David Pallister
Guest Author
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/ 12 February 2007

$12bn cash vanished in Iraq

The United States flew nearly -billion in shrink-wrapped bills into Iraq, then distributed the cash with no proper control over who was receiving it and how it was being spent. The staggering scale of the biggest transfer of cash in the history of the Federal Reserve has been graphically laid bare by a US Congressional committee.

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/ 14 March 2005

Blair targets corruption in Africa plan

British Prime Minister Tony Blair will demand a radical shake-up of the West’s approach to the world’s poorest continent when his year-long Africa Commission calls for a doubling of aid, the dismantling of trade barriers, the writing off of debts and immediate action to stamp out corruption. The launch of the report on Friday will be used to urge a new partnership between developed and developing countries.

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/ 18 November 2004

A passionate Iraqi to the end

Margaret Hassan had devoted 30 years of her life to the health and welfare of the Iraqi people. She was a convert to Islam, fluent in Arabic, with an Iraqi husband. She was a well-known, respected and accepted figure in Baghdad and vocal critic of the United States-led war on her adopted country. But this week it appeared that not even those credentials could save her from death at the hands of her kidnappers.

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/ 19 March 2004

Western firms face bribery blacklist

The World Bank has formally reopened a corruption inquiry into a leading Canadian engineering company which could lead to the first blacklisting of a major international firm. The move follows the conviction of Acres International in the high court of Lesotho, an unprecedented example of a Western firm being prosecuted for bribery by a developing country.

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/ 31 July 2003

The uranium that never was

It took the British government exactly three weeks, but on Tuesday an envelope arrived at the offices of the Commons foreign affairs committee containing Jack Straw’s response to one of the more perplexing episodes in the committee’s investigation about the decision to go to war with Iraq.

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/ 24 September 2002

Taking corruption seriously

The Canadian engineering company Acres International of Ontario has been found guilty of paying bribes for contracts on the multibillion rand Lesotho Highlands Water Project dams, a judgement which could have profound implications for Third World development projects.