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World news: Zimbabwe | guardian.co.uk

David Smith — 2010-02-28 00:07:54 GMT

Robert Mugabe is the eldest statesman on a continent where age is seldom a barrier to power

Let them eat cake. That is one of the likely headlines after an all-night birthday gala for Robert Mugabe, the autocratic president of Zimbabwe, which was due to finish in the early hours of yesterday. Mugabe, who last week turned 86 in a country where average life expectancy stands at 45, is the eldest statesman on a continent where age is seldom a barrier to power.

But events confronting both Nigerians and Nigeriens in the past week have demonstrated that the next generation of African leaders might find it somewhat harder to crush all comers.

President Mamadou Tandja of Niger, who had rewritten the constitution rather than quit when his term expired, paid the penalty when soldiers stormed the presidential palace and spirited him away in a military coup. Diplomats were ambivalent about whether to condemn the means or praise the ends.

President Umaru Yar'Adua of Nigeria, who created a power vacuum when he disappeared in November for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia, returned at dead of night to a country where politicians, lawyers, media and ordinary citizens have made their demands for accountability and transparency clear. Yar'Adua's deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, remains at the helm while questions linger over the president's health.

In recent times, the objections raised to the likes of Menzies Campbell and John McCain in recent British and American election campaigns rarely keep politicians awake here.

Africa's club of leaders of pensionable age includes Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, 81, Cameroon's Paul Biya, 77, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia, 73, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, believed to be 67, Eduardo dos Santos of Angola, also 67, Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo-Brazzaville, thought to be 66, and Uganda's Yoweri Museveni, believed to be 65.

Together these men have ruled for close to 250 years combined and none seems in a hurry to bend to free and fair democratic will. It took the grim reaper to part Gabon's Omar Bongo, at 41 years the longest-serving president in African history, from the levers of power last year at the age of 73.

It is hoped that the rise of civil society organisations across Africa, flourishing on the internet, will prove a powerful counterweight to future big men turned old men. But optimism should be checked. The Mo Ibrahim prize for African leadership, intended to honour good governance, was not awarded last year because no worthy candidate could be found.

Mugabe, for one, shows no signs of going quietly. In April, he will mark 30 years in power since Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain, making him one of the world's longest-reigning leaders. Urban myths abound about how the 86-year-old retains the zeal of a man half his age.

Many wish that he had followed the example of Nelson Mandela, now 91, whose decision to step down from South Africa's presidency after one term guaranteed his special place in posterity.

David Smith

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Mundo. Noticias, vídeos y fotos de Mundo en lainformacion.com

2010-02-15 13:14:25 GMT

Asegura que la legislación ecuatoguineana permite a los ministros mantener negocios privados "al margen de sus obligaciones" oficiales

MADRID, 15 (EUROPA PRESS)

El Gobierno de Guinea Ecuatorial ha asegurado que el reciente informe del Senado norteamericano en el que se acusa al ministro ecuatoguineano Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangué --más conocido como 'Teodorín' e hijo del presidente de su país, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo-- de haber desviado 110 millones de dólares mediante la apertura de cuentas falsas en bancos norteamericanos, se basa en "fuentes de dudosa fiabilidad" cuyo objetivo es "manchar la reputación y credibilidad" del presidente, de su familia y de su Gobierno. Asimismo, precisó que la legislación guineana permite que los ministros mantengan negocios privados "al margen de sus obligaciones" gubernamentales, "como sucede exactamente en la mayor parte del mundo".

"El Gobierno de la República de Guinea Ecuatorial lamenta que el Subcomité permanente del Senado haya basado su Informe sobre fuentes de dudosa fiabilidad, ya que se trata de organizaciones, periodistas y personas individuales animadas por unos sentimientos políticos discriminatorios y contrarios al régimen político de Guinea Ecuatorial y no actúan con la transparencia y objetividad que preconizan las leyes norteamericanas en materia de lucha contra la corrupción", afirmó el Gobierno.

El objetivo de estas fuentes, prosiguió el Ejecutivo en un comunicado difundido este lunes, es "simplemente manchar la reputación y credibilidad del presidente de la República de Guinea Ecuatorial, su familia y los miembros de su Gobierno".

El pasado 4 de febrero, el Subcomité Permanente de Investigaciones del Senado norteamericano hizo público un informe de 325 páginas sobre el presunto desvío hacia bancos norteamericanos de millones de dólares de origen "sospechoso" por parte de algunos dirigentes africanos, entre ellos el fallecido presidente gabonés Omar Bongo y el propio 'Teodorín', actual ministro de Agricultura y Bosques.

El informe indica que 'Teodorín' canalizó 110 millones de dólares a Estados Unidos mediante la apertura de cuentas a nombre de "empresas fantasmas" en varios bancos norteamericanos. Estas cantidades, canalizadas a través de los bancos Wachovia y Citibank y la firma de abogados Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, sirvieron para la adquisición de un jet Gulfstream, valorado en 38,5 millones dólares, y de una mansión en Malibú, valorada en 30 millones de dólares, "con dinero sospechoso procedente de Guinea Ecuatorial".

"NEGOCIOS AL MARGEN"

Según el comunicado del Gobierno, el ministro "es la primera persona interesada en colaborar en dicha investigación para aclarar los hechos con los que se le relacionan, y tanto él como sus abogados se han puesto a disposición permanente del Subcomité del Senado para ofrecer toda su ayuda, colaboración y datos solicitados a los miembros de este Subcomité". "En este sentido", prosiguió, Nguema Obiang "ha realizado declaraciones juradas concernientes a distintos ámbitos, entre las que se incluyen el origen y fuentes de sus ingresos y su cumplimiento con las leyes locales aplicables".

El Gobierno aseguró también que el propio informe del Senado precisa que los movimientos financieros del ministro únicamente están "bajo sospecha" y "no aporta ningún hecho específico que apoye esta conclusión, sino que se limita a citar continuas acusaciones y alegaciones insustanciales no concluyentes". "Por ese motivo, el señor Nguema Obiang Mangue no es considerado en ningún momento como 'acusado', ya que en ningún caso se reconoce que estas acusaciones hayan podido ser confirmadas", añadió.

El Gobierno denunció también que el informe del Senado se basa en "gran cantidad de fallos documentales" y "ofrece una bibliografía basada muchas veces en afirmaciones procedentes de insustanciales artículos de prensa, páginas de Internet y otras afirmaciones gratuitas, poco serias y procedentes de personas de dudosa credibilidad".

Aparte, el Ejecutivo aseguró que, "según la legislación ecuatoguineana, tal y como sucede exactamente en la mayor parte del mundo, las personas físicas y jurídicas, como sucede en este caso con el ministro de Agricultura y Bosques, están perfectamente autorizadas a realizar negocios y mantener otros tipos de trabajos al margen de sus obligaciones ministeriales".

La Ley española de Incompatibilidades establece la "incompatibilidad absoluta" entre el ejercicio de cualquier alto cargo de la administración con "cualquier actividad pública o privada, retribuida o no", a excepción de las que no afecten a "la dedicación absoluta del alto cargo o a su independencia".

A finales de 2006, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangu admitió en una declaración jurada ante un tribunal sudafricano --en relación con un litigio presentado contra el Gobierno de Malabo por una empresa sudafricana, Maseve Investments-- que "a los ministros y funcionarios ecuatoguineanos se les permite por ley tener empresas que, en consorcio con una compañía extranjera, puedan optar a contratos gubernamentales", lo cual implica, según la declaración jurada --sellada por el Ministerio de Justicia y Culto de Guinea Ecuatorial y firmada en los márgenes-- "que el ministro acaba ingresando una parte importante del dinero procedente del contrato en su propia cuenta corriente".

El pasado mes de diciembre, la prestigiosa organización no gubernamental internacional Global Witness aseguró que Teodorín ha sido acusado de "haber instituido un 'impuesto revolucionario' por la madera" cuyos beneficios "le llegan directamente a él, ya sea en dinero o mediante cheques a través de la empresa forestal de su propiedad".

"RACISTA, PREPOTENTE Y SEGREGACIONISTA"

En líneas más generales, el comunicado del Gobierno lamenta que las cuatro personas mencionadas en el informe procedan de África, lo cual revelaría que, "a la hora de buscar culpables, el continente negro sigue siendo un excelente punto de mira, ya que no dudamos de que existen en cualquier parte del mundo occidental mil veces más casos de transacciones económicas susceptibles de investigación, de fortunas más grandes y poderosas que las que se mencionan en el informe".

En este sentido, Malabo considera que el informe "es claramente un documento racista, xenofobo, prepotente, segregacionista, y que de una forma inequívoca demuestra claramente un desprecio absoluto hacia el continente llamado 'negro'".

Por último, el Gobierno desea "hacer constar" que Estados Unidos es el país "del que procede la mayor inversión extranjera en Guinea Ecuatorial, que supera los 12.000 millones de dólares", y que "ninguna sociedad americana se ha quejado de un comportamiento fraudulento del Gobierno".

Sunlight Foundation Transparency Ecosystem

Aisha Qidwae — 2010-02-10 22:36:34 GMT

In a hearing on Feb. 4th, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations questioned lawyers, a realtor and representatives of financial institutions and government agencies about money laundering activities by foreign politicians.The subcommittee's 325-page report found that U.S. bankers, lawyers, real estate agents and escrows overlooked foreign political officials moving millions of dollars into the country. For years, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the 40-year-old son of Equatorial Guinea's president was using U.S. banks to move $110 million into the country. Obiang Mangue, also the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry of the oil and timber rich western African country, used U.S. financial institutions, including Wachovia Bank, Citibank, Union Bank of California and Bank of America to move money through five shell companies and other accounts.One of Obiang Mangue's real estate agents, bought a Malibu residence without a mortgage with $30 million funds wire transferred from Equatorial Guinea to escrow agents. According to the report, presently "U.S. real estate and escrow agents operate without any legal obligation to know their customers, evaluate the source of their funds, or exercise special precautions when dealing with Politically Exposed Persons." At the hearing, Senator Carl Levin called for a Senate bill, which would require high risk U.S. corporations to disclose beneficial owners in order to be transparent. The Republic of Equatorial Guinea is represented by the lobbying firm Cassidy & Associates which has worked with U.S. officials on anti-corruption legislation and banking issues, according to filings under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.In another case, the former President of Gabon, Omar Bango hired a U.S. lobbyist, Jeffrey Birrell to purchase armored vehicles with over $18 million wire transferred from Gabon to U.S. bank accounts. Birrell held the money under a U.S. corporation, the Grace Group LLC, which has not filed under FARA. However, the company he previously co-owned, Barron-Birrell, Inc., provided public relations services to President Omar Bongo and acted as a policy consultant to the Republic of Gabon, according to FARA filings and the Senate hearing report.Read all about it

Blogs | Mother Jones

Andy Kroll — 2010-02-04 20:57:44 GMT

You've heard plenty about the big banks' role in the Great Recession, but their headaches are about to get worse.

At a packed hearing today, the Senate investigations subcommittee led by Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) shed new light on banks' negligence and wrongdoing—and this time it's not credit-default swaps or derivatives but money laundering and arms dealers. The hearing, held in conjunction with a 325-page report by the subcommittee, focused on four detailed cases of foreign money pouring in the United States and the ways in which American banks, lobbyists, lawyers, and other businessmen aided that money laundering. "For the United States, which has so much riding on global stability, corruption is a direct threat to our national interests," Levin said in his opening statement. "The stories we uncovered are striking in their misuse of our financial system."

In essence, the hearing and the report highlighted how institutions like Bank of America, HSBC, and Citibank snoozed when it comes to due diligence and investigating their clients, while notorious arms dealers, sons of despotic politicians, and even shady central banks channeled millions upon millions into the US to buy planes, sports cars, and luxury houses. Singling out HSBC, whose anti-money laundering compliance director testified at the hearing, Levin slammed the bank for actually encouraging the Central Bank of Angola—whose clients include many questionable red-flagged individuals, or "Politically Exposed Persons"—to move millions to an offshore bank in the Bahamas beyond the reach of British financial laws. "You claim that you're a leader in anti-money laundering rules and enforcement," Levin told HSBC's Wiecher Mandemaker. Yet "you facilitate people evading the law of your own country."

Levin, seated next to subcommittee ranking member Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), had also invited three active participants in the corruption cases detailed in the report—Beverly Hills attorneys Michael Berger and George Nagler, who'd aided Teodoro Obiang, son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, and Jeffrey Birrell, an American lobbyist who tried to purchase armored cars and military transport planes for Omar Bongo, the president of Gabon. All three directly implicated witnesses, however, chose not to speak at the hearing, citing the Fifth Amendment.

Levin and Coburn did offer a modicum of praise to a Bank of America senior executive who spoke at this morning's hearing. Bank of America appears several times in the subcommittee's report for allowing Pierre Falcone, an infamous arms dealer imprisoned several times, and his relatives to circulate at least $60 million through 29 accounts with the bank. In fact, Levin pointed to documents obtained by the subcommittee showing that Bank of America knew of Falcone's background and the millions flowing into his accounts from the secretive countries and shady "clients" yet concluded that "activity for the accounts of the Falcone's [sic] is not unusual." And while William Fox, the Bank of America executive, acknowledged that the bank had made "a bad judgment call" with Falcone, he emphasized the tougher disclosure and anti-money laundering safeguards that bank had installed in the past few years, measures that Levin praised.

In all, the hearing, together with the report, offered an unparalleled glimpse at the ways in which corrupt foreign figures still funnel their money into major American financial institutions. At the hearing, Levin said he hopes to close legal loopholes and revoke a 2002 exemption allowed by the Patriot Act, among others, to cut off the gaping holes that still allow dirty money to come into the US. "There is a lot more that can be done to combat foreign corruption," Levin said. "It doesn't have to be that way."

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Mojo Feed | Mother Jones

Andy Kroll — 2010-02-04 20:57:44 GMT

You've heard plenty about the big banks' role in the Great Recession, but their headaches are about to get worse.

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mobrien@thehill.com (Kevin Bogardus) — 2010-02-04 20:05:38 GMT

A pair of lawyers and a lobbyist used their Fifth Amendment rights Thursday when called to a hearing before Congress on suspected money-laundering for allegedly corrupt African politicians and their relatives.

All three witnesses — Michael Berger, George Nagler and Jeffrey Birrell — said they could not answer questions because they could incriminate themselves and were excused by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, who was holding the hearing.

Thursday’s hearing came after a 330 page-long report was released by the subcommittee detailing how African officials and their associates — who are suspected of becoming wealthy off bribery and other corruption — used their U.S. contacts to undermine anti-money laundering safeguards and transfer millions of dollars in and out of U.S. banks. Aides to Levin as well as to the panel’s ranking member, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), worked on the report.

{mosads}Under the 2001 Patriot Act and other subsequent measures, banks have to carefully monitor their business with the officials, known as “politically exposed persons,” or PEPs, but many other professions do not. That has left gaping loopholes for money-laundering into the United States, according to Levin and others.

For example, Nagler and Berger helped Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the son of Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mbasogo, set up shell companies to move funds for him in and out of the United States, says the report. Obiang, using American lawyers, real estate agents and escrow agents, ended moving more than $110 million in suspect funds here, buying a $30 million Malibu mansion and a $38.5 million Gulfstream jet along the way, according to the report.

Birrell helped the late Omar Bongo, who was president of Gabon, by accepting more than $18 million in wired funds to his company, the Grace Group, the report says. Birrell then used the money to buy Bongo six armored vehicles and six C-130 military cargo aircraft from Saudi Arabia, according to the report.

Pivoting off the report, Levin is calling for tougher restrictions to stop money laundering and not allow PEPs circumvent the system through other means.

“Stopping the flow of illegal money is critical, because foreign corruption damages civil society, undermines the rule of law, and threatens American security,” the Michigan senator said in his opening statement.

Mundo. Noticias, vídeos y fotos de Mundo en lainformacion.com

2010-02-04 14:17:08 GMT

MADRID, 4 (EUROPA PRESS)

El Subcomité Permanente del Senado de los Estados Unidos ha iniciado una investigación sobre el presunto desvío hacia bancos norteamericanos de millones de dólares de origen "sospechoso" por parte de algunos dirigentes africanos, entre ellos el fallecido presidente gabonés Omar Bongo y el ministro ecuatoguineano Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangué, más conocido como 'Teodorín' e hijo del presidente de su país, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

Según el diario 'The New York Times', el Subcomité ha presentado un informe, difundido esta semana, en el que se analizan los procedimientos utilizados por Omar Bongo para introducir en Estados Unidos un millón de dólares en una maleta. Con este dinero, una de sus hijas se compró un apartamento en Manhattan.

Asimismo, el informe revela que 'Teodorín' canalizó millones de dólares a Estados Unidos mediante la apertura de cuentas a nombre de "empresas fantasmas" en varios bancos norteamericanos. Más concretamente, según el documento del Subcomité, el ministro de Agricultura y Bosques ecuatoguineano utilizó los bancos Wachovia y Citibank y la firma de abogados Sidley Austin Brown & Wood --actualmente conocida como Sidley Austin-- para adquirir en 2005, por 38,5 millones dólares, un jet Gulfstream-5.

Los abogados Michael Berger y George Nagler, según el informe citado por el 'Times', le ayudaron a burlar los controles en los bancos mediante la creación de cuentas de "empresas fantasmas" con nombres como Beautiful Vision, Unlimited Horizonte y Sweet Pink, ésta última en homenaje a su entonces novia, la cantante de rap Eve.

El informe del Senado incluye diversa documentación sobre los gastos personales de 'Teodorín', los pagos a los cocineros y mayordomos de su casa de Malibú (California) y las gestiones hechas ante un tal "señor Berger" para poder asistir en 2007 a la 'Kandy Halloween Bash' en la Mansión Playboy. El documento señala también que utilizó a dos agentes inmobiliarios para comprar su casa de Malibú, por 30 millones de dólares, "con dinero sospechoso procedente de Guinea Ecuatorial".

Gawker

Ravi Somaiya — 2010-02-04 10:56:34 GMT

Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, son of the Equatorial Guinean dictator managed to move $110m into the US between 2004 and 2008, a senate investigation shows. Here's a picture we were given of him and his "million dollar watch."

Obiang, who is the subject of a criminal investigation, had help help circumnavigating post-9/11 laws designed to stop nefarious figures abusing US hospitality, according to the Associated Press. He "used two lawyers who helped him with shell company accounts, two real estate agents who helped him purchase a $30 million home in Malibu, Calif., and an escrow agent who assisted in buying a $38.5 million Gulfstream jet."

Obiang is not the only one flouting the rules. Pierre Falcone, an Angolan arms dealer kept $60m in US bank accounts here and bought a $9.6m house in Arizona. Omar Bongo, the president of Gabon for 41 years until he died last year, bought armored vehicles and transport planes from the US. His daughter was discovered with $1m in shrink-wrapped hundred-dollar bills in a New York safety deposit box. Atiku Abubakar, former vice president of Nigeria, used his wife, a US citizen, to smuggle in more than $40m of 'suspect funds'. We are living in a Frederick Forsyth novel.

The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com

The Huffington Post News Editors — 2010-02-04 11:14:28 GMT

WASHINGTON — Foreign dictators, high-living bureaucrats and arms dealers are still able to funnel millions of dollars in potentially corrupt money into the United States despite post-Sept. 11 laws cracking down on money laundering, according to a Senate investigation.

The son of the president of Equatorial Guinea moved $110 million in suspect funds into the United States from 2004 to 2008 while an Angolan arms dealer, now in a French jail, was able to pay $9.6 million for an Arizona home in 2000 and maintained U.S. bank accounts handling some $60 million in transactions between 1999 and 2007, the report found.

The Senate Homeland Security subcommittee on investigations, which wrote the report, has summoned several of the U.S. lawyers, real estate agents and bankers involved in the financial transactions to a hearing Thursday.

The subcommittee chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said that while banks are doing better in blocking dirty money because of anti-money laundering safeguards in the 2001 Patriot Act, there are still "so many vehicles in our system where corrupt money can flow." The findings of the report, which focused on four case studies, are "infuriating," he said.

The 330-page report concluded that powerful foreign officials and their families, known internationally as "politically exposed persons" or PEPs, have used lawyers, real estate and escrow agents, lobbyists, bankers and university officials to circumvent anti-corruption laws.

It noted that the Treasury Department exempted some industries, such as hedge funds and the real estate industry, from Patriot Act anti-money laundering requirements, and that many of the professionals examined were under no legal obligation to take anti-money laundering precautions when dealing with a foreign official.

The four case studies:

_Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, who used U.S. lawyers, bankers, real estate agents and escrow agents to move $110 million into the United States. The report said Obiang, the subject of an ongoing U.S. criminal investigation, used two lawyers who helped him with shell company accounts, two real estate agents who helped him purchase a $30 million home in Malibu, Calif., and an escrow agent who assisted in buying a $38.5 million Gulfstream jet.

_Omar Bongo, president of Gabon for 41 years until his death last year, employed a U.S. lobbyist to buy six U.S.-built armored vehicles and obtain U.S. government permission to buy six U.S.-built C-130 military cargo aircraft from Saudi Arabia.

A bank in New York closed an account of Bongo's daughter, a student, after discovering she had $1 million in $100 shrink-wrapped bills in her safe deposit box, which she said her father had brought into the United States using his diplomatic status.

_Jennifer Douglas, a U.S. citizen and fourth wife of the former vice president of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, reputedly helped her husband bring more than $40 million in suspect funds into the United States. Some $25 million of that was wire transferred by offshore corporations into more than 30 U.S. bank accounts opened by Douglas. Two offshore corporations transferred about $14 million over five years to American University in Washington, D.C., to pay for consulting services in setting up a university in Nigeria founded by Abubakar.

Prosecutors last year said former Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., who received a 13-year sentence for accepting bribes, demanded $100,000 from a Virginia businesswoman to pay a bribe to Abubakar. The Nigerian denied any wrongdoing.

_Bank of America did not flag the accounts of Pierre Falcone, the Angolan arms dealer, despite numerous suspicious transactions, the report said. From 1999 to 2003, the accounts received multiple wire transfers totaling more than $6 million from unidentified "clients" from such secrecy jurisdictions as the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg, Singapore and Switzerland. The bank closed the accounts in 2007.

The report recommended that Treasury adopt recent World Bank proposals to strengthen bank controls related to foreign officials and repeal anti-money laundering exemptions. Congress should require that the owners of shell corporations be named, according to the report, and should make acts of foreign corruption a legal basis for denying U.S. entry to the person involved in the corruption and his family.

A Levin aide said one possibility was attaching anti-money laundering provisions to pending legislation to increase oversight of financial institutions.

MoJo Articles | Mother Jones

Andy Kroll — 2010-02-04 01:23:33 GMT

Among Bank of America’s 50 million customers, Pierre Falcone was far from ordinary. An infamous global arms dealer who illegally sold weapons to Angola for its civil war and an international fugitive, Falcone was convicted of tax fraud and illegal arms dealing in 2007 and 2009 and is currently serving six years behind bars. Yet for nearly two decades, Falcone and his relatives freely used 29 different bank accounts to funnel at least $60 million into the US from secretive havens like the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg, and Singapore, and from shell corporations and secret clients. Despite his criminal record and worldwide notoriety, Bank of America essentially treated him like any other depositor.

The story of how a criminal like Falcone used Bank of America—which later received billions in a taxpayer-funded bailout—and the US financial system to advance his criminal activities appears in a new report by the Senate investigations subcommittee, led by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.). In describing the operations of Falcone and others, the report uses three previously unreported cases and new information on a fourth to offer offers a lurid primer explaining how big banks, powerful attorneys, influential lobbyists, and a host of other businessmen in this country help launder dirty foreign money.

The report highlights several gaping holes in American money laundering and corruption laws, including an exemption made by the Treasury Department in 2002 to the Patriot Act. "Foreign officials still get access to our financial system at times because US officials aid and abet their actions," Levin told reporters on Tuesday. The 325-page report sets the stage for a hearing Thursday featuring US enforcement officials as well as some of the main players who abetted secretive individuals like Falcone and the corrupt former president of Gabon, the late Omar Bongo.

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Mundo. Noticias, vídeos y fotos de Mundo en lainformacion.com

2009-12-10 02:00:18 GMT

ESTEBAN VILLAREJO MADRID. La «democracia» en algunos países africanos arroja resultados electorales tan sorprendentes como el 98 por ciento de apoyo a Ben Ali en Túnez, el 90 por ciento a Buteflika en Argelia o el 79 por ciento al ya difunto Omar Bongo en Gabón. Otro abonado a recabar meteóricos escrutinios a favor es el presidente de Guinea Ecuatorial, Teodoro Obiang, quien el pasado martes tomó posesión de su cargo tras haber alcanzado un histórico 95,37 por ciento de los votos en las elecciones del 29 de noviembre. Precisamente el caso ecuatoguineano fue objeto de debate ayer en el Consejo...

Mundo. Noticias, vídeos y fotos de Mundo en lainformacion.com

2009-12-09 09:40:46 GMT

MADRID, 9 (EUROPA PRESS)

El presidente de Guinea Ecuatorial, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, defendió este martes una política de "continuismo proactivo" a fin de alcanzar "las metas propuestas en el Plan de Desarrollo Horizonte 2020", cuyo objetivo es conseguir alimentos, salud, educación, viviendas, electricidad y agua "para todos" y convertir a Guinea Ecuatorial en un "país emergente" antes de ese año. Asimismo, el mandatario aprovechó su discurso de investidura por un nuevo mandato de siete años para denunciar el "hostigamiento de algunas instituciones extranjeras" que, con el pretexto de defender la democracia y los Derechos Humanos, pretenden "injerir en la soberanía y en la independencia" de los Estados africanos.

Obiang jurósu cargo cuando sólo habían pasado nueve días desde las elecciones y tres días desde el anuncio oficial de los resultados, que le otorgaron la reelección con el 95,4 por ciento de los votos. La ceremonia de investidura tuvo lugar en el Palacio de Congresos y Conferencias Internacionales de Ngolo, en la ciudad de Bata (capital de la región continental), según informó este miércoles el Ministerio de Información en su página de Internet.

En su discurso de investidura, Obiang Nguema expresó su intención de mantener un "continuismo proactivo" a fin de seguir impulsando "todos los cambios y transformaciones" que ha iniciado el país para alcanzar las metas propuestas en el llamado "Plan de Desarrollo Horizonte 2020". "Nuestro objetivo es conseguir alimentos para todos, salud para todos, educación para todos, viviendas para todos, electricidad para todos, agua potable para todos, carreteras para todos y todo aquello que necesite el pueblo", afirmó, citado hoy por el Ministerio. El objetivo, según Obiang, es convertir a Guinea Ecuatorial en un "país emergente" antes de 2020.

Asimismo, el presidente guineano se comprometió a "fortalecer las relaciones y la amistad con todos los países y organismos internacionales en aras de conseguir una mayor integración, paz y estabilidad mundial" y advirtió de que los Estados africanos, "sin renunciar a la cooperación con otros continentes, deben asumir el protagonismo y la solución de los problemas africanos".

"Sin embargo, observamos con gran disgusto el hostigamiento de algunas instituciones extranjeras contra gobiernos africanos calificados constantemente como dictaduras y violadores de los Derechos Humanos cuando la buena gestión son notablemente visibles en beneficio de los pueblos afectados", prosiguió. "Es más, desde algunas organizaciones internacionales se nos imponen políticas a los gobiernos de los Estados africanos, que con el pretexto de promover la integración mundial de las naciones, que en realidad oculta la pretensión de injerir en la soberanía y en la independencia de los estados que África debe rechazar", aseveró.

ASISTENTES EXTRANJEROS

A la ceremonia asistieron diversos mandatarios africanos, entre ellos el chadiano Idriss Déby, la liberiana Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, el congoleño (de Congo-Brazzaville) Denis Sassou-Nguesso, el burundés Pierre Nkurunziza, el centroafricano François Bozize y el togolés Faure Gnassingbé. "Por problemas de agenda, no acudieron los presidentes de Gabón, Omar Bongo, ni de Sudáfrica, Jacob Zuma, pese a las excelentes relaciones que mantienen ambos países con Guinea Ecuatorial", precisó el Ministerio de Información. Omar Bongo falleció en Barcelona el pasado mes de junio. El actual presidente de Gabón es su hijo, Alí Ben Bongo.

Aparte, durante la ceremonia estuvo presente el ministro francés de Cooperación y Francofonía, Alan Joyandet, en representación del presidente Nicolas Sarkozy. Por parte de España, según el Ministerio de Información guineano, asistieron la directora general de Política Exterior para África en el Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, Carmen de la Peña, y el embajador en Malabo, Manuel Gómez-Acebo Rodríguez-Spiteri.

Mundo. Noticias, vídeos y fotos de Mundo en lainformacion.com

2009-12-09 07:53:30 GMT

El preseidente defiende una política de "continuismo proactivo" para convertir a Guinea en un "país emergente" en 2020

MADRID, 9 (EUROPA PRESS)

El presidente de Guinea Ecuatorial, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, defendió ayer martes una política de "continuismo proactivo" a fin de alcanzar "las metas propuestas en el Plan de Desarrollo Horizonte 2020", cuyo objetivo es conseguir alimentos, salud, educación, viviendas, electricidad y agua "para todos" y convertir a Guinea Ecuatorial en un "país emergente" antes de ese año. Asimismo, el mandatario aprovechó su discurso de investidura por un nuevo mandato de siete años para denunciar el "hostigamiento de algunas instituciones extranjeras" que, con el pretexto de defender la democracia y los Derechos Humanos, pretenden "injerir en la soberanía y en la independencia" de los Estados africanos.

Obiang juró ayer su cargo cuando sólo habían pasado nueve días desde las elecciones y tres días desde el anuncio oficial de los resultados, que le otorgaron la reelección con el 95,4 por ciento de los votos. La ceremonia de investidura tuvo lugar en el Palacio de Congresos y Conferencias Internacionales de Ngolo, en la ciudad de Bata (capital de la región continental), según informó este miércoles el Ministerio de Información en su página de Internet.

ASISTENTES EXTRANJEROS

Le Monde.fr : à la Une

2009-12-04 14:30:08 GMT

Une association a déposé une plainte pour détournements de fonds publics contre les présidents sénégalais, congolais, guinéen et le défunt président gabonais Omar Bongo.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION - Bing News

2009-11-25 17:16:00 GMT

After legendary explorer and ecologist J. Michael Fay completed his remarkable 1,200-mile, 455-day trek across the Congo Basin in 2002, he asked Africa's longest-serving leader, President El Hadj Omar Bongo of Gabon, to sit down for a chat. Bongo ...

Media: Greenslade | guardian.co.uk

Roy Greenslade — 2009-11-12 15:24:44 GMT

Six independent newspapers have been suspended in Gabon for "violations of the principles of professional conduct and ethics" and two other titles were "warned to respect the regulations."

Among their "violations" was to criticise the contested September election of Ali Bongo Ondimba as president of the oil-rich equatorial African nation. He replaced his father, Omar Bongo, who died in June after ruling for 41 years.

One paper called Gabon "a republican monarchy" and another referred to the election as "a parody of democracy."

Norbert Ngoua Mezui, editor of one of the banned papers, Nkuu le Messager, said the bans were "a way of sweeping aside democratic expression."

Sources: Sapa-AFP/IoL

Roy Greenslade

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JURIST - Paper Chase

2009-10-29 11:04:00 GMT

[JURIST] The Paris Court of Appeals on Thursday refused to hear an embezzlement case brought by the anti-corruption group Transparency International (TI) against the late president of Gabon, the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and the president of Equatorial Guinea. The complaint accused the late Omar Bongo of Gabon, Denis Sassou-Nguesso of the DRC, Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea, and their relatives, of acquiring luxury homes and cars in France with African public funds. In its decision to dismiss the case, the court held that activists could not bring suit against foreign heads of state. In reaction to the ruling, TI has already announced its intention to appeal. Despite the disappointment, TI stressed the case's triumphs, citing the increase in the public's awareness of corruption and decreasing the barriers against prosecuting foreign heads of state in France. The case was heard earlier this year by French Magistrate Francoise Desset, who ruled that the suit could move forward. French state prosecutors appealed that decision. The case is sensitive for France, with Gabon and the DRC as former colonies. France has struggled with how to reconcile its colonial history.

Gaea Times (by Simple Thoughts) Breaking News and incisive views 24/7

Nicolas Vaux-montagny — 2009-10-29 12:05:36 GMT

French court decides not to probe African leaders PARIS ? A French court has decided not to pursue an investigation into three African heads of state for money laundering linked to their assets in France. A French judge had been seeking to investigate Gabon’s late leader Omar Bongo, the Republic of Congo’s President Denis Sassou-Nguesso and President [...]

Correio Braziliense

2009-10-29 11:44:00 GMT

PARIS - O Tribunal de Apelações de Paris se negou nesta quinta-feira (29/10) a abrir uma investigação sobre o chamado caso dos "bens indevidos", que apura o patrimônio dos presidentes do Gabão, Congo e Guiné Equatorial na França - que, segundo uma ONG, chegaria a 160 milhões de euros. O Tribunal de Apelações declarou que não há lugar para a demanda interposta pela ONG Transparência Internacional, dedicada à luta contra a corrupção, que em maio havia sido aceita, indicaram uma fonte judicial e um dos advogados do caso. Imediatamente, a Transparência Internacional anunciou em um comunicado que "entrará com um recurso de cassação" contra a decisão. A demanda apresentada pela ONG denuncia as condições em que três chefes de Estado africanos - Denis Sassou Nguesso do Congo, Teodoro Obiang Nguema da Guiné Equatorial e o falecido presidente do Gabão Omar Bongo Ondimda - e alguns de seus parentes adquiriram um significativo patrimônio na França. Em maio, um juiz de Paris havia autorizado a abertura de uma investigação, mas a promotoria apelou da decisão alegando que o demandante não possui interesses jurídicos no caso. Segundo a Transparência Internacional, o patrimônio imobiliário destes três chefes de Estado africanos na França, principalmente em Paris, chega a 160 milhões de euros (US$ 236 milhões). Apenas Bongo e seus parentes possuem cerca de 30 luxuosos apartamentos e casas na capital francesa. Para a ONG, "não resta dúvida de que este patrimônio foi erguido graças aos salários e à renda destes chefes de Estado, sobre os quais existem sérias suspeitas de malversação de fundos públicos".

World news : Africa roundup | guardian.co.uk

Aaron Akinyemi — 2009-10-11 14:00:00 GMT

Africa must own up to and challenge the role its morally bankrupt elite are playing in the continent's underdevelopment

When Gabon's president of 42 years, Omar Bongo, died in June, many breathed a sigh of relief, hoping his departure would usher in a new era of democracy and responsible leadership. Bongo had been the world's longest-serving leader, having banned political opposition for much of his tenure to reinforce a stranglehold on the presidency and plunder the tiny central African nation of much of its oil wealth.

Despite 80% of Gabonese living in poverty, Omar Bongo thought nothing of decorating his private jet using $2.6m of aid money, hoarding $130m of public funds away in foreign accounts and maintaining at least 39 luxury properties in France worth $190m. It is easy to empathise with the exasperation and accusations of rigging, therefore, when Bongo's son Ali-Ben was "democratically elected" as his father's successor last month.

A despicable cycle of corruption continually repeats itself across Africa and is becoming tiresome – as are some of the usual explanations for underdevelopment in Africa: colonialism, neo-colonialism and the inability to fully recover from its lingering after effects. These old excuses are little more than convenient spiels designed to divert attention away from the most immediate root of underdevelopment in much of Africa today – greed and corruption, which according to the African Union costs the continent around $140bn a year and seriously hampers economic growth. It is high time for Africa to stop passing the buck and acknowledge the role its leaders, whose mental faculties are held to ransom by their own avarice, are having on the continent's inadequate rate of development.

Europe too certainly has plenty to answer for vis-a-vis underdevelopment in Africa. A legacy of slavery and colonialism left the continent's human and natural resources exploited and spent. Sophisticated indigenous socio-political systems were dismantled, arbitrary geographical boundaries drawn up and scores of different ethnic groups lumped together with little regard for their different languages and customs. When Europe finally exited, it left behind governmental systems largely based on patronage and thus prone to graft. Cue decades of coups, warfare and military dictatorships. Today, western countries are complicit with corruption in the developing world through bribery and in the case of France, propping up kleptocratic African leaders and helping to facilitate the 1994 Rwandan genocide, one of the worst atrocities in modern times.

But where does victimhood end and personal responsibility begin? Almost half a century after independence and a trillion dollars worth of aid later and poverty remains rife in Africa. Any well-meaning attempt to help from the outside world is largely useless if there is no transparency and political will at the other end to ensure it ends up where it is supposed to.

My father became the first indigenous director general of the Nigerian Institute of Management and a director of the National Bank of Nigeria in the 1970s – a decade of untold economic prosperity thanks to the oil boom. Spurred on by a moral, if idealistic, desire to redistribute the wealth and improve the lot of ordinary Nigerians, Chief OIA Akinyemi ventured into the political arena, where he was constantly propositioned with bribes, which he rebuffed at every turn. Needless to say, he didn't get very far in politics. Political and moral corruption now seems an unspoken prerequisite to attain office in Africa, insidiously weaving its way into Africa's cultural fabric.

More than a decade earlier, in 1958, my father had spoken as a guest at the Ealing branch of the United Nations Association in London, where he called for an end to irresponsible leadership in apartheid-era South Africa and across the continent. Over half a century later, and the consequences of the unmitigated greed – which almost wrecked the Nigerian banking system – are only just catching up with old family friends.

And there are many stories similar to my father's. Nuhu Ribadu, the former chairman of Nigeria's economic and financial crimes commission, was feted internationally as a beacon of hope in Africa's fight against corruption when he recovered billions of dollars in stolen public funds and successfully prosecuted scores of international advance fee fraudsters and top government officials. When his investigations began to get too close for comfort and he refused to be bought, the government essentially sacked him and forced him into exile in the UK, where is currently a fellow at Oxford University. Decent people do exist in Africa - they just aren't often allowed to speak. Similarly, encouraging success stories such Botswana and Ghana frequently seem overshadowed by setbacks such as those recently seen in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Zambia.

Africa must own up to and challenge the role its morally bankrupt elite are playing in the continent's underdevelopment and in the suffering of its disadvantaged citizens. But developed nations must also consider the impact of their own complicity in corruption on the continent. It's a myth that fraud is the sole preserve of the developing world, and sanctimonious calls for political transparency ring very hollow when the likes of Britain and China send subliminal messages that bribery is acceptable.

Pointing fingers at the west won't build good roads or feed the poor. Modern-day external exploitation can only be adequately challenged once Africa gets its own house in order. And the time for that is now. No more excuses.

Aaron Akinyemi

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JURIST - Paper Chase

2009-10-13 14:08:00 GMT

[JURIST] The Constitutional Court of Gabon upheld on Monday the presidential election victory of Ali Ben Bongo Ondimba. Bongo, former minister of defence and foreign affairs and of son of long-time Gabonese president Omar Bongo, received over 40 percent of the vote, but was accused of fraud by his challengers. The court rejected the claims filed by the opposition, and ordered that the inauguration can take place in the coming days. Bongo represents a minority party in the nation. This is believed to have played a part in the violence that erupted following the election. Former colonial power, France, had previously acknowledged Bongo as the electoral victor. Accusations of election fraud and related violence have been widespread in Africa. Earlier this month the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced it will prosecute responsible parties for the December 2007 Kenyan post-election violence. In 2008, opposition parties in Zimbabwe alleged that the government rigged the results of the re-election of President Robert Mugabe. In 2007, the Nigerian presidential election received sharp criticism from outside observers and opposition leaders, despite what appeared to be a landslide victory for Umaru Yar'Adua.

Le Monde.fr : à la Une

2009-10-16 10:46:23 GMT

Ali Bongo Ondimba, fils du chef de l'Etat Omar Bongo Ondimba mort en juin, a été investi vendredi à Libreville comme président du Gabon.

BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition

2009-10-16 15:31:01 GMT

New President Ali Ben Bongo, son of long-time leader Omar Bongo, says Gabon's elites should be renewed.

Mundo. Noticias, vídeos y fotos de Mundo en lainformacion.com

2009-10-16 15:08:00 GMT

Dakar.- Ali Bongo tomó hoy posesión de la Presidencia de Gabón en un acto oficial al que asistieron varios gobernantes africanos, tras unas elecciones calificadas de "mascarada" por la oposición, que no acepta su gobierno.

"Juro dedicar todos mis esfuerzos al bienestar del pueblo gabonés, respetar y defender la Constitución y el Estado de derecho, asumir los deberes de mi cargo y ser justo con todos", dijo Bongo, ante los presidentes de Guinea Ecuatorial, Teodoro Obiang Nguema; de Mali, Aamadou Toumani Toure, y de Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso.

En el acto, en el que también estaban presentes los altos cargos del Estado gabonés y que fue retransmitido por la televisión oficial, captada en Dakar, Bongo prestó juramento ante los miembros del Tribunal Constitucional, máxima instancia judicial del país.

La sesión, celebrada en el Palacio Presidencial de Libreville, empezó con un minuto de silencio en recuerdo del anterior presidente, Omar Bongo, fallecido el pasado 8 de junio en una clínica privada de Barcelona tras 42 años en el poder.

El régimen de Omar Bongo, padre de Ali Bongo, estuvo plagado de escándalos de corrupción y, a su muerte, el anterior gobernante y sus familiares eran investigados por enriquecimiento ilícito por un tribunal francés, que también tiene en su mira as los presidentes Obiang, de Guinea Ecuatorial, y Sassou Nguesso, de Congo.

En su discurso de investidura, el nuevo mandatario mostró su "voluntad" de hacer de Gabón un país emergente y una democracia política y económica.

"Quiero un Gabón exento de corrupción, en el que haya una justicia igual para todos, con unas empresas prósperas y que creen empleos", dijo Bongo, quien se comprometió a consolidar los valores de "paz, desarrollo y distribución de la riqueza".

Ali Bongo reafirmó también la fidelidad de Gabón a sus compromisos regionales, continentales e internacionales y reiteró la adhesión de su país a los proyectos de integración y cooperación Norte-Sur y Sur-Sur.

Ali Bongo, de 51 años, fue elegido en los comicios del pasado 30 de agosto para un mandato de siete años y se convierte en el tercer presidente de Gabón.

Los pasados comicios estuvieron seguidas por una oleada de violencia en Libreville y en la principal ciudad financiera, Port-Gentil, debido a las protestas de los opositores al conocer los resultados oficiales, que calificaron de "fraudulentos" y de "golpe de estado electoral" para realizar una "sucesión dinástica".

Mundo. Noticias, vídeos y fotos de Mundo en lainformacion.com

2009-10-16 18:07:00 GMT

Dakar.- El presidente Ali Bongo confirmó a Paul Biyoghé Mba en su cargo de primer ministro, como primer acto tras tomar posesión hoy por un mandato de siete años, informaron las emisoras de radio regionales captadas en Dakar.

Biyoghe Mba (de 53 años), ha sido nombrado primer ministro en julio pasado para sustituir al anterior jefe del gobierno, Jean Eyeghe Ndong, quien renunció para presentar su candidatura en las elecciones presidenciales del pasado 30 de agosto.

Bongo tomó posesión hoy tras prestar juramento en un acto solemne presenciado por una decena de mandatarios africanos.

En su discurso de investidura, Bongo manifestó su voluntad de ser "el presidente de todos los gaboneses", a los que invitó a sumarse a sus esfuerzos para hacer de Gabón "un país emergente".

Se comprometió a luchar contra la corrupción, fortalecer el Estado de derecho y la democracia, así como el clima de paz y la unidad nacional.

Bongo, quien se convierte en el tercer presidente de la república gabonesa, sustituye a su padre, Omar Bongo, fallecido de un cáncer en una clínica privada de Barcelona, en junio pasado.

La oposición gabonesa impugnó los resultados de las elecciones, que calificó de "una mascarada" para oficializar la sucesión dinástica, un proyecto planeado desde hace años en el seno del clan Bongo y con el beneplácito de Francia, la antigua potencia colonizadora.