Ethics Newsline®

VARIOUS DATELINES
Current and former officials found themselves on the hot seat in various corruption probes last week, and a survey highlighted just how fed up one nation is with graft:

• Former French president Jacques Chirac was questioned in a scandal involving political corruption that allegedly took place when he was mayor of Paris, the Financial Times reports. Chirac, who lost his immunity from prosecution when his presidential term ended in May, is being questioned about municipal jobs given out by his party during his mayoral terms from 1977 to 1995. One former official who served under Chirac at the time has received a suspended jail sentence for his part in the incidents, according to the Financial Times.
• The former party boss of Shanghai was drummed out of the party last week and may stand trial on corruption charges, reports the International Herald Tribune. Chen Liangyu is the highest official sacked in a decade, and his ouster is part of an unusual — for China — public investigation into official wrongdoing. The nation is battling international backlash against dangerous food and drug products claimed to have been produced after bribed officials turned a blind eye to substandard manufacturing processes or outright counterfeiting.
• Bangladesh continued its highly publicized corruption crackdown with the jailing of three former high-ranking cabinet ministers. More than 170 political figures have been detained, reports Reuters, as part of a government promise to clean up politics before the next round of elections. Some of those jailed also have been accused of consorting with terrorists.
• Graft-weary Russians want the government to make fighting corruption its top priority, according to a poll released last week. The survey, conducted by a major Russian public-opinion institute called the Levada Center, showed that 45 percent of respondents said corruption was their biggest worry, and that the government should focus on eradicating it, reports the English-language daily Moscow Times.