political corruption

20 Stories

Aung San Suu Kyi Hears Her Fate in Latest Corruption Trial

Ex-Myanmar leader convicted, hit with 7-year sentence, bringing her total to 33 years

(Newser) - A court in military-ruled Myanmar convicted the country's ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi of corruption Friday, sentencing her to seven years in prison in the last of a string of criminal cases against her, a legal official said. The court's action leaves her with a total of...

Peru's President Asks New Cabinet for Promise

Dina Boluarte, facing calls for new elections, seeks anti-corruption pledge

(Newser) - Peru’s newest president, Dina Boluarte, swore in her Cabinet on Saturday, just three days after becoming the country's first female head of state, and asked each minister to pledge not to be corrupt while in office. The 16 ministers picked by Boluarte, who on Wednesday was elevated from...

Ex-House Speaker Charged in $3M Illinois Bribery Scheme

Michael Madigan indicted on racketeering, bribery counts

(Newser) - Michael Madigan, former speaker of the Illinois House and for decades one of the nation’s most powerful legislators, was charged in a nearly $3 million racketeering and bribery scheme Wednesday, becoming the most prominent politician swept up in a federal investigation of entrenched government corruption in the state. Madigan,...

Suicide Expressed Contempt for Leader's Enemies: Family

Former president of Peru killed himself as arrest neared

(Newser) - "I will not be humiliated," Alan Garcia, a former president of Peru, wrote in what his family says was a suicide note. Garcia shot himself in the head as police arrived at his home to arrest him in a corruption investigation. "I have seen others paraded around...

Feds Probe NY Political Boss's Extra Income

Sheldon Silver's connection to law firm is a little murky

(Newser) - Federal prosecutors are probing New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's wallet, which they say is padded with a little more cash than can be easily explained, the New York Times reports. Authorities say Silver received "substantial payments" from tax certiorari firm Goldberg & Iryami PC for a...

House Speaker Blew $1M in Campaign Cash: SC Indictment

South Carolina politicians call for Bobby Harrells' resignation

(Newser) - South Carolina House Speaker Bobby Harrell is the first sitting speaker in recent memory to be indicted. A grand jury handed down a nine-count indictment yesterday that accuses him of spending $1 million in campaign funds to pay credit card debt, the $70,000 salary of a secretary who works...

Chicago the US Corruption Capital

Study shows more convictions there than any other federal jurisdiction

(Newser) - Chicago really is the cesspit of corruption you think it is, according to a new study from the University of Illinois. It found that the Windy City and its environs had had more corruption convictions than any other federal jurisdiction in the last 36 years, with 1,531. Illinois had...

World's Murder Capital Is Honduras, Where Drug Cartels Control Police and Politicians
 The World's 
 Murder Capital Is ... 
interactive map inside
Jan 22, 2012 5:44 PM CST

The World's Murder Capital Is ...

... a country even more dangerous than Mexico or Iraq

(Newser) - Violence in Honduras is so widespread—so steeped in drug cartels and official corruption—that even Mexico and Iraq are safer places to reside. Yes, Honduras boasts the world's worst murder rate: 82.1 murders per 100,000 residents. By comparison, Mexico's is 18.1 and Iraq's...

African Dictator's Son to Build $380M Yacht

Boat worth triple Equatorial Guinea's health, education spending

(Newser) - The son of a West African dictator is having a boat built for himself with a price tag of $380 million—or nearly triple what his country spends on health and education every year, AOL News reports. Teodorin Obiang, Equatorial Guinea’s agriculture minister, makes much more than most in...

Paterson Fined $62K for Freebie Series Tickets

But of course he intended to pay all along

(Newser) - David Paterson had better save his pennies: New York's soon-to-be unemployed governor has been slapped with a $62,125 fine for taking five free tickets to last year's World Series. Paterson maintains he always intended to pay for the tickets—though he didn't quite get around to it until the...

World's Going to Hell—Or at Least Getting Really Corrupt

Majority of people say corruption worse than 3 years ago

(Newser) - Bad news for the world: It's a more corrupt place now than it was three years ago. According to a poll by Transparency International, 56% of people think their country has become more corrupt, the BBC reports. And we're talking about corruption, too: A BBC poll found that the topic...

Politician's Wife Busted With $79K in Bra

She hid cash as FBI waited at door; bribery charges likely

(Newser) - If two FBI agents showed up on your doorstep, it's understandable that you might call your spouse and ask what to do. But that's where Leslie Johnson and Everyman parted ways yesterday morning: "Don't answer it," husband and prominent Democratic Maryland politician Jack Johnson told her, while instructing...

Iran Slips Karzai Scads of Cash
 Iran Slips Karzai Scads of Cash 
Oct 24, 2010 7:06 AM CDT

Iran Slips Karzai Scads of Cash

Tehran's influence in Afghanistan is growing

(Newser) - Afghanistan, never a bastion for the honest or politically uncorrupted, is taking hefty bribes from a new source: Iran. As the New York Times reports, Tehran secretly and continuously slides a key aide to Hamid Karzai literal bags of cash that amount to a multi-million-dollar "presidential slush fund" aimed...

State Politics: Hotbed of Sleaze, Booze, Scandal

ABC investigation finds no shortage of sleaze at state level

(Newser) - You hear a lot more about the sleaze in Congress and governors' mansions than the sleaze at the state legislator level, but that's not because of a lack of low-down behavior, an ABC News investigation finds. Five grad students sent to cover a national convention of state legislators in Louisville,...

Karzai Blocking Corruption Probes: Officials

Prosecutors ordered to ignore evidence and suspects

(Newser) - Hamid Karzai’s top lieutenants have repeatedly thrown monkey wrenches into corruption allegations threatening Afghanistan’s politically-connected elite, US officials tell the Washington Post . Prosecutors have been ordered to disregard evidence, remove names from case files, and prevent senior officials from being arrested, the Americans allege. “Above a certain...

Cancun Mayor Still Running for Governor—From Jail Cell

'Greg Is With You' billboards pepper resort town

(Newser) - Cancun mayor Gregorio Sanchez is determined to stay on the ballot—even if it means running for governor from jail. That's exactly where he sits these days, some 1,000 miles away from the resort city he has governed, after being arrested two weeks ago over alleged ties to two...

New Rangel Challenge From Adam Clayton Powell IV
 New Rangel Challenge From 
 Adam Clayton Powell IV 

LIKE FATHER LIKE SON
Apr 8, 2010 11:09 AM CDT

New Rangel Challenge From Adam Clayton Powell IV

NY lawmaker aims to take back seat Rangel took from dad

(Newser) - In a twist of fate, New York lawmaker Adam Clayton Powell IV will use Charlie Rangel’s ethics problems against him in an upcoming House Democratic primary, much as Rangel used similar allegations against Powell’s father to unseat him in 1970. But Powell’s decision to mount a challenge...

Blago: I'm Blacker Than Barack
 Blago: 
 I'm Blacker 
 Than Barack 


'I saw it all growing up'
Jan 11, 2010 7:28 AM CST

Blago: I'm Blacker Than Barack

Ex-Illinois gov shined shoes, thank you very much

(Newser) - Rod Blagojevich has a knack for dropping F-bombs and soundbites as outlandish as his hair, and his latest interview—a wide-ranging doozy with Esquire —is no exception. The disgraced-but-unabashed ex-gov tells the mag he's "blacker than Barack Obama," that he's innocent ("Where the f--- is Woodward...

Pakistan Now Owns War on Terror: Zardari

Blames corruption charges on political enemies

(Newser) - On the anniversary of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, it is necessary to reflect on “how her legacy must be preserved against those who would return Pakistan to darkness,” writes the husband of the former prime minister, President Asif Ali Zardari. Zardari claims victory over militants in Swat, and...

Berlusconi Still Hospitalized as Italy Parses Attack

Some fear return to the bad old days of the violence-ridden 70s

(Newser) - A “shaken and disheartened” Silvio Berlusconi remains hospitalized after being smashed in the face even as recriminations fly amid predictions of a return to the political violence of the 1970s and '80s. Though the attacker at last night's rally apparently acted alone, both sides of the Italian political spectrum...

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