|
|
Prime Time Crime
Greed and Corruption
Follow the Money and you find
special interest groups
HANOVER - German prosecutors have said they filed corruption charges against former President Christian Wulff, over alleged favors that prompted his resignation last year. (DW) Christian Wulff
'Biggest single plunder of diamonds'
HARARE - Allies of President Robert Mugabe have carried out the "biggest single plunder of diamonds" since the days of Cecil Rhodes, stealing Zimbabwean gems worth $2B over the last 4 years, according to a new study. The revenues from Marange alluvial diamond field in eastern Zimbabwe, one of the richest such reserves in the world, have enriched Mr Mugabe's Zimb party, allowing it to build a war chest for the election expected next year. (Telegraph UK) REPORT: Reap What You Sow .pdf MORE: Partnership Africa Canada
BRASILIA - Brazil’s Supreme Court sentenced a former presidential chief of staff to nearly 11 years in prison for his role in a congressional vote-buying scheme during the first 2 years of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s 2003-2011 tenure. (EFE) MORE: Lula aide jailed Aide convicted Political corruption in Brazil 'Corruption trial of the century' Mensalao Luiz Jose
TORONTO - A Star investigation in September 2011 revealed that Manzoor Moorshed Khan, president of Channel Property Management, borrowed millions of dollars against condominium corporations in the Toronto area without their knowledge. (Toronto Star)
OTTAWA - Joseph LeClair, 55, an Ottawa priest who previously admitted to gambling problems has been charged after an investigation found more than $240,000 was misappropriated. (QMI) MORE: Fraud charges Father Joe charged
OTTAWA - Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal the country’s finance minister who was educated at Canadian universities, is facing allegations he stashed more than $1M away in overseas banks, including accounts in Canada. (Toronto Star)
Chief Justice Renato Corona, removed on charges he had failed to declare $2.4M in foreign currency deposits, is the first public official ever to be ousted by an impeachment court. (Asia Sentinel) MORE: Impeachment Corona guilty Renato Corona
TORONTO - A Toronto pastor swindled parishioners and colleagues of more than $8M in an investment scam the Ontario Securities Commission has found. (CTV)
BELLEVILLE - Naheed Ali Ramji was sentenced in a Belleville court to 7 months behind bars for “unconscionable representation” and “unfair practice” under the Ontario Consumer Protection Act, and falsifying information under the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act. (Toronto Star)
SEATTLE - Ronald L. Brekke was found guilty of conspiracy and wire fraud after helping nearly 1,000 people falsely claim millions of dollars in tax refunds. (CBC)
TORONTO - Alanna Steinberg, a wheeler-dealer who boasts a network of “angel investors,” sat at Wendy’s restaurant expecting the $5,000 she demanded up front from her latest mark. (Toronto Star)
TORONTO - A new report by the city’s auditor-general has revealed more than 1,500 of those collecting welfare have business licenses, suggesting some of those may be cheating the system. (CityNews) REPORT: TESS Income Verification Procedures .pdf
BORDEAUX - Thierry Tilly was sentenced to 8 years in prison for swindling three generations of an aristocratic family out of their fortune and turreted manor, after convincing them they were the targets of a Masonic plot. (AFP) MORE: 8 years Aristocrats and demons
WINNIPEG - Benjamin Harvey-Langton rolled into Winnipeg in a posh Mustang GT, booked himself into a deluxe downtown hotel and rented a plush luxury condo. (QMI)
TORONTO - An Iranian man who took part in defrauding taxpayers of $14M from the Business Development Bank of Canada has been sentenced to 2 years of house arrest for his role in the scam. Victor Abedi, 45, was ordered to repay $50,000 and serve 24-months of community arrest by an Ontario Court of Justice. (QMI)
MONTREAL - The RCMP arrested a man and a woman after an Industry Canada small business loan program was allegedly bilked of more than $10M. Bruno Ciaburro, 43, and Julie Paquette, 39, of Saint-Bruno, Que., are charged with fraud and making false documents. (QMI) PREVIOUS: Fraud charges
BERLIN - Corruption has become an entrenched part of the global economy, according to the world corruption watchdog Transparency International’s (TI) annual report. (Gulf News) REPORT: Corruption perceptions index 2012 Canada #9 Fight against corruption frustratingly slow UN member states
OTTAWA - A blitz by Canada Revenue Agency auditors on an unfortunate group of waiters and waitresses in St. Catharines has exposed “very surprising” amounts of unreported tips and gratuities. (CP)
TORONTO - In documents obtained by CBC News, the FBI alleges that Luba Kramrish was part of a conspiracy that falsified documents to claim financial support from a special fund created by the German government after the Second World War. (CBC) MORE: Holocaust survivor fraud
THOMPSON - It was determined that between 2004 and 2009, a total of $1.5M went missing through fraudulent means. Theresa Foley, 43, faces 98 fraud-related charges. (CTV)
VANCOUVER - Gurdyal Singh Sahota, a notorious landlord was fined $115,000 by the province for failing to comply with repeated orders to repair a leaky roof at one of his rental properties. (QMI) MORE: Landlord fined
OTTAWA - Emmanuel Feuerwerker, 60, and Lise Pouliot, 69, filed bogus physiotherapy claims over a three-year period beginning in 2002. (QMI)
HALIFAX - The scope of damage caused by Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Paul Delisle, the naval officer at the centre of an international espionage embarrassment, is unknown, says an official at the CSIS. The case of a Canadian in uniform selling a vast horde of secrets to the Russians is unprecedented. (CBC)
WINNIPEG - A Winnipeg woman who cheated her employer of $230,000 has been sentenced to 16 months in jail. Linda Cousins, 48, pleaded guilty to one count of theft over $5,000. (QMI)
REGINA - Crown prosecutors allege James Besler bilked the CRA out of more than $200,000 by underreporting the executives' income and filing false financial statements. (CTV)
YARMOUTH - An RCMP mortgage fraud investigation in southwestern Nova Scotia has resulted in charges against 11 people. Police say 10 of the people face a total of 146 fraud-related charges while one is accused of obstructing police. Investigators estimate the total value of the fraud is more than $6M. (CBC)
$3.9 mortgage fraud nets 42 months
Calgary ripe for real estate fraud
'Straw buyer' seduced into scheme
Canadian shoppers pay more for products because suppliers charge Canadian retailers more – between 10-50% more – a senate committee was told. (Toronto Star)
Cross-border shopping $20B drain
OTTAWA - Rona Ambrose says the entire process is being reviewed in the face of a long-awaited KPMG report that warns of the soaring cost of the planned purchase of high-tech F-35 stealth fighters. The report says the lifetime cost of owning the Lockheed Martin-built F-35s is estimated at $45.8B over 42 years. (CP)
TORONTO - Uthayakanthan Thirunavukkarasu admitted to participating in a criminal organization, proceeds of crime, criminal negligence causing bodily harm and fraud charges. (CityNews) MORE: Guilty plea
SAN FRANCISCO - William Wise, 62, faces 17 connected to an estimated $129M Ponzi scheme. (Seaway) MORE: Millennium Bank Receivership Former OHL team owner accused Couple indicted Ponzi victims coalition
REGINA - A 71-year-old Regina woman is accused of theft and fraud in a case police say involves an estimated $1M in losses. The woman charged is the owner and operator of the payroll service company. (CBC)
TORONTO - A 28-year-old man is facing 33 charges alleging fraudulent applications for social services benefits in Toronto. Charges against Alex Kusi include 10 fraud counts, 4 counts of personation and 5 of identity fraud. (CP)
TORONTO - A senior government bank official was part of a conspiracy that saw $16M in loan money ripped off by a group of Toronto-area fraud artists. (Toronto Star)
BROSSARD - Benito Driss, 33, also known as Nassim Ben Driss, Driss Nassim and Nssim Benyamina, is accused of taking $1.5M from the establishment. (CTV)
ROME - Magistrates told Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe and former Infrastructure and Transport Minister Pietro Lunardi that they were being investigated for aggravated corruption. (Reuters) MORE: Corruption investigation
WATERLOO - Arlan Galbraith, 62, was the sole owner and shareholder in Pigeon King International. Police estimate about 1,000 people invested a total of $20M in the purchase of pigeons. (CTV) PREVIOUS: Pigeon King declared personally bankrupt
CAMPBELLTON - Yvon Doiron, 63, of Paquetville appeared in Campbellton provincial court to face four counts of fraud. (CTV)
OTTAWA - CBC’s efforts to hide information from the public include a manual with instructions on destroying records. (QMI)
COLD LAKE - The pastor of a Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the Bonnyville, Alta., area is charged along with two others in a million-dollar scheme police allege exploited foreign nationals brought from Poland and the Ukraine to Canada for work. (QMI) PREVIOUS: Relieved of duties Priest charged with immigration fraud
OTTAWA - A mother and daughter who worked at an Ottawa nursing home are expected in court to face charges of fraud against residents of the seniors facility. In total, the two women are accused of stealing more than $340,000 from 18 residents at the home. (CBC) MORE: Retirement home residents bilked
'There's something fundamentally wrong with the whole system'
TORONTO - A group representing dozens of lawn care companies trying to bring charges against Ontario's senior bureaucrats over the province's controversial pesticide ban is now calling for charges against 23 activists. (CP)
MONTREAL - A wealthy Canadian is in court fighting the Canada Revenue Agency to block its probe into undeclared income in offshore bank accounts. (CBC) MORE: Offshore bank account probe HSBC Herve Falciani Probe reveals Swiss accounts $100M stashed
NEWMARKET - Vladimor Loginov is alleged to be the architect behind about 520 forged Israeli passports over the last 10 years, many of which were sold to people who then used them to get car insurance and commit staged collisions. (CTV) MORE: Fraud bust
MONTREAL - Reverend Mwinda Lezoka, a Congolese native who has served as pastor for 20 years, allegedly borrowed or was donated money from at least 24 members of the Bethel Christian Community. (CTV) PREVIOUS: Pastor pursued
NEW YORK - Federal prosecutors have charged a fundraiser in an alleged $292M pyramid scheme that spanned more than a decade, saying he used some of the proceeds to support election campaigns. In an indictment Iranian-born Hassan Nemazee is charged with bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. (AP) MORE: Fund-raiser in $290M fraud
WINNIPEG - Four suspects were arrested between Mar. 11, and 13. Police believe, between 2004 and 2006 officers with the now defunct companies, Maple Leaf Distillers and Protos International in collusion with a former senior employee of a local financial institution devised a cheque kiting scheme to obtain unauthorized credit from the financial institution. (CTV) MORE: Cheque kiting scheme
DELHI - On the front cover of its new year issue India Today ran pictures of four men under the headline "2010 – year of the treasure hunters". Inside an editorial said bluntly: "One word dominated the national vocabulary [last year]: corruption." (Guardian UK)
The PricewaterhouseCoopers 2009 Global Economic Crime Survey includes a measure of the percentage of respondents from various territories who reported suffering some type of fraud. (FAIR)
Corruption perceptions index 2009
2009 Global Economic Crime Survey .pdf
Government guts anti-corruption law
If our leaders were corrupt would we know it?
Global Corruption Barometer 2010
Canadians can't afford their wealthy
Canada's navy plans to spend about $120M to upgrade 36 torpedoes, but they still won't work in its four submarines without further refits. The navy has MK-48 American torpedoes in stock, but the four British-built submarines aren't capable of firing them. Even after the weapons are converted, Canada would still have to spend millions more to refit the submarines to fire them. (CBC)
Canadian navy has wrong torpedoes for subs
TORONTO - The deal with prosecutors allowed Dr. Lorne Sokol to plead guilty to the lesser offence of contravening Ontario's Health Insurance Act, which carries a maximum fine of $25,000. (Toronto Star)
Toronto’s self-proclaimed dumpster rental king runs a sham company that is little more than a cellphone and website used to plunder homeowners’ credit cards with bogus charges. (Toronto Star)
Alleged bribe under investigation
IQALUIT - RCMP confirm they are investigating an allegation that a city councillor was offered a bribe in connection to a development permit recently granted for a new medical boarding home. (CBC)
TORONTO - Kerry Wong, 44, is charged with two counts of extortion for allegedly trying to get $1,400 from Yanhui Lu and her husband, Hong Hai Kang, on July 25, 2007. (Toronto Star)
PARIS - Former French president Jacques Chirac has been indicted on embezzlement charges. (AFP)
TORONTO - CN alleges Scott Holmes, a former track supervisor, directed maintenance and construction work to companies he secretly owned, sometimes using the ID numbers of other employees to approve payments, including billings for work never done. (Sun Media)
MONTEVIDEO - The former military ruler of Uruguay, Gregorio Alvarez, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for murder and human rights violations. (BBC) MORE: Former dictator condemned to 25 years Court deals blow to amnesty for Junta
Former envoy could earn $100M
NEW YORK - Peter W. Galbraith 58, a former US ambassador who recently quit as deputy head of the UN mission in Kabul, struck a potentially lucrative oil deal in Iraqi Kurdistan which could reportedly earn him $100M.
PARIS - Veteran French Polynesia leader Gaston Flosse, an ally of former president Jacques Chirac, was questioned in a graft probe in Tahiti as police searched his home and party headquarters. (AFP)
Document falsifiers give evidence
PARIS - Jean-Louis Gregorin, former vice-president of EADS and IT expert Imad Lahoud, the two men accused of faking the Clearstream list of clients to include Nicolas Sarkozy's name, give evidence Wednesday in what has been described as France's 'trial of the decade'. (AFP)
Hollywood plot that has backfired on everybody
Agency charges nannies huge fees
VANCOUVER - A-Pro Caregivers and Nannies is one of the biggest caregiver agencies in Vancouver. (CBC)
Federal agencies fail to protect
TAIPEI - Taiwan's former President Chen Shui-bian has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of corruption by a court in Taipei. (BBC)
Ex-president given life sentences
VANCOUVER - Martin Wirick, 54, has also been ordered to pay $2M in restitution to the Law Society of BC, which has reimbursed victims of the fraud. More than $40M has been paid out to victims, including cases that aren't included in Wirick's guilty plea. (CTV)
Massive fraud law society on hook for $50m
TORONTO - Canada has been very, very good to Imtazur Nasser Rahman. Fresh from a second bankruptcy - leaving his creditors on the hook for $114,000 - he zips around the GTA doing business in a $125,000 Porsche Cayenne Turbo. (Toronto Star) PREVIOUS: Canada's 'slave trade'
JERUSALEM - Israeli legal authorities indicted former prime minister Ehud Olmert on corruption charges, the first criminal indictment ever filed against a current or past Israeli prime minister. (AP) MORE: Indictment served in 3 cases Cash stuffed envelopes
VANCOUVER - Investigators with the Canada Revenue Agency allege InfoSpec Systems Inc. designed and sold electronic sales suppression software, commonly known as zappers, marketed under the name of Profitek. (Vancouver Sun)
ORLANDO - A federal judge sent Lou Pearlman off to prison for 25 years, then offered him what he called the "keys'' to his jail cell. For every $1-million Pearlman recovers for the investors he scammed, he'll get a month trimmed off his sentence. (Tampa Bay Times) MORE: Pearlman sentenced to 25 years $300M Ponzi scheme
MISSISSAUGA - A 41-year-old man has been arrested in connection with an Internet fraud involving a phoney hockey school and league, scamming as much as $100,000 from international junior hockey players, Peel regional police say. (CanWest) MORE: Ex-owner of Junior A team arrested Former Derbys owner out on bail
MONTREAL - The company that owns Quebec's four horse racing tracks has been placed under bankruptcy protection, resulting in the immediate closure of the Hippodrome de Montreal, formerly known as Blue Bonnets Raceway. In 2005, the racetracks were sold by the province to Attractions Hippiques, owned by Senator Paul Massicotte. (CBC) PREVIOUS: Racetracks misspent public money
NEWMARKET - In his financial heyday, strip club owner Riccardo DiGiuseppe drove a Ferrari and captained a 60-foot luxury yacht called My Way. Yesterday, DiGiuseppe, 61, heard himself sentenced in Newmarket court to a six-year term in prison and ordered to pay a $2 million fine, at the conclusion of one of the Greater Toronto Area's longest and most complicated tax evasion prosecutions. (Toronto Star)
KATHMANDU - "I am just a doctor, not a kidney dealer," Amit Kumar told reporters as he was brought to Kathmandu after being arrested Thursday in the southern Nepalese town of Chitwan. (CBC) MORE: Kumar denies role in harvesting ring 'Dr. Horror' nabbed
Developer leaves buyers in limbo
KELOWNA - The Willows condominium development in the Okanagan town of Lake Country is in receivership, leaving about 78 purchasers in limbo. The condos were being built by Divergent Environments, a Victoria-based company. (CBC)
EDMONTON - Lax security at Alberta's privatized registries has produced an embarrassing export trade in fraudulent drivers' licences that is threatening highway safety across the country. (Edmonton Journal)
TORONTO - A senior executive at Maple Leafs' parent company Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment has resigned and five other employees have been fired after the company learned of ticket irregularities. (Toronto Star)
Nigeria graft boss strikes again
ABUJA - Nigerian anti-corruption agents have issued an arrest warrant for an eighth former governor. Lucky Igbinedion of Edo State is accused of stealing more than $24M through three front companies. (BBC) PREVIOUS: Nigeria corruption tsar sidelined Nuhu Ribadu
Forces find illegal driftnet fishing
COMOX - A multinational operation on the high seas involving a Canadian Forces Aircraft from CFB Comox has turned up photographic evidence of 10 vessels involved in driftnet fishing, a practice banned by the United Nations. (Victoria Times Colonist) MORE: High seas stake-out
VICTORIA - The Oak Bay Marine Group's former vice-president of finance has been charged with theft and fraud after more than half a million dollars was diverted from the company's bank accounts. Graeme Bryson, 43, of Victoria, has been charged with theft over $5,000 and fraud over $5,000. (Victoria Times Colonist)
WHITE PLAINS - Former New York City police Commissioner Bernard Kerik was sentenced to four years behind bars for eight felonies. (AP)
It was supposed to be a stress-free investment for Florence and Jim Langford. After all, the retired Saskatchewan couple was only looking for a little extra income to supplement their retirement savings. It all started when Florence decided to take an investment course with a company called Whitney Canada. (W-Five)
Shipwreck, treasure, insider trading
WASHINGTON - The US Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday that Ernesto Tapanes, 39, agreed to pay more than $216,000 to settle insider trading charges in the case involving the 18th century shipwreck, code-named Black Swan. (Reuters) MORE: Canadian guilty of insider trading
Jailed chef steamed lawyer free
EDMONTON - Brenda Martin found it ironic that prominent lawyer Marco Antonio del Toro wandered into the Guadalajara courthouse on the day of the final hearing in a legal nightmare that has seen her spend two years in prison. Both Martin and del Toro once worked for Canadian con man Alyn Waage. (Journal)
Conman's mansion for sale, by his lawyer
Mexican justice all about bribes
Canadian languishes in Mexican jail
ALBANY - New York Governor Eliot Spitzer may have made a smart move when choosing lawyers to help him avoid criminal charges for soliciting prostitutes. Two were top attorneys in the same office handling his case. (Bloomberg)
VANCOUVER - In his native Ukraine and for several years in Toronto, Walter Datsko was an accountant and family man who drove his two daughters to movie nights in a beat-up Oldsmobile. (Vancouver Sun)
MONTREAL - The RCMP have busted what they describe as a Montreal-based network that pirated copies of DVDs, mostly of defunct U.S. television series, and sold them over the Internet. (Montreal Gazette)
VANCOUVER - A commission panel ruled Brian Anderson perpetrated a fraud, made misrepresentations and distributed securities illegally under his Frontier Assets and Alpha Program investments. (Toronto Star)
Dad cries foul over student loans
CAPE BRETON, NS - A Cape Breton man whose daughter suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car crash four years ago says the federal government is harassing him over her unpaid student loans. (CBC)
TORONTO - Five Toronto-area residents face more than 100 fraud-related charges in a real estate scam that sold parking lot spaces as condos. Bank employees, lawyers and real estate agents were all working together to defraud Toronto Dominion of $3.8 million. (Toronto Star)
OTTAWA - A year after it opened, opponents of Petrie Island Beach -- which cost Ottawa taxpayers more than $2 million and sparked much debate -- appear to be right: The water is too dirty. (Ottawa Citizen)
Guilty plea
VANCOUVER - Former Victoria investment advisor Ian Thow pleaded guilty in Vancouver provincial court to 20 counts of fraud for duping clients and friends out of just under $8M.
RCMP should wait until arrest to celebrate
Accountant unravels money trail
Media push for access to details on Thow's life
TORONTO - Laws in Ontario may not be protecting workers from questionable business activities, Government Services Minister Gerry Phillips acknowledged. (Toronto Star)
No fraud charges in job agency complaints
EDMONTON - An Edmonton woman who created an elaborate pyramid scheme to fund a multimillion-dollar gambling habit was sentenced Monday to seven years in prison. Cheryl-Lynne Braun, 41, defrauded 89 people of more than $22 million, half of which she spent at three city casinos in less than a year. (Edmonton Journal)
Police arrest man wanted for fraud
FORT MCMURRAY - Police have tracked down a man in the United States who allegedly defrauded a Fort McMurray company of almost half a million dollars. Christian Richardson, 28, faces three charges of fraud totalling $425,000 and three counts of attempted fraud totaling more than $1 million. (CBC)
Hsu charged with pyramid scheme
NEW YORK - Federal prosecutors unsealed a criminal complaint Thursday charging Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu with breaking campaign finance laws and creating a "massive" pyramid scheme. (MSNBC)
FBI reportedly examining investment
MANILA - True to form, Janice Del Rosario arrived back in the Philippines in designer clothes, sunglasses and a smile. She left minutes later in handcuffs for the same Manila-area jail where she had met her husband years earlier. (Toronto Star)
Cops prepare case vs. couple from Canada
TORONTO - Rogue career colleges that take advantage of students with false promises and fake degrees face a $250,000 fine and increased policing under tougher rules announced Wednesday by the province. (Toronto Star)
Failing grade on bogus colleges
Jack of all trades, qualified in none
Government warned to keep eye on colleges
Ombud urges career college crackdown
Schools that make us look stupid
Student visas used as ticket into Canada
BC shells out cash, sees few benefits
Another private BC college shut down
Another private college under investigation
Province orders probe of second university
Controversial college forced to close
Private educator faces new questions
College head under investigation off board
College faces probe after complaint over degrees
DENVER - Let's say you're playing poker and you need one more diamond for a flush. The dealer turns a card, reveals a diamond and you win the hand. Was it skill or luck? The answer is affecting the fates of people across the country accused of breaking anti-gambling laws. (LA Times)
Casinos/Gambling political contributions
US makes deal on Internet gambling
US to compensate for online gambling ban
WTO: US measures affecting cross border supply of gambling and betting services
World Trade Organization 2007 report
NETeller founder in conspiracy plea deal
UIGA exempt some US online gambling
OTTAWA - Researchers at the Ottawa-based Centre for the Study of Living Standards looked at how much taxes and government benefits helped to even things out between the rich and the poor in Canada over the past three decades. (CP)
Impact of redistribution on income 1981-2010 .pdf
Canadian quality of life hammered
Canadian investors gouged by fees
15 years of growth means little
Why inequality keeps rising OECD
Country Note: Canada .pdf
How Canadians are really faring
Canadians fall deeper into debt
Commitment to Development Index
Rules forcing people into destitution
Ontarians turning to food banks
Poverty, inequality rates jump
Gulf in health between rich and poor
Closing the gap in a generation
Worst places in Canada for winter
Conference board: Society report
Rich get richer, poor get poorer
Youth entering workforce earn less
Tax cuts won't buy a cup of coffee
Growing credit debt is crushing
Fastest rise in food prices in 14 years
Alberta rent aid program over spent
Global wealth 2011 .pdf
Rise of Canada's richest 1% .pdf
Homeowners hit with higher tax bills
House paper millionaires double
Non-refundable personal tax credits
Sticker shock
VANCOUVER - The price of widening Vancouver's Burrard Street Bridge has quadrupled - and not a shovelful of dirt has been moved.
Infrastructure 'near collapse'
Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM)
Most live in the southern part of the country
Bombardier makes a pitch for piece rapid-transit
Tests on bridges miss fatal flaws
Montreal overpass closed to trucks
Overpass tragedy leaves legacy of mistrust
Sky isn't falling yet - but parts of our city are
Montreal downtown core shut down
21 more overpasses need repairs
Lack of money delayed overpass repair: official
Overpass collapse not transport department's fault
Transport Quebec, contractor blame each other
Bernard company installed faulty steel rods
Que. to ban heavy trucks on bridges, overpasses
Number of structures under review is chilling
Ministry knew bars were improperly placed
Parts of Quebec bridge fall off
Misplaced rebar caused overpass collapse: report
Concrete quality 'not the issue'
Bridge was ticking time bomb, prof says
Laval roadway was crumbling before tragedy
Failure highlights aging infrastructure
5 killed in Quebec overpass collapse
Firms violated federal loan rules
OTTAWA - A government-commissioned audit indicates more than a third of the companies granted loans by the much-maligned Technology Partnerships Canada scheme violated the terms of the financing. (CanWest)
Foreign investments need closer look
Feds to review policy on Cdns in foreign elections
Private charges laid over sewage treatment
VANCOUVER - A coalition of environmental organizations has filed a private prosecution against the Greater Vancouver Regional District and the provincial government, accusing them of allowing toxic sewage to be pumped into Burrard Inlet. (CBC) PREVIOUS: Vancouver sewage under fire Province orders sewage remedy 'You can't keep dumping'
The Canadian Forces has determined the family of a soldier who was killed during a 1992 training exercise doesn't deserve financial compensation for their suffering, despite a scathing report last year that blasted the military for putting the man's wife and daughters through an emotional roller-coaster of "inattention and insensitivity." (Ottawa Citizen) MORE: Canadian Forces 'betrayed' slain soldier's family
EDMONTON - Michael Ritter, Alberta's former chief parliamentary counsel, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for theft of $10.5 million US and fraud in a massive pyramid scheme in the US. (Edmonton Journal)
Across India, an estimated 30,000 young women live to regret marriages that have left them alone, miserable and consumed with shame. (Province Series) Jaswinder 'Jassi' Kaur Sidhu
NEW YORK - US prosecutors charged Guatemala's fugitive former president, Alfonso Portillo, with laundering millions of dollars he embezzled while in office. (AFP) MORE: Portillo arrested
World's longest spy scandal still glossed over
The so called PROMIS affair would never have happened if the software invented by an American computer specialist, Mr. William A. Hamilton, had been a technical failure. (Canadian Free Press)