By Samuel Rubenfeld
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed legislation that would make specific crimes of bribing a public official, scheming to corrupt government and covering up bribery. (Newsday, AP)
Taiwan’s former cabinet secretary general was sentenced to seven years and four months in jail Tuesday after pocketing more than $2 million in bribes. Taipei is now performing integrity checks on top officials. (AFP, CNA, AFP)
Is the FIFA report on the ISL affair merely window dressing? It confirmed what everyone already knew, and everyone named escaped punishment; one just left an honorary post. Transparency International’s sports adviser found it amazing that FIFA’s president didn’t know what was going on, and said the man has lost credibility as the body’s leader. He’s facing calls for his resignation. (BBC, Guardian, CNN, SKY News, Bleacher Report, AP, Bloomberg, Eurosport, The Independent)
Meanwhile, a columnist said Jack Warner’s speech last week was stand-up comedy. Is FIFA going through a leadership crisis? (Jesse Fink, SoccerAmerica)
U.K. police made two more arrests under Operation Elveden, bringing the Total detained in the bribery probe, many of them journalists, to 64. (Guardian, BBC)
It wasn’t just the CIA: The U.K.’s MI6 has also been making payments to the Afghan president’s office. (Guardian)
A columnist mocks the ENRC annual earnings report. A U.K. regulator has launched a probe into potential breaches of its takeover rules. (Daily Telegraph, Financial Times sub req)
FBI agents are looking into the relationship between Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, his wife, Maureen, and a major campaign donor who paid for the food at the wedding of the governor’s daughter. He said there were no favors given. (Washington Post, AP, AP)
The FCPA Blog posts a key disclosure from Total SA and updates a corruption saga at China Mobile. The FCPAmericas blog highlights key provisions of Brazil’s anti-bribery bill.
Breaking news: Lawyers differ on their approach to bribery. (Lawyers Weekly)
The depressed, lonely and elderly are the most likely to be defrauded, according to a study. (UPI)
A U.S. federal agent testified at a money-laundering trial that the Zetas cartel spent $25 million on quarter horses. More courtroom coverage from this week is here, here and here. (San Antonio Express-News, San Antonio Express-News, San Antonio Express-News, San Antonio Express-News)
The Central Bank of Kenya has outlawed hawalas that operate without a license. (Business Daily Africa)
An op-ed calls fighting illicit financial flows a human-rights imperative. (Global Financial Integrity)
Sanctions:
Iran is storing its oil at sea because it needs to repair refineries that aren’t selling the crude due to sanctions. (Bloomberg, Financial Times sub req)
Syrian chemical weapons may not have changed the game, but that’s because no one knows much about what happened. Tehran said it would regard chemical weapon use as a red line. Reports say Washington is leaning toward providing lethal aid to the rebels. Hezbollah pledged to aid the Assad regime, which the rebels denounced as a threat. (Buzzfeed, McClatchy, Reuters, NPR, Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera)
North Korea is doubling down on its ties to China, but Beijing ordered strict implementation of sanctions. Pyongyang refused to allow South Korean workers to leave a jointly run industrial park until a dispute over wages and bills is settled. (Wall Street Journal, Chosun Ilbo, Bloomberg)
Ford is one of the U.S. companies piling into Myanmar after the lifting of sanctions. (WSJ Southeast Asia Real Time)
Whistleblowers:
A new bill would extend whistleblower protections to offshore oil and gas workers. (press release)
General Anti-Corruption:
People in the U.K. are angry over leaked documents that said companies got sweetheart deals on tax avoidance. (Financial Times sub req)
U.S. cooperation with Mexico on fighting drug cartels is at a crossroads, threatened by friction. But Mexico seized the father-in-law of the Sinaloa Cartel leader ahead of a visit by President Barack Obama. (AP, Washington Post, NY Times, McClatchy)
The name of New York City Comptroller John Liu looms over a campaign finance fraud trial involving an aide and a fundraiser. (Wall Street Journal, NY Times)
The latest in the “Offshore Leaks” series is here. (ICIJ)
The European Court of Human Rights ruled that pre-trial detention of Ukraine’s former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was unlawful. (Wall Street Journal)
A client alert from Patton Boggs discusses jurisdictional limitations imposed by a recent Supreme Court ruling.
More detail has emerged about the South African anti-corruption unit’s probe of the nation’s oil company. (Reporting Oil and Gas)
Raytheon Co. reached a settlement with the U.S. State Department on allegations of widespread export violations. (news release)
This article was written by Samuel Rubenfeld and originally published on stream.wsj