Day: February 29, 2020

The Guardian reported on 29 February that, Ashok Khemka, 54, the Indian civil servant who has been transferred 53 times in 26 years because he kept exposing corruption by politicians is the subject of a new book written by 2 journalists to be published in March.  He became famous in 2012 when he cancelled an allegedly illegal land deal by Robert Vadra, son-in-law of the Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/21/indian-civil-servant-moved-53-times-for-exposing-corruption-to-be-immortalised-in-book

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On 28 February, NGO Global Witness claimed that the world’s largest tropical peatlands – and one of the world’s biggest carbon sinks – is under threat from oil drilling by a company with close links to Republic of Congo’s ruling family.  It reported that, in August 2019, a company controlled by one of Africa’s richest men, Claude Wilfrid Etoka, announced the discovery of a reportedly vast oil reserve.

https://www.globalwitness.org/en/press-releases/congo-oil-project-obtained-by-corruption-risk-magnate-threatens-climate-critical-peatland-forest/

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On 29 February, Rferl reported that a court in Cape Verde has convicted the Russian captain and crew of a cargo ship of drug trafficking and sentenced them to long prison terms.  The cargo ship was caught in February 2019 with the biggest cocaine haul ever seized in the country – some 9.5 tons.  It was traveling to Morocco from South America when it docked following the death of a crew member.

https://www.rferl.org/a/cape-verde-convicts-russian-captain-crew-cocaine-trafficking/30460968.html

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On 28 February, Wilmer Hale published a Client Alert which summarises key Latin America anti-bribery enforcement developments from 2019 and provides predictions for 2020.  Also available is a webcast, in English and Spanish.  It predicts that FCPA enforcement will continue to be a high priority for the DoJ and the SEC and that the level of FCPA enforcement activity in Latin America will remain at the high levels seen in recent years. It says that several trends that have been seen develop and evolve over the last few years look set to continue. For example –

• large cross-border investigations appear likely to feature heavily in 2020 enforcement activity once again;
• DoJ leadership continues to emphasise the prioritisation of individual prosecutions, suggesting that this will remain a focus for the its FCPA unit in 2020; and
• efforts by Latin American governments to pursue corruption cases within their borders seem likely to continue, with increased cross-border cooperation between prosecutors.

https://www.wilmerhale.com/en/insights/client-alerts/20200228-latin-america-anti-bribery-year-in-review-2019-developments-and-predictions-for-2020

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