anybody who’s connected to that bank" podcasts.taxjustice.net/episode/13-g...
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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🎯The options for essential reforms to improve standards in public life are now clearly understood. All that’s required now is a government with the will and capacity to take things forward.
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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And just last week the Centre for the Study of Corruption at the University of Sussex dubbed the UK's anti-corruption governance as “not fit for purpose”, and set out a strong case for a UK independent anti-corruption commissioner:
www.sussex.ac.uk/research/cen...
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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Today’s paper adds to a growing weight of expert commentary calling for reform. Last month @instituteforgov.bsky.social made a series of practical recommendations for improving standards in public life, including quick wins, structural changes and legislative options:
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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Public appetite for change is huge. Our own polling found 70% of the public wanted more powers and independence for current ethics regulators with 80% supporting putting the ministerial code into law.
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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Great to see strong proposals for reform to regulating #integrity in public life from UCL's Constitution Unit, launched today, in light of their finding that just 6% of public thinks current system is working:
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Transparency International
@anticorruption.bsky.social
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Justice systems worldwide are struggling to combat corruption effectively, leading to widespread impunity for wrongdoing. Find out how chronic weaknesses in judicial institutions perpetuate the cycle of corruption ➡️ anticorru.pt/2WN
#CPI2023
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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⚖️Earlier this week the Court of Appeal dismissed Eugene Shvidler and Sergei Naumenko’s challenges to the Russia #sanctions regime. Our latest blog looks at the court’s decision and what this might mean for the future of the UK’s sanctions efforts.
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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📢 Last week the UK released its first ever sanctions strategy. Our latest blog puts it under the microscope and finds that future iterations need to show much more ambition when it comes to using sanctions as a tool to tackle corruption and kleptocracy.
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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Last summer we urged a full independent review of the sanctions regime. Ineffective enforcement and glaring loopholes must be addressed if sanctions are to be an effective tool for closing down Londongrad.
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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The death of Alexei Navalny is a huge loss and real blow to the anticorruption community globally. Sanctions must follow. But Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy is right to call for a review of UK’s Russia sanctions regime in light of Navalny’s death.
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Nik Sunil Williams
@nikwilliams.bsky.social
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Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
The UK needs an Anti-SLAPP law
To protect all of you
antislapp.uk
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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🚨For the first time, @endcorruptionuk.bsky.social can reveal the details of Mozambique's $130m "Tuna Bond" settlement, agreed on the eve of a major corruption trial in October. The deal reduced 🇲🇿's financial risk at the cost of achieving real accountability for the country's crippling "hidden debt".
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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📢 "After every corporate scandal, there are loud calls for senior heads on sticks..."
Our Executive Director @suehawley.bsky.social has a great opinion piece in today's @financialtimes.com based on last week's report on the lack of senior executive accountability for economic crime in the UK.
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@cynthiao.bsky.social
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Treasury meetings: Lord Hammond, his close political friend and crypto firm Copper - Informal, private catch-up or more? Questions around lobbying, informal contacts and #transparency have been hotly debated since the #Greensill lobbying scandal. Thoughts? www.ft.com/content/cfe1...
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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@suehawley.bsky.social, Executive Director of Spotlight on Corruption, said: “This lack of accountability is bad for British business, bad for the UK economy and bad for the British people.”
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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The report finds that rather than looking to get tough with rogue bosses, the UK government is in fact looking to further loosen the rules. This increasingly leaves the UK out of step with the US, which is taking steps to toughen up corporate governance.
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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Instead, much of the action by law enforcement and regulators targeting individuals rather than companies falls on executives from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – often seen as “low-hanging fruit” by regulators.
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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Our “Power Without Responsibility” report lifts the lid on how senior executives at large companies are able to walk away largely scot free from corporate misconduct – often leaving ordinary people to pick up the bill.
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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🆕The UK’s top bosses rarely face any consequences at all when their firms are found to have engaged in economic crime – that’s the finding of @endcorruptionuk.bsky.social’s latest in-depth report launched today.
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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👀@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social’s latest in-depth report drops tomorrow! This time we’re looking at why senior executives of Britain’s biggest firms never face any serious consequences for their misconduct.
Follow us to find out more!
#SeniorExecutiveAccountability
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Transparency International
@anticorruption.bsky.social
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"It is time to break the barriers and ensure people can access justice effectively. Everyone deserves fair and inclusive legal systems where victims’ voices are heard at every stage. Anything else is an affront to justice." - @erikssonphd.bsky.social ➡️ anticorru.pt/2UJ
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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🔥Really good read by @willdunn.bsky.social in today's @newstatesman.com on #corruption and #cronyism in the UK, featuring quotes from our Executive Director @suehawley.bsky.social, Dame Margaret Hodge MP, Dominic Grieve and Bent Flyvbjerg.
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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😞Depressing news: UK📉again in @anticorruption.bsky.social Corruption Perceptions Index. With no timeline for crucial integrity reforms, no anti-corruption champion for 18 months, & no anti-corruption strategy for over a year, this isn't surprising.
Read @suehawley.bsky.social on what should be done:
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Transparency International
@anticorruption.bsky.social
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The Corruption Perceptions Index 2023 shows that most of the world continues to fail to fight corruption. Most countries have made little to no progress in tackling public sector corruption in more than a decade. Check it out!
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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As we highlighted as 2024 kicked into action, a new #AntiCorruptionChampion is critical for overseeing delivery of the government’s much delayed Anti-Corruption Strategy:
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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👏Good to see @petergeoghegan.bsky.social focusing attention back on the UK government’s lamentable failure to appoint an #AntiCorruptionChampion more than 18 months after the last one resigned.
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Peter Geoghegan
@petergeoghegan.bsky.social
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🔴Rishi Sunak promised to bring 'integrity' back
Instead he's failed even to appoint an anti-corruption tsar to replace John Penrose - who resigned *in June 2022*
Meanwhile PPE scandals rage, Britain is at lowest ranking in global corruption indexes, etc.
My latest scoop:
t.co/kJVHUSYHn8
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Transparency International
@anticorruption.bsky.social
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🔥 COMING SOON 🔥 The Corruption Perceptions Index 2023 will be published on 30 January. Our analysis this year will focus on how weakening justice systems contribute to a lack of accountability for public officials, thereby allowing corruption to thrive. Stay tuned!
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Dan Neidle
@danneidle.bsky.social
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Are you bored? Would you like to play with an interactive map showing all the 38,590 overseas entities holding English/Welsh real estate? With clickable thingies that let you identify where someone has unlawfully hidden their ownership...
www.taxpolicy.org.uk/2024/01/16/o...
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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To date, there has been very little use of existing powers to bar companies from public contracts so how the new Act is implemented is crucial to cleaning up UK procurement, and there were areas where the government left some serious loopholes ⬇️ (3/3)
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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The Procurement Act 2023, set to go live this October, will make it easier to bar companies for poor performance as well as for "professional misconduct" including: 👉dishonesty 👉impropriety 👉breach of ethical or professional standards (2/3)
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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🚨Alarming report in @financialtimes.com by Lucy Fisher, @rafeuddin.bsky.social, Kana Inagaki and @davidkeo.bsky.social on failure to block #Fujitsu from public contracts in 2010s underlines importance (and also weaknesses) of new reforms making it easier to bar companies from govt contracts. (1/3)
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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Our Executive Director @suehawley.bsky.social was quoted in @petergeoghegan.bsky.social's latest scoop ⬇️.
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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For a deeper dive into the “inaccurate and incomplete information” in the guidance, take a look at the Courts and Tribunals Observers’ Network’s excellent blog, including insight from Daniel Cloake, @maggotlaw.bsky.social, Celia Kitzinger, @jtownend.bsky.social and Claire Martin:
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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This guidance confuses rather than clarifies, while on some points it’s simply wrong. It also does not align with our experience observing court hearings, such as the worrying assertion that laptops “cannot be used.” Laptops are crucial for public observers and journalists alike.
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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It is very disappointing that HM Courts & Tribunals Service’s new guidance for public court access misses the opportunity to develop a comprehensive charter giving practical effect to #openjustice for members of the public.
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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👉Include concrete actions to improve ethical and anti-corruption standards at the very top of government 👉Draw on the expertise of the private sector, civil society and academia (6/6)
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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👉Stop commissioning reviews and instead focus on delivering outcomes 👉Take a whole-of-UK approach to corruption to ensure high standards for the devolved administrations as well as central and local government (5/6)
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Spotlight on Corruption
@endcorruptionuk.bsky.social
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But this strategy will have to work hard to overcome the growing sense among the UK public that this country and its institutions are becoming more corrupt over time. It needs to: (4/6)
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