Day: May 24, 2021

A news release from US DoJ on 24 May announced that the indictment charges the Republic of Chad’s former Ambassador to the US and Canada and Chad’s former Deputy Chief of Mission for the US and Canada – Mahamoud Adam Bechir and Youssouf Hamid Takane – with soliciting and accepting a $2 million bribe from a Canadian start-up energy company, and conspiring to launder the bribe payment in order to conceal its true nature.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/charges-unsealed-against-former-chadian-diplomats-us-charged-connection-international-bribery

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A release on Mondo Visione on 24 May advised that research by Kroll showed that whistleblowing reports to the FCA dropped by 9% between 2019 and 2020, likely because the majority of the UK’s workforce left the office and operated remotely.  However, by contrast, the SEC experienced its largest ever number of whistleblower reports for a fiscal year in 2020, with an increase of 32%. Many US states had limited or no lockdowns, and this may explain the continuing increase in reports which had also been seen in the UK prior to 2020.

https://mondovisione.com/media-and-resources/news/kroll-analysis-shows-that-whistleblowing-drops-for-first-time-in-5-years-as-remo/

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On 24 May, NPR reported that the US State Department has announced visa restrictions for Ethiopian and Eritrean government officials and members of security forces over atrocities tied to a months-long conflict in northern Ethiopia.  It is said that the US will continue with humanitarian assistance and other critical aid to Ethiopia including health, food, education, human rights, democracy, and other areas; and the Biden Administration will continue with its broad restrictions on aid to Eritrea.

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/24/999696377/u-s-imposes-restrictions-on-ethiopia-and-eritrea-over-tigray-conflict

https://www.state.gov/united-states-actions-to-press-for-the-resolution-of-the-crisis-in-the-tigray-region-of-ethiopia/

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On 21 May, the South China Morning Post said that a new report by the Asian Corporate Governance Association (ACGA) says that Hong Kong needs to make further corporate governance improvements as the city and other financial centres in Asia continue to lag behind on some governance best practices.  It continues to lag behind on whistle-blowing and anti-corruption enforcement.  Hong Kong’s corporate sector has shown “limited willingness” to adapt to high governance standards, the report found.  It cited the lack of lead independent directors among companies in the city, as well as the need to set a higher bar for board diversity, the independence of boards and the quality of governance reporting.  Public perception is that corruption is getting worse in Hong Kong, as well as Australia and Singapore, the report found.

https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3134208/hong-kong-still-lags-behind-some-areas-corporate

The report is at –

https://www.acga-asia.org/files.php?aid=425&id=1240

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