Author: CorruptionLedger

KPMG settles £1.3bn lawsuit from Carillion creditors over alleged negligence

KPMG has settled a £1.3bn lawsuit brought by Carillion’s liquidators, who claimed the auditor was negligent and missed serious red flags in the outsourcing firm’s accounts ahead of its disastrous collapse in 2018. The lawsuit – which related to audits of Carillion accounts between 2014 and 2016 – had been launched by Britain’s official receiver, which is attempting to recoup losses on behalf of Carillion’s creditors which are owed money by the failed company. Those creditors include the UK tax…

Bayer: Supreme Court rules Bayer must return $252 mln in Roundup royalties

SAO PAULO, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Germany’s Bayer has been ordered by Brazil’s Supreme Court to return to Brazilian soybean farmers the royalties they were charged for a GMO soybean seed, the Mato Grosso farmer lobby Aprosoja-MT said in a statement on Friday. The Feb. 13 ruling by Supreme Court Justice Nunes Marques relates to a GMO technology commercially known as Intacta RR2 Pro, created by Monsanto, which was later acquired by Germany’s Bayer. Bayer said in a statement it…

Former Defence Minister Linda Reynolds breaks silence on “political hit job” designed to bring down Morrison government

Former Defence Minister Linda Reynolds has broken her two-year silence, saying she has “a very different story” to tell about the Brittany Higgins rape scandal. The former Liberal cabinet minister was Ms Higgins’ boss when the political staffer alleges she was raped in Parliament House in 2019. In a four-hour interview with The Weekend Australian, Senator Reynolds claimed to be the victim of a “political hit job” designed to bring down both her and the former Morrison government. Senator Reynolds…

India accuses BBC of tax evasion after searching offices

Critics questioned the timing of the searches, which came after BBC aired show critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Credit company Jaracanda Finance hit with infringement notices over its repayment calculator

  A Brisbane-based digital lender has been slapped with two infringement notices by ASIC for its false and misleading repayment estimate calculator. The corporate watchdog took action against Jaracanda Finance, which offered loans up to $15,000, typically for 12 to 36 months, because it was concerned that the credit licensee’s repayment estimate calculator: used an annual percentage rate that was significantly less than the rate that applied to most consumers who entered a credit contract with Jacaranda, and was advertising…

North Korea fires ballistic missile, South Korean military says

Saturday’s move by North Korea comes ahead of upcoming US-South Korea joint drills in Washington next week.

Ex-ad agency chief admits guilt as Tokyo Olympic bribery trial opens

A trial looking into widespread bribery at the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee began Friday with a former head of a major ad company admitting to the charges. Shinichi Uneo, 69, who formerly headed ADK Holdings, quietly told the Tokyo District Court the allegations were accurate. In Japan, a trial continues even if a suspect admits guilt. Three prosecutors took turns reading their opening statement during a two-hour session. Ueno is accused of paying nearly 15 million yen to Haruyuki Takahashi,…

The Federal Reserve Acts on BSA Failures Related to PPP Loan Fraud

On January 24, 2023, the Federal Reserve Board (“FRB”) assessed a second-tier[1] civil penalty of $2.3 million against New York-based Popular Bank (or the “Bank”) for unsafe and unsound practices related to six Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loans.  According to the FRB, the Bank processed and funded these loans despite detecting significant indicia of fraud……

Russia surrounds Bakhmut as Ukraine sends in troops

Ukraine faced its toughest week so far this year on the eastern front, where its defenders lost more ground to Russian forces but committed enormous resources to holding Bakhmut, a coal-mining town that has acquired emblematic importance to both sides. Russian troops have been launching probing attacks on a wide front in Donetsk, half of which they now occupy. But their main effort has been to take Bakhmut, whose eastern outskirts they hold. “[We are] storming house by house, square metre by square metre. Hard…

Norwegian Intelligence Service: Russia deploys ships carrying tactical nuclear weaponry in the Baltic

Russia began deploying ships with tactical nuclear weaponry in the Baltic Sea for the first time in the past 30 years, the Norwegian Intelligence Service reported Tuesday in its annual report. The document was published on the same day Moscow denied an alleged plan to destabilize neighboring Moldova, which closed its airspace in response, at a time when experts, including the report’s authors, fear a possible escalation of the war in Ukraine. In the 72-page document, the Norwegian Intelligence Service…

Unconfirmed reports of a fire in Moscow near Scientific Research Institute of Precision Instruments

  There have been unconfirmed reports today of a fire that broke out in Moscow near the Scientific Research Institute of Precision Instruments, a manufacturer “various radio engineering equipment and software-hardware complexes that meet the highest requirements of the Russian aerospace industry,” according to their web site. Videos were posted to TikTok, Twitter and Reddit. Twitter video can be found using #RussiaFire.   fire near the Precision Equipment Research Institute in Moscow. This enterprise is part of Roskosmos. I don’t…

Russian forces bombard Ukraine’s Bakhmut in major new offensive

The eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut endured heavy artillery fire on Monday as the NATO chief backed reports from local officials that a major new Russian offensive had begun, days before the first anniversary of Moscow’s invasion. Ukrainian defenders, who have already held out for months, were braced for new ground attacks, Ukrainian military officials said. Positions in Bakhmut have been fortified and only people with a military role were being allowed in, a deputy battalion commander said. Any civilians…

With criminals in the ranks, can London’s police force ever recover public trust?

London, United Kingdom – The Metropolitan Police Force’s Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, is certainly banking on the expectation that it can. Many would say it’s an almost insurmountable task. But the alternative is unthinkable. The force is the first port of call for law enforcement and prevention of crime in the United Kingdom’s capital – with unique responsibilities and challenges. But a series of revelations of criminals within its ranks has badly damaged its reputation and called attention to its shocking…

US House Republicans request documents in Biden family probe

Republicans in the United States House of Representatives have continued their investigation into the family of Democratic President Joe Biden, making their first official requests for documents related to his son’s and brother’s foreign business pursuits. “If President Biden is compromised by deals with foreign adversaries and they are impacting his decision making, this is a threat to national security,” James Comer, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, said in a statement on Thursday. Accusing the Biden…

Ex-vice president Pence subpoenaed in special counsel probe: AP

An anonymous source tells the Associated Press that Pence has been subpoenaed in ongoing investigations into Donald Trump. Former United States Vice President Mike Pence has been subpoenaed by the special counsel overseeing investigations into efforts by then-President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to a person with direct knowledge of the event. The subpoena to Pence was served in recent days as part of the investigation by special counsel Jack Smith,…

Cerespo Co and Fuji Creative Corp: 4 more arrested over Tokyo Olympics bid rigging

Prosecutors arrested a former operations executive at the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee and three others on Wednesday over bid-rigging allegations, as yet another corruption scandal surfaces in the wake of the global sports event. Tokyo prosecutors arrested the former executive, Yasuo Mori, on suspicion he played a leading role in rigging bids for contracts related to games test events in violation of the anti-monopoly law. They also arrested Koji Hemmi, a former executive at Japanese ad giant Dentsu Inc, and…