Corruption Ledger

South Korean prosecutors have opened an investigation into President Yoon Suk Yeol, his interior minister, and the now-former defence minister over their roles in an attempt to impose martial law, Yonhap news agency reported on Thursday. Kim Yong-hyun, who resigned as South Korean defence minister over his involvement in Tuesday’s martial law order, also faces a travel ban as prosecutors…

One bitcoin will now set you back six figures. The cryptocurrency’s break above the $100,000 milestone has felt inevitable since Donald Trump’s election as the next U.S. president on a crypto-friendly platform. While it is just a number, it highlights how cryptos have carved out a place in modern financial markets. Some commentators joked that perhaps a sales pitch from…

This piece was first published by CBC in 2017. It’s one of the most valuable and secretive technology companies in Silicon Valley: Palantir Technologies, a developer of data mining software used by spies, banks and some of the biggest companies in the world. The company was co-founded in 2004 by billionaire Peter Thiel — previously the co-founder of PayPal — and now an…

Since rumors began to spread that a startup called Palantir helped to kill Osama bin Laden, Alex Karp hasn’t had much time to himself. On one sun-baked July morning in Silicon Valley Palantir’s lean 45-year-old chief executive, with a top-heavy mop of frazzled hair, hikes the grassy hills around Stanford University’s massive satellite antennae known as the Dish, a favorite…

French lawmakers on Dec 4 voted to oust the government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier after just three months in office, a historic move which plunged the country further into political chaos. For the first time in over 60 years, the National Assembly lower house toppled the incumbent government, approving a no-confidence motion that had been proposed by the hard…

Maryland’s Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services has failed to properly manage and oversee contracts with private companies that provide medical and mental health care to prisoners in state-run detention facilities, according to a newly released audit. The failures resulted in hundreds of missed evaluations for suicide risk and a shortage of mental health exams, among other problems. The…

A member of China’s powerful Central Military Commission has been suspended and put under investigation, the country’s Defense Ministry said Thursday. Miao Hua was director of the political work department on the commission, which oversees the People’s Liberation Army, the world’s largest standing military. He was one of five members of the commission in addition to its leader, Chinese President…

MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s Senate on Thursday passed a measure to abolish the autonomous bodies that regulate some economic sectors and ensure government transparency, a reform that has sparked outcry from the opposition and industry. Lawmakers in the upper chamber voted on the proposal’s general terms with 86 in favor and 42 against, with nearly the same tally coming in…

Hinds County District Attorney Jody E. Owens II walked briskly toward a crowd of TV cameras and reporters on the steps of the federal courthouse in Jackson last week to denounce what he called a “horrible example of a flawed FBI investigation” and an “assassination attempt on my character.” Owens, the top elected law enforcement official for Mississippi’s largest county…

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California voters have rejected a measure on the November ballot that would have amended the state constitution to ban forced prison labor. The constitution already prohibits so-called involuntary servitude, but an exception allows it to be used as a punishment for crime. That exemption became a target of criminal justice advocates concerned that prisoners are often…

AMSTERDAM – The International Criminal Court’s governing body will launch an external probe into its chief prosecutor Karim Khan over alleged sexual misconduct, it said in a statement on Monday, confirming a previous report by Reuters. “An external investigation is … being pursued in order to ensure a fully independent, impartial and fair process”, the statement said, also calling upon…

NEW YORK – Huawei Technologies asked a US judge to dismiss much of a federal indictment accusing the Chinese telecommunications company of trying to steal technology secrets from US rivals and misleading banks about its business in Iran. In a Friday night filing in federal court in Brooklyn, Huawei said there was no proof of a conspiracy, calling the charge…

(Reuters) – The International Criminal Court’s governing body will launch an external investigation into its chief prosecutor Karim Khan over alleged sexual misconduct, two sources familiar with the matter said on Friday. Khan is called on in an internal document circulated to member states to temporarily step down from his role at the world’s permanent war crimes court, based in…

WASHINGTON – The United States financed the purchase of Israeli spy software Pegasus for Colombian security forces in 2020, a senior US official said on Nov 8, a move made without informing then-President Ivan Duque. The US official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, corroborated a report in the Colombian daily newspaper El Tiempo that the software was used…

LOS ANGELES – Leonard Francis, the Malaysian military contractor known as “Fat Leonard”, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Nov 5 for his role in the US Navy’s worst-ever corruption scandal. Francis, 60, was also ordered to pay US$20 million (S$26.3 million) in restitution to the US Navy by a federal judge in San Diego and to forfeit…

MEXICO CITY – Two Mexican journalists were shot dead in less than 24 hours in western states, according to authorities, as the country faces a flare-up of violence in the region. A Mexican journalist was shot dead in the western state of Colima on Wednesday afternoon, the state persecutor’s office told Reuters. Her name was Patricia Ramirez, also known by…