Corruption

Silicon Valley gets lesson in Chinese corruption

22 Nov 2017

Lu Wei, the former head of the Cyberspace Administration of China, whom Mark Zuckerberg and Reid Hoffman courted, just got snagged in a corruption probe. It's a reminder that party trumps personnel. And that Lu's former agency is more than a censor. It now determines policy.

Ritz roundup is dark side of grand Saudi ambition

5 Nov 2017

The detention of elites including Prince Alwaleed in an anti-corruption drive may head off opposition to the crown prince's reforms. It could clear the way for initiatives like his $500 bln desert city. But it also makes needed underpinnings, like the rule of law, less credible.

Russia mess sucks up U.S. economic bandwidth

30 Oct 2017

The first charges in the 2016 election-meddling investigation snagged President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager. That diverts White House resources better used elsewhere: namely reforming taxes, picking a new Fed chair and preparing for a high-stakes Asia trip.

CEO exit worsens Deutsche Boerse’s bind

26 Oct 2017

Carsten Kengeter is stepping down after failing to resolve an insider-trading probe. An aborted plan to merge with the London Stock Exchange also eroded support at home. But his departure leaves the German group ill-prepared to benefit from any Brexit-related opportunities.

Mistimed writedowns lesser of mining M&A evils

18 Oct 2017

Rio Tinto has been accused by the SEC of hiding the plunging value of a coal mine it bought in 2011. The charges are serious, but at least accounting procedures are fairly clear. If only there were rules that could prevent mining bosses getting carried away during M&A upswings.

College-sports fraud case obscures the real crime

26 Sep 2017

Federal prosecutors have charged 10 people, including four coaches, with using bribes to influence university basketball players. The government says the case exposes the dark underbelly of the sport. But fraud flourishes largely because the NCAA cartel refuses to pay athletes.

Viewsroom: Ray Dalio taps his inner communist

14 Sep 2017

Bridgewater’s founder thinks his kindred spirit resides in China’s anti-corruption czar Wang Qishan. Both seek radical transparency – though Dalio’s hunt is tied to forging a business in the Middle Kingdom. Plus: Exxon’s salvation may lie in the oil fields of West Texas.

Brazil’s Temer gets a win as more graft oozes up

6 Sep 2017

Forcing state lender BNDES to cut back soft loans to business will shrink the government's role in the economy and help its ailing finances. New graft allegations against the president’s predecessors show how badly such measures are needed. Sometimes corruption can be his friend.

Petrobras takes the drama out of its crisis

11 Aug 2017

The state-controlled oil company has often resembled a character in one of Brazil's more lurid telenovelas: blessed with great potential, but profligate and easily corrupted. Second-quarter results, though, tell a dull but encouraging tale of rehab under CEO Pedro Parente.

Brazil’s Congress discounts cost of corruption

3 Aug 2017

Lawmakers voted to shield President Michel Temer from criminal trial, at least for now. The calculus set immediate economic interests, which should benefit from the decision, against the longer-term merits of tackling political graft. Call it the net present value of shame.

Brazil pork mongers find comfort in flip-flops

31 Jul 2017

Selling trendy sandal maker Alpargatas to wealthy banking families will help meatpacking-to-pulp firm J&F pay a huge fine for bribing politicians. The original purchase, from a company also embroiled in scandal, is being probed by authorities too. It's a Brazilian microcosm.

Lula graft conviction is a sad boon for Brazil

12 Jul 2017

At his popular peak, the ex-president offered a magical moderate leftism that both markets and the poor could love. He hoped to regain power in 2018. Positive investor reaction to his prison sentence shows how dead that dream is. Brazilians face harder, more realistic choices.

Amec probe pollutes tricky oil merger

12 Jul 2017

John Wood Group shares fell more than 6 percent after the company it is taking over, Amec Foster Wheeler, said it was under investigation for possible bribery. The probe was a known risk, but the bad timing, combined with a low oil price, makes the 2.2 bln pound deal look rash.

Brazil shambles toward zombie rule

27 Jun 2017

President Temer probably can cling to his job despite corruption charges leveled by the country's top prosecutor. His focus on survival, however, is apt to sap life from much-needed efforts at fiscal restraint. Semi-paralysis will be the state of play until 2018 elections.

Dumb and Dumber 1MDB money trail is one to cherish

16 Jun 2017

Cash from the Malaysian fund ended up in a yacht, art, and rights to the film “Dumb and Dumber To”, the DOJ claims. The charges are incredible. But authorities are unlikely to recoup much. And alas, the days of U.S. crusades against global financial crime look numbered.

Zimbabwe takes monetary lunacy to the next level

22 May 2017

The African state suffered hyperinflation in 2007 after paying bills by printing its own currency. A decade on, it is doing so by printing U.S. dollars instead. The idea of conjuring foreign currency from nowhere with the tap of a keyboard sounds too good to be true – and is.

Samsung trial tests South Korea’s rule of law

9 May 2017

Bribery charges have turned the group's de facto leader, Jay Y. Lee, into a public enemy. A guilty verdict, if merited, could help rebuild trust in the system after an epic corruption scandal. It is equally important that he gets a fair trial despite the popular outrage.

Mallya arrest could energise India bad debt fight

18 Apr 2017

Liquor baron Vijay Mallya fled to the United Kingdom after banks sued to recover $1.4 billion. If his arrest leads to extradition it would make an example of the poster child of India’s bad loan problem. That would help New Delhi sell any bailout of state banks to the public.

Jes Staley’s “honest mistake” still hurts Barclays

10 Apr 2017

The UK bank's CEO will get a pay cut after trying twice to unmask a whistleblower. The regulator thinks bosses shouldn't have to go for honest errors – which Barclays says this was. But it doesn't say good things about internal processes – or Staley's knowledge of them.

South Africa’s slow burn cuts chances of quick fix

6 Apr 2017

President Jacob Zuma seems to be doing his best to get foreign investors to dump domestic assets. That may not lead to a sudden stop: only a small minority face being forced sellers. The bad news is that this could slow the process to replace him with a more responsible leader.