Tag Archives: corruption

An Israeli court rejected on Wednesday a request by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be absent from the opening of his corruption trial next week, saying he must abide by the practice of hearing the charges in person. Netanyahu had asked Jerusalem District Court to be excused from his May …

President Donald Trump may have fired State Department Inspector General Steve Linick because he was investigating U.S. military sales to Saudi Arabia, Democratic lawmakers said on Monday, although Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he sought Linick’s removal because his work was undermining the department. Trump announced the planned removal …

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented his new unity government to parliament on Sunday, ending more than a year of political deadlock but still facing a trial starting in a week for alleged corruption. His power-sharing agreement with former election rival, centrist Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, opens the …

Sanctions-hit Syrian tycoon Rami Makhlouf on Sunday said that security forces were arresting employees at his diversified companies in what he said was “mounting pressure” on him days after Syrian authorities asked him to pay hefty taxes. Makhlouf, a maternal cousin of President Bashar al-Assad and widely considered part of …

Israel’s Supreme Court began a two-day hearing on Sunday to determine whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been indicted for corruption, will be allowed to form a new government. A ruling against Netanyahu would likely trigger a snap election, the fourth since April 2019, as the country grapples with …

Syria’s leading tycoon, Rami Makhlouf, said he will appeal to President Bashar al-Assad to allow his mobile communications company, Syriatel, to reschedule payment of taxes owed to the government in order to avoid a possible collapse of the firm. Makhlouf, who is chairman of Syriatel, is a maternal cousin of …

By Oula Kadhum | Post-doctoral fellow at the University of Birmingham, teaching fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, where she specializes in diaspora and Middle Eastern politics The Iraq protests are not a flash in the pan. Rather, they represent a historical turning point for …

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his centrist election rival Benny Gantz signed an agreement on Monday to form an emergency coalition government that would end a year of political deadlock. Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud and Gantz’s Blue and White party issued a joint statement saying they had signed a unity …

Wearing face masks, waving black flags and keeping two yards apart, thousands of Israelis demonstrated against prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu under strict coronavirus restrictions on Sunday. Netanyahu, who denies any wrongdoing, is under criminal indictment in three corruption cases. He is also negotiating a power-sharing deal with his rival Benny …

Israel’s Supreme Court ordered the speaker of the parliament on Monday to put into motion a move in parliament, which he had rejected, that could weaken close ally Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hold on power. The rare court intervention in parliamentary procedure followed Yuli Edelstein’s refusal to hold a vote …

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial was delayed on Sunday for two months, until May, due to the coronavirus crisis. Israel’s Justice Ministry said the trial, due to have opened on March 17 with the reading of an indictment against Israel’s longest-serving leader in three graft cases, would begin …

Saudi Arabia has detained two senior members of the Saudi royal family – Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, the younger brother of King Salman, and Mohammed bin Nayef, the king’s nephew, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, King Salman’s son and the de facto …

Yemeni gunmen entered on Saturday a port in the southern city of Aden and prevented a tanker from offloading a diesel cargo because the importing company is affiliated with the government, a Reuters cameraman reported. The gunmen belong to the separatist Southern Transitional Council, according to comments made in the …

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak – ousted by the military in 2011 – has died in Cairo at the age of 91. Mubarak spent three decades in office before a popular uprising swept Egypt. He was found guilty of complicity in the killing of protesters during the revolution. That conviction …

Security forces fired tear gas and water cannon at protesters in Beirut on Tuesday as the Lebanese parliament convened to hold a vote of confidence on the new government led by Prime Minister Hassan Diab. MPs are set to vote on the government’s policy statement which says “painful steps” are …

Lawyers for Carlos Ghosn, the fugitive former automotive executive, on Monday argued in a Dutch court for the release of internal documents relating to his dismissal by Nissan Motor (7201.T) and Mitsubishi Motors (7211.T). Ghosn, former chairman of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance who was arrested in Japan in 2018 but fled …

Israel will hold an election on March 2, its third in less than a year, parliament decided on Thursday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main rival failed to parlay the previous two ballots into a new coalition government. By a vote of 94 in favor to none opposed, …

The Lebanese petroleum expert Nicolas Sarkis recently uploaded a video on his Youtube channel exposing the outrageous corruption nested in the petroleum domain in Lebanon. He says that he had never seen, in any other country in his 40 or so years of work in petroleum, the amount of corruption that he …

An Iranian court sentenced the brother of President Hassan Rouhani to five years in prison, a judiciary spokesman was quoted as saying on Tuesday by the semi-official Fars news. In May, Hossein Fereydoun was sentenced to an unspecified jail term in a corruption case that the president’s supporters allege was …

Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz and two others will be tried for suspected corruption for allegedly paying $10 million in bribes linked to allocation of mining licenses in Guinea to his BSR Group between 2005 and 2010, Geneva prosecutors said on Monday. “The attorney general’s office accuses the three of having …

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, appeared in court on Sunday to admit criminal wrongdoing over the misuse of state funds to order catered meals, in a plea bargain carrying no jail time. Under the agreement, a fraud charge was reduced to a lesser offense and she will pay …

Israeli lawmakers voted to dissolve parliament on Thursday, paving the way for a new election after veteran Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a coalition government before a midnight deadline. Netanyahu preferred a new ballot, set for Sept. 17, to the alternative, under which Israeli President Reuven Rivlin could …

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, has reached a plea bargain in a fraud case over allegedly misusing state funds to order catered meals, Israel Radio said on Wednesday. Under the agreement, she will pay the state 45,000 shekels ($12,400) in reimbursement and a 10,000-shekel fine while admitting a lesser …

By Areej Zaher*   The World Bank has reported that the Syrian conflict, till 2017, had disastrous effects on about a third of the residents and half of the medical and educational institutions, as a result of the collapse of vital economical systems. This caused the ending of 538 jobs …

Police in Abu Dhabi arrested a government employee on Monday for taking a monthly stipend allocated to another person, who was dead for the last seven years. The male suspect, a Gulf national, was also caught with items and trinkets believed to have been used in practicing witchcraft. Lt Col …

Mexico’s incoming president named a new chief executive officer for Pemex and promised government investment of 75 billion pesos ($4 billion, Dh14.68 billion) in the oil sector, in a bid to revive the state-owned oil company. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador tapped longtime political ally Octavio Romero Oropeza, who has no …

Natalie Portman appeared on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and slammed her former Harvard classmate Jared Kushner. Colbert asked Portman, “You actually graduated in the same class as Jared Kushner, didn’t you?” Portman laughed and replied, “That is correct.” Prying further, the talk show host asked the “Star Wars” …

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is being detained for questioning as part of an investigation looking into allegations that he took millions of euros from Libya to fund his 2007 election campaign. Police took Sarkozy into custody on Tuesday as part of investigation that began in 2013. He is being …

Benjamin Netanyahu is the dominant Israeli politician of his generation. On the domestic and international stage, no rival comes close to the veteran Likud Party leader known widely as “Bibi”. Israeli police on Feb. 13 recommended that the 68-year-old,four-term prime minister be indicted for bribery in two cases[nL8N1Q36M4]. On Friday, …

 Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince said the kingdom’s anti-corruption crackdown was needed to meet budget targets, comparing the purge to chemotherapy in an interview with the Washington Post published on Wednesday. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman gestures during the graduation ceremony of the 93rd batch of the cadets of King …

Saudi Arabia freed Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and several of the kingdom’s most prominent businessmen from detention this weekend, clearing out the Ritz-Carlton hotel that served as a jail for the country’s elite during a controversial crackdown on corruption. Alwaleed, the billionaire chairman of Riyadh’s Kingdom Holding Co. who owns …

The real estate company of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, is being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for its use of a federal program that grants visas to wealthy foreigners investing in the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Kushner …

A group of 11 Saudi princes was arrested Thursday after staging a sit-in at a palace in Riyadh, the kingdom’s attorney general said Saturday. The princes were protesting a recent royal order that “halted payments by the state to members of the royal family to cover their electricity and water …

Ankara has slammed a US court ruling that convicted a Turkish banker for allegedly helping Iran evade Washington’s sanctions as “unjust and unfortunate,” saying the trial amounted to unprecedented interference in Turkey’s internal affairs. “It is an unjust and unfortunate development that Halkbank Deputy General Manager Mehmet Hakan Atilla was …

Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party has summoned its MPs to discuss the future of its leader, President Robert Mugabe, after a deadline for his resignation came and went on Monday. The deadline was set by Mr Mugabe’s own party, Zanu-PF. The embattled leader surprised Zimbabweans on Sunday, declaring on TV that …

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has ordered a crackdown on corruption, the latest in a wave of frenetic changes in the kingdom over the past 2-1/2 years. Prince Mohammed says he is determined to remodel his conservative country into a modern state no longer dependent on oil. As …

From the stately rows of palm trees on its 52-acre grounds to the grand double staircase to the glittering ballroom chandeliers, it is easy to see why the six-year-old Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, has played host to billionaires, heads of state and members of the Saudi …

A journalist who exposed her country’s links to the shady world of offshore banking has been killed in a fiery car bombing. Daphne Caruana Galizia was driving near her home on the island of Malta around 3 p.m. on Monday when her vehicle exploded, with the charred remnants of the …

Former US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro will reportedly give testimony to Israeli police in the coming weeks as part of an ongoing investigation into suspicions Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received bribes from an Israeli-born Hollywood mogul in exchange for advancing his interests. Netanyahu is said to have asked Shapiro …

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin requested a military jet to fly him and his wife, Louise Linton, to their European honeymoon this summer, raising questions again about the wealthy couple’s use of government aircraft. A Treasury Department spokesman said in a statement Wednesday that the request was made so that Mnuchin, who is a member of the National …

The controlling shareholder of one of Israel’s largest supermarket chains was arrested on Sunday on suspicion of corruption. Rami Levy, chief executive of Rami Levy Hashikma Marketing, as well as a local politician, another businessman and a reporter were detained for questioning for alleged fraud and breach of trust involving …

Israel’s attorney general is considering indicting the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Sara, on suspicion of using state funds for personal dining and catering services amounting to some $100,000, the justice ministry said on Friday. The ministry statement said the attorney general was considering prosecuting Sara Netanyahu for offences …

Last week in London, Israel Police questioned Israeli billionaire Arnon Milchan under caution on suspicion that he gave a bribe to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “Haaretz” reports. According to the report, this was the first time that Milchan has been investigated as a suspect in the so called “1000 case” …

Beny Steinmetz, the mining billionaire, was among five men detained by Israeli police for questioning on Monday in connection with an international probe into alleged fraud and money laundering. The four other people arrested included David Granot, the acting chairman of Bezeq, a leading Israeli telecoms and pay-TV company, and …