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Friday, 6 October 2017

Bribery and Corruption

20 Countries Where Bribery In Business Is Common Practice

 Why do people accept bribes?
The second annual competition on the subject of Corruption has been held by Proti korupcii/Against Corruption association supported by NGO Fund. Read an awarded essay by Martin Beňo from The Grammar School at Varšavská cesta 1 in Žilina.
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Why many people don’t mind bribes?
People traded their values and costs for an influence and power from ancient times and afterwards also used them to control others. In The Kingdom of Hungary the first marks of buying over or corruption appeared in the 15th century. Judges used to accept so called pre-hearing gifts then, which was permitted and therefore allowed by law. Since then bribes became a natural part of pursuing one’s interests throughout human evolution up to these days.
To illustrate the situation when people don’t mind bribes, let’s take an exemplary profession. Imagine you work as a judge. You’re on an average salary, it rather seems your performance evaluation of your professional status is inadequate. You tell your friends you’re doing fine and don’t know what to do with money, in fact you’re not that well-off. You’re frustrated and here comes a client who thinks his case is endangered and his opponent has enough evidence to beat him. But your client can’t afford to lose, so he offers you a gift as a sign of friendship, usually cash. Desiring money you wish that much, you don’t think of justice or moral values, so you don’t mind being bribed.
The root of the problem lies in the question – why do people accept bribes willingly? Some of them do because every month they have the same figure on their payslip they are not satisfied with and simply can’t afford a new Audi. Some of them might enjoy it. They feel more important and the excitement they get makes them feel like a big-league. Finally, there are people who had no option, they have lack of money using most of the wage to pay mortgage and are thankful for a roof over their head. Extra money are always welcome and moral principles left behind.
The most exposed professions are doctors, judges and politicians. In other words the offices that directly influence people and their lives. A more influential politician has such competence that even a president doesn’t have. He can do almost whatever he likes. In Slovakia deputies make the most of it – they do whatever they like. Thereafter they become a target of bribes. And as they are untouchable, they accept the bribe harmlessly. They don’t mind which bill they legislate or who they liberate. They also need to make a living out of something, don’t they? Let’s say a doctor can’t guarantee a safe surgery but if you pay, you might get the term a few months earlier. But not anybody can afford to be privileged. That’s why it’s one of the filthiest and most unfair things to do – offering or accepting a bribe in health service. But you can still see the Dubai holiday photos of your ‘guardian angel’ pinned around his office. And no, he was not working night shifts.
To understand why people are willing to get bought, let’s have a brief look at history again. Our civilization is very selfish since its beginning. Let’s take Adam from Paradise, he couldn’t resist and to fulfill his desire, he picked the Apple from a tree and ate it. God punished him and Eve by expelling them from Paradise. And so we, our generation spoilt by materialism, can’t turn down offers appearing as better future to us. Man is incorrigible, he will make the same mistake at least twice in his life and so we behave selfishly like Adam. And it is also going to revenge on us as it has in his case.
Despite of the fact that everyone individually is responsible for offering / accepting a bribe, I think that people are behind that social fiasco. It’s a pyramide with state authorities bribed by higher classes, mafia and rich investors. So everyone should ask himself in this new regime called capitalism, „Am I ready or am I not to betray myself?“

Why many people don't mind bribesPeople traded their values and costs for an influence and power from ancient times and afterwards also ...
Bribery is the act of giving money, goods or other forms of recompense to a recipient in exchange for an alteration of their behavior that the recipient would ...
Bribery Act · Kickback · Commercial bribery · Bribery
Pages in category "People convicted of bribery". The following 19 pages are in this category, out of 19 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).
Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC). Directorate on ... Lack of ethical standards or codes of conduct that prompt people to act with integrity.
I believe there is probably a variety of independent causes of corruption. Identifying those causes is the first step toward implementing steps to ...
Bribery is giving or receiving something and influencing a transection. Corruption involves more than two or more people enters into a secret ...
Why do people bribe? The short answer is that bribers usually do a risk assessment, consciously or subconsciously, and decide that it's in their ...
The sums involved in grand corruption may make newspaper headlines around ..... the poor may even be asked to pay more than people with higher incomes.
This positive bias often blindsUS business people to the reality of .... The employees in your company who are involved in corruption, kickbacks ...
However, in order for these individuals to become involved in corrupt .... Fear of whistle-blowing: People will often be afraid to report corruption ...


Shafie Afdal
Shafie Afdal
A vice-president of Parti Warisan Sabah – described as a “key ally” of party president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal – has been arrested after being called in to give a statement to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Com­mission (MACC).
He is believed to be among three people arrested in connection with alleged fraud involving rural projects.
Sources close to the vice-president said several other businessmen were also called in by the MACC to have their statements recorded in connection with alleged fraud involving rural projects.
They said he was detained yesterday and is expected to be remanded today. There are three vice-presidents in Parti Warisan Sabah – Datuk Peter Anthony, Datuk Jaujan Sambakong and Junz Wong. The detained man is said to be Anthony…
KOTA KINABALU: Parti Warisan Sabah president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal has been arrested over a probe into the alleged skimming of ...
Former rural and regional development minister is 11th person to be detained over probe into alleged misappropriation of RM1.5 bil of federal funds. ... KOTA KINABALU: Parti Warisan Sabah president Shafie Apdal was detained by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) today over ...
KOTA KINABALU: Parti Warisan Sabah president Shafie Apdal was today ... who turned 60 today, was arrested at 9pm yesterday after he was ...
PARTI Warisan Sabah (Warisan) Youth chief Mohd Azis Jamman has been summoned by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to help its investigation into alleged embezzlement of government funds meant for rural development in Sabah...
Hamid Apdal, the brother of Part Warisan Sabah (Warisan) president Mohd Shafie Apdal, has been arrested by MACC.
Sources told Malaysiakini Hamid was arrested at 9.30pm, after around three hours of questioning at the MACC office in Kota Kinabalu.
Hamid had turned up at the MACC office at 10am today after the commission failed to locate him at his house last night.
Malaysiakini understands that Hamid was taken to his house at 3.30pm with five MACC officers in Putatan.
The MACC officers were seeking evidence to facilitate their investigation into the alleged siphoning of funds for rural development in Sabah.
They were there until 6pm, before Hamid was taken back to the MACC office.
According to The Star Online, at least two Sabah assemblypersons and another senator are also expected to be called in to give their statements.
A BN component party senator was released yesterday after having his statement recorded over the matter, added the report.
Earlier today, two Sabah Umno Youth leaders and a Warisan Youth chief were remanded for five days pertaining to the case.
Umno Youth information chief Jamawi Jaafar, who is also Tenom Umno Youth chief, was detained along with Warisan Youth chief Mohd Azis Jamman at the Sabah MACC headquarters in Kota Kinabalu yesterday. 
The third person, Tawau Umno Youth chief Ariffin Kassim, was arrested at the graft buster's office in Tawau.
Jamawi is currently serving as a special officer in the Communications and Multimedia Ministry, and it is learned that his arrest was in regard to his tenure as an aide to Mohd Shafie when the latter was rural and regional development minister.
Mohd Azis was Semporna Umno Youth chief before he left the party and subsequently joined Warisan.
The remand on Warisan vice-president Peter Anthony, who was arrested last Thursday, was also extended to a further three days, from the original five.
The arrests are in connection with funds allegedly misappropriated from projects in Sabah, which were to be carried out by the Rural and Regional Development Ministry prior to Shafie's sacking during the Cabinet reshuffle in 2015.
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KOTA KINABALU: Parti Warisan Sabah president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, who is embroiled in a graft investigation into federal rural development funds during his term as Rural and Regional Development Minister, returned to Sabah just hours before his close aide Datuk Peter ...
KOTA KINABALU: A vice-president of Parti Warisan Sabah – described as a “key ally” of party president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal – has been arrested after being called in to give a statement to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Com­mission (MACC). He is believed to be among ...
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Datuk Seri Haji Mohd. Shafie bin Haji Apdal (born 20 October 1957) is a Malaysian politician. ... The Star. Retrieved 10 November 2014. Jump up ^ Shafie Apdal axed in Cabinet shakeup; Jump up ^ "Shafie's Party Name, Logo Approved, ...
Political party: United Malays National Organis...
Children: 6

Dragnet over Sabah Politicians
Sabah’s leading opposition party Warisan has been rocked by the arrests of some of its top leaders in connection to MACC’s probe into allegations of embezzlement. 
DATUK Seri Shafie Apdal stepped out of the arrival hall at the Kota Kinabalu airport wearing a big smile.
The Warisan president’s smile widened when cries of “Lawan Barisan” and “Undi Warisan” rose from the group of supporters and top Warisan leaders waiting for him.
But reporters waiting for him could sense that he was not quite his usual self.
His vice-president Datuk Peter Anthony had been detained for questioning by the MACC and rumours swirled of more politicians to be picked up in connection to the embezzlement of rural development funds.
The saying that money makes the world go round applies beautifully in Sabah’s politics and the arrests had sent jitters through political circles in the state.
“Outwardly, he seemed in control, but there was something in his voice, some kind of tension there,” said The Star’s Sabah bureau chief Muguntan Vanar who has, over the years, learnt to read Shafie like a book.
Shafie was obviously upset that fingers were being pointed at him. As reporters crowded around him, he riffled though the black backpack of his Youth chief Azis Jamman and held up several sheaves of letters to show the high KPIs during his time as Rural and Regional Development Minister.
“Out of 10 in 2009, we scored 8. See, signed by Najib (Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak). And this one, congratulating the ministry. When I was in the Government, my performance was good but now, I did something wrong?” he said, holding up the letters.
The former Cabinet minister was in town for a political gathering in Tenom. The next day, he and several other party leaders took a train from Beaufort to Tenom.
The train broke down midway and Shafie had a field day on stage, holding up his train ticket as he poked fun at Sabah’s infrastructure. He said that if he wins, he will build a high-speed train from Kota Kinabalu to Tenom.
Tenom is a fertile valley synonymous with the Murut community and one of the oldest Chinese settlements in Sabah. His party is eyeing the Tenom parliamentary seat which Barisan Nasional won by about 4,000 votes in a five-corner fight.
The ceramah drew a massive crowd and he gave what his vice-president Junz Wong described as a “powerful speech”.
Shafie is ordinarily soft-spoken and gentle but put him on stage and suddenly, there is this big voice coming from this slight-build man. It was also quite an angry speech, a sign that he was anticipating the political storm ahead.
He defended Peter who had been brought to the Kota Kinabalu court that very morning in handcuffs and wearing that dreaded orange lock-up t-shirt.
He told the crowd: “Don’t make judgement while the investigation is still on. I have said we will comply and cooperate with MACC.”
He called Peter “my young brother”. The media had referred to him as Shafie’s “key ally” but everyone knows that Peter is the “money man” in Warisan even though the party treasurer is Terence Siambun, the Moyog assemblyman who hopped over from PKR.
The media had zeroed in on Peter when he appeared in court whereas Sabah insiders said the person to watch is the nondescript-looking but well-connected businessman, Yu Sin Kong, who was also remanded for questioning.
Peter’s arrest had been the talk of the town. He is quite a colourful character in Kota Kinabalu where everyone knows about what everyone is up to. He is said to have worked for Shafie when the latter was a minister although it is unclear what kind of job he did.
Peter, 46, started out working at a local nightclub known as Strawberry Lips where he got to know the who’s who in town. With his boyish good looks and agreeable personality, he made friends easily and by the time he was in his mid-30s, he was rubbing shoulders with people who mattered in politics and business and, as they say, he was on a roll.
There were also stories about an exclusive penthouse where people would go to unwind, network and make deals.
“We used to call him Nokia – you know, good at connecting people,” said a former Umno MP from Sabah.
Peter made news several years ago for waving his pistol at the Kapitan Cina in the Lido commercial enclave over a parking problem. He is also the managing director of Asli Jati Engineering which gets lucrative projects which he claimed was through competitive bidding.
He has been on MACC’s radar screen since 2012 when allegations surfaced about his company making false claims of up to RM45mil for a Universiti Malaysia Sabah contract. He claimed that MACC has cleared him of wrongdoing.
It has been a dramatic week for Warisan but Umno politicians are also nervous, unsure how far the MACC dragnet will be cast.
The Rural and Regional Development Ministry which Shafie headed from 2009 till 2015 was like an octopus whose tentacles spread far and wide in Sabah. Many politicians benefited from it. Some used the money correctly, others less so.
Sabah is not one of those places where bridges are built where there are no rivers. But as Datuk Lajim Ukin, president of Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah pointed out, there have been instances where roads are built in the middle of nowhere, electric poles erected without cables and water pipes installed with no water.
“Umno politicians got a lot of projects from his ministry. He was generous, that’s how he won the Umno vice-president post,” said the above Umno politician.
The latest scandal allegedly involves the siphoning of RM1,5bil from an allocation of RM7.5bil meant for rural development funds in Sabah over the last six years. MACC is also investigating some 60 companies many of which have Umno connections.
MACC has seized cash amounting to RM150mil from 15 locations and frozen assets amounting to RM29mil. There are all kinds of gossip about these locations, the personalities behind them and even what RM150mil looks like.
“The way I see it, the ‘taps’ have been turned off, the funds will dry up. Without funds, it’s hard to mobilise or campaign in Sabah because you are not going to get votes talking about 1MDB. And this is only the start,” said CENSE think-tank CEO Fui K. Soong who is from Sabah.
On Sunday night, Azis, who was sending off Shafie at the airport, received a call that the MACC wanted to meet him. The alarm bells went off and his deputy president Darell Leiking who was at his cousin’s wedding rushed to the MACC office.
The tall and handsome Azis whose father is Shafie’s cousin, was detained the next day and by Tuesday, it was his turn to wear orange when he appeared in court to be remanded.
The orange t-shirt does not seem to have the same connotation in Sabah and a defiant Azis flashed a cynical smile and held up his handcuffed hands to show the “W for Warisan” hand sign – outspread palms with thumbs joined in a “W” shape.
Two Umno politicians – the Youth chiefs for Temom and Tawau, Jamawi Jaafar and Ariffin Kassim – were also arrested in connection to the same scandal but they kept their heads down.
Jamawi was a former aide to Shafie and the arrest could not have come at a worse time. He had contested the Umno Youth No. 2 post in 2013 and is actually quite a good grassroots man but his arrest may have put him out of the running as a candidate in the general election.
Warisan’s Wong, who is also Likas assemblyman, has slammed the arrests as political intimidation and selective prosecution.
“It’s to discredit Warisan leaders as the general election gets nearer,” he said.
Shafie likes to tell people that he does not have deep pockets but his Warisan events all over Sabah suggest that his party is not short of funds or organising skills.
Their events often feature an impressive stage with a fancy backdrop, a fantastic sound system with music, and air-blowers to cool those onstage. There are also big tents and lots of chairs filled by people who try to kiss his hand.
His party does things in style and even in far-flung villages, Shafie will be escorted by party officials in their Warisan shirts, with party flags fluttering in the wind and even a kompang in the background.
It is not surprising that in Sabah, Umno versus Warisan has been likened to Cash versus Money.
The Warisan logo denotes a sailboat floating above a pair of hands and rice stalks. The boat carries the people’s hope, the hands are to unite the east and west of Sabah while the rice stalks are about the needs of the people.
The sailboat is in stormy seas and a recent Facebook posting of the party logo was tweaked to show a MACC gunboat in pursuit of the Warisan sailboat.
Shafie’s younger brother Hamid Apdal has also been arrested and the question on everyone’s lips is whether the net is closing in on Shafie.
TAGS / KEYWORDS: Politics , Shafie , Sabah , Warisan , MACC


By SYED UMAR ARIFF/October 15, 2017 @ 7:35pm
KUALA LUMPUR: Political literacy is important to rein in those who have reached the eligible age to register as voters.
Politicians across the divide agree that maturity and knowledge on current issues or policies should be the pull factor for people to participate in the democratic process.
Umno Supreme Council member Professor Tan Sri Ibrahim Abu Shah said while there was nothing wrong with subscribing to political sentiments or causes, it was pertinent for the public to make decisions based on the policies crafted by respective governments.
Abu Shah does not agree with enforcing an automatic voter registration system, which could lead to votes made by a less-informed electorate.
“Voting is a right and power given to the people. An auto-registration is not the answer to mitigate imbalances created by low voter registration.
“Instead, it is important for the people to be educated on voting and what it means in a democratic society,” he said.
Moreover, people should realise that the voting process itself is not apolitical, should political fatigue be the main reason that deters people from registering.
“The act of voting is apolitical in nature. It is something that the public should be aware of. Yes, you can vote for your political stance.
“But it is more important to vote for parties with the best policies formulated to take the nation forward,” Ibrahim said.
Echoing Ibrahim’s sentiment is MCA central committee member Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker, who said a soft approach in educating potential voters was essential in developing maturity among the electorate.
Ti said only those who were politically savvy should vote, instead of impressionable groups whose votes might derail the nation’s trajectory.
“Maturity is very important in granting mandates to the preferred party.
“Hence, I agree that education and campaign drives are the most suitable approaches when it comes to encouraging the public to register as voters.
“Malaysia is a young nation. Not all segments of society are politically mature.
“For instance, if voter registration is made compulsory, you will have groups of people voting in protest instead of voting for what is right.”
PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil said the voter registration awareness should not be carried out by the EC alone.
“Importance should be placed on reeducating the public on the importance of voting, and such endeavours need to be a multi-pronged approach.
“Rather than placing the task on the shoulders of the Election Commission, it is better for civil societies and non-governmental organisations to participate in inculcating awareness about the system and policies laid out in government administration and the country’s democratic process.”

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