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'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 environment minister and senior bureaucrats over the province's controversial pesticide ban is now calling for charges against 23 activists.  The documents filed allege the activists knowingly presented false and misleading information about the health and environmental risks associated with pesticide products, knowingly misled the public, lawn care industry and government officials, and impeded access to Health Canada approved pesticide products through fraudulent means.  (CP)

 

Bribe sought

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)

 

Guilty plea

TORONTO - A former convenience store owner has pleaded guilty to fraud in connection with the theft of a $5.75M lottery ticket.   Hafiz Malik pleaded guilty inside a Toronto courtroom.  (CTV)  MORE:  Stealing $5.7M lotto ticket   Store owner guilty

 

Deal avoids fraud trial

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)

 

Corporate crime up

OTTAWA - Corporate crime has risen in Canada over the last year, with sour economic conditions cited as a factor, according a new report. (CanWest)   REPORT:  2009 global economic crime survey

 

No winner for good governance

LONDON - The backers of a $5M prize celebrating good governance in Africa said they cannot find anyone to award this year.   (AP)

 

Ex-ruler jailed

MONTEVIDEO - The former military ruler of Uruguay, Gregorio Alvarez, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for murder and human rights violations.   A court in Montevideo found him guilty of 37 homicides during his time as head of the army in the 1970s and later as president in 1981-85. (BBC)    MORE:  Former dictator condemned to 25 years   Court deals blow to amnesty for Junta

 

Ex-Clinton aide indicted

NEW YORK - Federal prosecutors have charged a wealthy fundraiser for top Democrats 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 returned Monday in US District Court in Manhattan, Iranian-born Hassan Nemazee is charged with bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.  (AP)   MORE:  HSBC falls foul of fundraiser   Fund-raiser in $290M fraud

 

$500,000 found

BOGOTÁ - Colombian authorities found more than $500,000 and compromising documents in the home of Alirio Villamizar, a senator being investigated for allegedly receiving benefits for voting for a constitutional reform measure that allowed President Alvaro Uribe’s reelection in 2006.  (LAHT)   MORE:  Investigators raid houses of congressmen

Former President arrested

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

 

Chirac indicted

PARIS - Former French president Jacques Chirac has been indicted on embezzlement charges relating to his time as mayor of Paris.    (AFP)     MORE:  New corruption allegations   Trial ordered   Court action against Chirac

 

CN Rail alleging fraud

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)

 

Well liked woman convicted

EDMONTON - "(Elaine) Badry is the kind of person who elicits feelings of warmth and trust in those around her," Court of Queen's Bench Justice Darlene Acton said.  (Edmonton Journal)

 

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.  (Times online)

 

Embezzlement investigation

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)

 

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)

 

Leader admits vote rigging

MOSCOW - Alexander Lukashenko Belarus’ strongman leader has admitted rigging the country's last presidential election - because, he says, his popularity is so vast that the true margin of victory was unbelievable and had to be lowered.  (AFP)

 

Buy-to-let fraud

LONDON - Fears of widespread fraud on the mortgage books of Britain's high street lenders emerged after Chelsea building society admitted that it had uncovered fraud of up to £41M.   (Guardian UK)   MORE:  How lenders have been caught out

 

Dramatic arrest

BAGHDAD - Iraq's former trade minister has been arrested at Baghdad airport on corruption charges as he was trying to leave the country.  Officials said Abdul Falah Sudani had been on a flight to the United Arab Emirates which was asked to turn back to Baghdad so he could be arrested.  (BBC)  PREVIOUS:   Mother of all corruption scandals   1,000 arrest warrants issued

 

Guilty pleas

CALGARY - The fire that started in the basement suite of the house on Jan. 26 claimed the lives of Tiffany Cox, 19, Jonathan St. Pierre, 19, and Colleen Mantei, 23.    (Herald)   PREVIOUS:    Family presses for criminal charges   Delay of care cited    Public Health charges

   

Forewarning for the Cayman Islands

The governor of the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) released a redacted version of the final report of the Commission of Inquiry appointed to inquire into allegations of corruption and serious dishonesty on the part of current and former government officials of that sister Overseas Territory.  (Cayman Net News)   MORE:  WikiLeaks releases report   WikiLeaks victorious over report gag order

Fraud arrests

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

     

Guilty of defrauding government

OTTAWA - Ontario Superior Court Justice Monique Métivier said Leo Sabourin, who was convicted two years ago of failing to declare more than $15M in income - leading to $4.26M - on the returns he prepared on behalf of dozens of clients, undertook an “elaborate” and “highly manipulative” scheme to avoid sentencing. (Ottawa Citizen)

Charges dropped

PRETORIA - South African prosecutors have dropped multiple charges of fraud and corruption against Jacob Zuma, the African National Congress (ANC) leader and putative next president of the country.   (Telegraph UK)   PREVIOUS:  South African arms deal   Politics of South Africa

 
     

Sather posts $1M bail

RIVERSIDE - Former Edmonton Oilers owner Peter Pocklington was bailed out of jail in California by his former general manager, Glen Sather.  (Edmonton Journal)   PREVIOUS:  Pocklington jailed

Soccer mom charged

VANCOUVER - Debbie Mary Judd, a Richmond woman accused of embezzling an estimated $180,000 from the Richmond Youth Soccer Association has been charged - 5 1/2 years after an investigation began.    (Richmond News)

 
     

Guilty plea

WASHINGTON - An international jewellery executive and a former American diplomat who was based in Toronto pleaded guilty yesterday to trading gemstone rings, trips with exotic dancers and other gifts in exchange for expedited work visas.   (AP)  MORE:  Former US diplomat in Toronto pleads guilty

Couple face corruption rap

VANCOUVER - Gloria and Faustino Chingkoe, who own a million-dollar Richmond house, three expensive condos and have three daughters educated at Crofton House private school, face a host of charges in the Philippines, including "plunder," falsification of documents and tax evasion.  (Vancouver Province)

 
     

Canada 8th

War-torn nations remain the world's most corrupt, Transparency International (TI) has said.  Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia are the lowest-ranked countries in TI's annual global survey. They were all at the bottom of the list last year as well.   New Zealand was the least corrupt, with last year's winner Denmark as runner-up and Singapore third.  (BBC)  

Corruption perceptions index 2009

Canada least corrupt in the Americas

UK slips lower

Russia the land of the rich

Canada has more political corruption

Anti-political corruption conference ends

Flawed step

Political corruption

UN conference on corruption

Corruption costs

Anti-corruption activists gather

Your NO counts 

 
     

Mining company linked

VANCOUVER - The chief executive officer of a Vancouver-based junior mining company that is closely associated with Vancouver mining magnate Frank Giustra has been accused by the Thai government of plundering millions of dollars from the now-defunct Bangkok Bank of Commerce.   (Vancouver Sun)  MORE:  Bank president gets another 20 years   Rakesh Saxena

Investment scam

VANCOUVER - A formerly respected and prominent investment broker and longtime West Vancouver resident may face federal jail time for operating a classic Ponzi scheme over a two-year period.  In January, Brian Bassett pleaded guilty to running an investment scam between 2002 and 2004, while a top executive with Dundee Securities Corporation. (North Shore News)

 
     

IT bid rigging

OTTAWA - Criminal charges have been laid against 14 individuals and seven companies accused of rigging bids to obtain Government of Canada contracts for information technology services, the Competition Bureau announced.   (Ottawa Citizen)

Author pleads guilty to fraud

CALGARY - The author of a self-help book on how to dig yourself out of debt and credit trouble has pleaded guilty to fraud.   Douglas Idugboe pleaded guilty to fraud, obtain credit, and three counts of uttering forged documents.  (CTV)  MORE:  Guilty plead to fraud and forgery

 
     

'Illegal gold sale bid'

HARARE - Zimbabwe's Vice-President Joyce Mujuru tried to fund a multi-million dollar gold deal in defiance of international sanctions. She is one of about 200 Zimbabweans the EU has hit with sanctions, accusing them of human rights abuses.  . (BBC)  MORE:  Elite seek to evade sanctions   VP foiled in gold deal

Mills found guilty

ROME - An Italian court has found British tax lawyer David Mills guilty of accepting a bribe of about £400,000 and sentenced him to four-and-a-half years in prison. The prosecution claims the bribe was paid by the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi.   (BBC)   MORE:  Sentenced to jail for accepting bribe    The minister and the gift

 
     

Wanted for fraud

TORONTO - Sethuraj "Babji" Mokada, 46, a Newmarket man is wanted for allegedly stealing nearly $2 million from the bank he worked at.  (Toronto Star)  MORE:    Employee and $2M disappear

3 years for Ponzi scheme

CALGARY - A 68-year-old Calgary man who bilked 35 investors out of $615,000 he claimed was destined for education programs will do jail time.  James Norbert Hester, 68, was sentenced to a three-year prison term.  (Calgary Herald)

 
     

Russian spy in NATO

TALLINN - Herman Simm, 61, an Estonian defence ministry official who was arrested in September, was responsible for handling all of his country's classified information at NATO, giving him access to every top-secret graded document from other alliance countries.  He was recruited by the Russians in the late 1980s and has been charged in Estonia with supplying information to a foreign power.  (Time online)  MORE:  Spy scandal shakes NATO and EU   'The Spaniard'   Double-agent

Congo cancels timber contracts

KINSHASA - The Democratic Republic of Congo government has cancelled nearly 60% of timber contracts in the world's second-largest tropical rainforest.  It follows a six-month review of 156 logging deals aimed at stamping out corruption in the sector and enforcing legal and environmental standards.  At the end of the World Bank-backed process, government ministers found that only 65 timber deals were viable.  (BBC)   PREVIOUS:  Congo set to halt most logging   Corruption in the DRC

 
     

Leaders under graft spotlight

PARIS - The French chapter of Transparency International (TI), the non-governmental group Sherpa and a Gabonese citizen took joint action against Presidents Omar Bongo Ondimba, Denis Sassou Nguesso and Teodoro Obiang, and several of their associates, they said in a joint statement.  (AFP)  RELATED:  Corruption charges for MPs   'What on earth is going on?'

Tax evader tracked to BC

VANCOUVER - An American lawyer believed to be the brains behind a bogus tax-shelter scheme that bilked millions of dollars from the US government has been traced to Vancouver.  David L. Smith, 52, of San Francisco, is charged with conspiracy to defraud the government and tax evasion on $18.4 million in personal income.  (Vancouver Province)

 
     

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

Justice turns a blind eye to political elites

Sex, spies and dirty tricks

Clearstream scandal

Nicolas Sarkozy  

Dominique de Villepin

 
     

New tax havens blacklist

OECD -  Seventeen countries led by France and Germany decided on Tuesday to draw up a new blacklist of tax havens which could include Switzerland, in a first step toward rewriting the rules of global finance.  (AFP)

Lawsuit leads to family's arrest

WINDSOR - A Windsor woman accused of stealing her aged husband's winning lottery ticket was arrested by the Ontario Provincial Police Wednesday along with her daughter who claimed the $3.5-million prize.  (Windsor Star)

 
     

Agency charges nannies huge fees

VANCOUVER - A-Pro Caregivers and Nannies is one of the biggest caregiver agencies in Vancouver.  (CBC)  MORE:  Nanny blacklist   Nannies trapped in bogus jobs   Live-in Caregiver Program   Federal agencies fail to protect    Russian mobsters and human trafficking   Job bank could end rogue fees

Ex-French minister gets jail

PARIS - A Paris court sentenced a former interior minister to a year in prison and fined the son of the late President Francois Mitterrand for links to arms trafficking to Angola.  The trial of 42 defendants began last October, after 7 years of international investigations into a case the French dubbed Angolagate.  (AP)

 
     

Jailed for life

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)   MORE:  Ex-president and wife given life sentences   Ex-president on trial   Chen's detention extended   Ex-Taiwan leader in graft trial   Alleged money laundering

Owner faces charges

CALGARY - The owner of an illegal rooming house in which two tenants died in a fire has been charged with 29 fire code violations and faces fines of up to $435,000.  At a pre-arranged meeting Saturday, Calgary fire inspectors served Tan Yeng Li with multiple charges stemming from the July 31 northwest blaze.   (Calgary Herald)

 
     

7 years for ex-lawyer

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)

Former lawyer pleads guilty

Massive fraud law society on hook for $50m

Law Society of British Columbia

North Van lawyer disbarred

2 charged in fraud scheme

The Wirick claims

 
     

Librarian off to jail

SASKATOON - A Saskatoon judge sentenced Bruce David Cameron to two years less a day - the maximum sentence for a provincial jail - after he pleaded guilty to defrauding the Wheatland Regional Library.   (CBC)  MORE:  Librarian to serve jail time

Woman stole 'because she could'

CALGARY - Penny Marcy Myslichuk, who worked for Bennett Jones, also told forensic psychologist Patrick Baillie in a pre-sentence report that she misappropriated the money in trust account funds from Bennett Jones "because she could," said prosecutor Susan Mulligan.  (Calgary Herald)

 
     

Big promises, broken dreams

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'

Wife convicted of tax evasion

BANGKOK -The wife of the former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been convicted of tax evasion in a major blow to the family's business and political interests.  Potjaman Shinawatra, 51, was sentenced to three years imprisonment by a court in Bangkok.  (Telegraph UK)   MORE:  Potjaman guilty

 
     

Builder off the hook

CALGARY - The builder of a northwest condo complex whose "systematic failure" in construction led to a $10-million repair bill likely won't face any lawsuits related to the building.  (Calgary Herald)

House arrest

VICTORIA - Graeme Bryson, 44, of Victoria, appeared in BC Provincial Court in Victoria, pleading guilty to fraud over $5,000 for nine illegal wire transfers between June 2005 and March 2007.  (CanWest)

 
     

Bank exec sued

EDMONTON - In a statement of claim filed July 2, Canadian Western Bank claims Debra Anne Chapin, her husband and a handful of others rigged up a scheme to filch money from a wealthy customer and get a line of credit in the customer's name.  (Edmonton Journal)

Former PM indicted

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   Olmert announces exit

 
     

Transit worker stole $375,000

CALGARY - A former Calgary Transit worker has admitted stealing more than $375,000 from the city over seven years by palming coins off a conveyor belt, stashing the money in his locker and packing it into a knapsack before he left work each day.  David John Hamilton, 56, pleaded guilty Thursday in provincial court to theft over $5,000.  (Calgary Herald)

Officials admit taxi gifts

TOKYO - Almost 450 government bureaucrats in Japan have admitted receiving cash or other gifts and favours from taxi drivers used for official journeys.  It has been dubbed the "pub taxi scandal" because often cooler boxes with cold beers were provided in the back of cabs for the bureaucrats.    (BBC)  PREVIOUS:  Life in the limo lane for Ottawa's driven

 
     

Cooking the books

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)  

CRA warning against using tax cheating software

Sushi restaurants accused of tax fraud

Till tampering is hard to find

 
     

Former GM charged

HAMILTON - Margaret Coulter, former general manager of Atrium Villa retirement home on Main Street East, faces 30 charges of theft over $5,000 involving $1,030,000. (Hamilton Spectator) 

Doctors arrested

ROME - Police have arrested 13 doctors from a clinic in Milan who investigators suspect performed needless and sometimes fatal operations to make more money.  (AP)

 
     

BC man sentenced

ALBUQUERQUE - A British Columbia man was sentenced to 13 years in prison for plotting to blow up the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline and get rich off the resulting disruptions to the oil supply.  The sentence counts the time Alfred Heinz Reumayr of New Westminster has been in custody as time served. (AP)

Ethiopian court sentences Mengistu

ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopia’s Supreme Court sentenced former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam to death, along with 17 senior officials of his regime. The sentence was handed down in his absence because he is living in Zimbabwe.  (AFP)

MORE:  Court sentences Mengistu to death   'Red Emperor' sentenced to death

 
     

25 Years

ORLANDO - A federal judge sent Lou Pearlman off to prison for 25 years Wednesday, 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

Fake hockey school

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

 
     

Gambler admits to fraud

CALGARY - Lindsey Elizabeth Alexander, 54, wrote 107 cheques to either herself or MasterCard during the first half of 2004, defrauding Centaur Import Motors of $512,200, including penalties and interest paid by the owners to the Canada Revenue Agency.  (Calgary Herald)

Inefficient tax system

OTTAWA - Canada is laden so thick with business taxes it requires the average major company 11 employees working full-time, year-round simply to comply with them, says a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers.  (CanWest)  REPORT:  Total tax contribution survey

 
     

Charged with defrauding ICBC

VANCOUVER - A Vancouver physiotherapist is facing a charge of defrauding ICBC of thousands of dollars after an investigation alleged she was billing the insurance company, as well as WorkSafe BC, for patient treatments she never performed.   (Vancouver Sun)   RELATED:  Owner pleads guilty

Magic cheese con

PARIS - Gilbertte Van Erpe, 67, was arrested last week in Nice after nearly two years on the run. Police allege she made between C$21.7M and C$25.66M by persuading 5,000 Chileans and 25,000 Peruvians to invest savings into what they believed was miraculous "cheese paste."  (Star News)

 
     

BC government buys 5 hotels

VANCOUVER - Five of six downtown Vancouver hotels bought by the BC government for low-rental housing were bought from one man, developer Robert Wilson, who made a profit of $10 million on the sales in less than two years.   (Vancouver Province)  RELATED:  Rat hotel faces hefty fines

Vintage car auction scam

CALGARY - A Kelowna, BC, man stands accused of swindling almost $100,000 from people through a phoney online auction of vintage cars.   (Calgary Herald)  MORE:  Car scam used Calgary bank   Vintage-car fraud   Vintage car scam

 
     

US Army suspends contract

MIAMI - AEY, Inc., the weapons company headed by 22-year-old Efraim E. Diveroli, had their $300 million weapons contract suspended by the federal government on Friday.  (Trans World News)   PREVIOUS:  Afghans sent obsolete ammunition

Law firm worker guilty

CALGARY - Penny Marcy Myslichuk, who handled accounts for wills and estates, dependent adults, family trusts and a large mixed account for Bennett Jones, pleaded guilty to seven counts of fraud over $5,000 and one count of forgery.   (Calgary Herald)

 
     

Cost of doing business

TORONTO - A few years ago Lushan Lu subdivided his large Scarborough home into an illegal rooming house, creating 18 bedrooms and eight bathrooms.     (Toronto Star)

Guilty of 46 fraud counts

MONTREAL - The judge didn't buy Josie Cioffi's story that she was under her co-accused's spell when she defrauded her employer of $4.3 million. (Montreal Gazette)

 
     

Racetrack closed

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

Don't mess with the taxman

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)

 
     

’I am just a doctor’

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)

 
     

Ex-minister sent to prison

MOSCOW - Former Russian minister Yevgeny Adamov has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison for abusing his office and embezzling more than $30m.   (BBC)   MORE:  Adamov sentenced

Ticket scandal

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) 

 
     

Highway safety threatened

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)

ICBC win

VANCOUVER - A group of former high school buddies has been ordered to pay $510,000 to the Insurance Corporation of BC for staging a series of crashes as part of an insurance fraud scheme.    (Vancouver Sun)

 
     

Doctor on trial

SAN LUIS OBISPO - A transplant surgeon could face up to eight years in jail after being charged with trying to hasten the death of a patient.  (Telegraph UK)

$400K fraud targets Argos

TORONTO -  Walter Garrick, 37, is facing 16 charges of theft and fraud after he was arrested on Thursday by Toronto police fraud investigators.   (Toronto Star) 

 
     

The risks of indicting a despot

Let's pretend, for a moment, that you are the Sudanese president, Omar al-Beshir, sitting in Khartoum and likely to face charges of genocide and crimes against humanity from the International Criminal Court for the last five years of bloodshed in Darfur.  

Sudan's dictator started young

Sudan fears coup

African Union warns ICC   African Union

Arab League gives support   Arab League

 
     

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 

 
     

Exec accused of stealing

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)

Guilty plea

NEW YORK - Former New York City police chief Bernard Kerik has pleaded guilty to lying to the White House and has also said he will admit tax crimes.   (BBC)    

Bernard Kerik indicted

Bernard Kerik

 
     

Road to ruin

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

 
     

Sentence suspended

TORONTO - A man who posed as a high-flying financial adviser and befriended small investors, bilking some out of their life savings, has pleaded guilty to defrauding six people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.   (Toronto Star)

Record fraud draws jail

EDMONTON - A 61-year-old paralegal was sentenced Monday to more than five years in prison after she "greased the wheel" of a $30-million mortgage fraud believed to be the largest in Alberta history.  (Edmonton Journal)

 
     

Canadian con artists get 24 years

He was a Canadian who seemed to be living the American dream on the sunny California coast - a yacht and a 2006 Ferrari, country club and golf memberships, a sprawling, multimillion-dollar mansion in a wealthy enclave at seaside Monterey.  To dozens of his friends and clients, Jay Zubick was a popular and trusted investment adviser from Toronto.  (Windsor Star)

Soccer club accuses ex-president

HAMILTON - The near-bankrupt Dundas Girls' Soccer Club is suing its former president for allegedly siphoning club cash into his own pocket.  The club launched a lawsuit last week against Wayne Potter, who ran the club for the past five years, alleging he took more than $81,000 out of club coffers for his own use.  (Hamilton Spectator)

 
     

Coalition targets P3 deal

OTTAWA - A group opposed to public-private hospital partnerships claimed Friday it had documents suggesting the provincial government approved at least one project based on faulty information - and it's concerned the same thing may have happened with the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre.  (CanWest)   MORE: Documents expose flaws in cost comparison of P3 hospital financing

Aussie conman faked death

An Aussie conman who left a global trail of debt, deceit and powerful enemies before disappearing 10 years ago faked his own death says Rakesh Saxena.  Tim Gatland who boasted about supposed links to the plutonium and arms trade and had seemed to relish making enemies in the Thai military and government, the Russian mafia and even the CIA.  (Asian Pacific Post)   PREVIOUS:  One lie leads to another

 
     

Jailed chef steamed lawyer free

EDMONTON - Brenda Martin found it ironic that prominent lawyer Marco Antonio del Toro wandered into the Guadalajara courthouse on Monday, 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.  Del Toro and Martin both told Mexican investigators in 2001 they didn't know the money they received from Waage was fraudulently obtained - but their treatment was distinctly different.  (Journal)

Martin found guilty

Conman's mansion for sale, by his lawyer

Mexican justice all about bribes

Canada could have freed Martin

Canadian languishes in Mexican jail

Leader of $60M internet scam pleads guilty

Restitution delayed in massive international Internet fraud

SEC action against Tri-West Investment Club

 
     

Spitzer defense lawyers

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) 

'Wall Street revenge'

More woes likely despite resignation

Spitzer resigns

Money transfers spurred probe   Spitzer's hooker

 
     

Fraud gets time served

EDMONTON - An Edmonton man who duped his fiancee, his barber and a childhood friend into taking part in a mortgage fraud scheme alleged to involve as much as $30 million was sentenced Tuesday to three years in prison.  Harkamaljit (Tony) Kahlon, 30, pleaded guilty to 12 counts of fraud in connection with the alleged multimillion-dollar scam.  (Edmonton Journal)

Behind the Capital's slum mafia

NEW DELHI - The latest crackdown on the Capital’s “slum mafia” by the Central Bureau of Investigation has brought to the fore a deep nexus between building contractors and government officials behind fraudulent allotment of land meant for resettlement of displaced slum dwellers. (The Hindu)   MORE:  Land scam: Congress in crisis management mode

 
     

Accountant stole $1.5M

HAMILTON - A Brantford accountant and two members of her family are accused of stealing about $1.5 million of retirement funds from a group of elderly Hamilton nuns.  (Hamilton Spectator) 

Liberia discovers 'ghost' workers

Liberia's government says it has found more than 7,000 'ghost' workers on its payroll - employees who do not actually exist, or do not work for it.    (BBC)

 
     

Adviser charged with $3M fraud

KEMPTVILLE - Police arrested Bruce Elmore, of Kemptville. Police accuse him of defrauding clients of $3 million over a five-year period. He is charged with two counts of fraud over $5,000.  (Ottawa Citizen)

Car dealer fined $7M for fraud

VANCOUVER - A Vancouver car dealer was sentenced to two years in jail and fined $7 million in court yesterday for defrauding Ottawa of that amount in a long-running GST fraud.  (Vancouver Province)

 
     

Yacht club accountant accused

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) 

8 arrested in DVD ripoff

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) 

 
     

BC man defrauded investors

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)

 
     

Parking spots as condos

TORONTO - Five Toronto-area residents face more than 100 fraud-related charges in a real estate scam that sold parking lot spaces as condos, police say.   Bank employees, lawyers and real estate agents were all working together to defraud Toronto Dominion of $3.8 million, Det. Craig Ellis explained.   (Toronto Star)

Editorial: Taxi mafia in BC

VANCOUVER - In a city that complains long and loud about the state of its taxi service, no one it seems wants to delve a little bit deeper to find out why a cabal of four companies hold a monopoly on the industry in Vancouver.    (Asian Pacific Post)   RELATED:  Taxi firm settles with blind man refused ride because of guide dog

 
     

Thow arrested

PORTLAND - More than three and a half years after fleeing Victoria amid claims he bilked creditors and clients out of $32 million the disgraced former investment adviser was arrested without incident by US marshals.  (Victoria Times Colonist)

Fine reduced   2009 BCCA 0046

Thow fined

White collar crime can pay

Lavish lifestyle financed by ex-clients

RCMP should wait until arrest to celebrate

Crown charges Thow

Past catching up with Thow

Accountant unravels money trail

BC seeks missing millions

Media push for access to details on Thow's life

Many players to blame in Thow scam

The Ian Thow affair

Investing Scandal - Ian Thow

 
     

Probe shuts 16 facilities

VANCOUVER - Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon revealed that he ordered his staff last month to launch an "undercover" operation against 47 inspection facilities in the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland after three farm workers died in a freeway crash, and revelations that vans were found to be unsafe despite having just passed inspections.  Sixteen of the 47 designated inspection facilities investigated in the undercover operation and audit were suspended.  (Vancouver Province)

Province to scrutinize laws

TORONTO - Laws in Ontario may not be protecting workers from questionable business activities, Government Services Minister Gerry Phillips acknowledged yesterday.  Phillips said he has asked ministry staff to do some background policy work and look for possible loopholes in consumer protection and franchise legislation.  (Toronto Star)  PREVIOUS:  No fraud charges in job agency complaints    Hope for refund dashed   Dozens of lives ruined after answering job ad     Fraud artist found managing job agency

 
     

Con artist gets 7 years

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)

 
     

GMTV halts phone-ins

LONDON - ITV's breakfast show has suspended its phone-in competitions after being accused of defrauding its viewers by an estimated £10 million a year since 2003.  GMTV announced this morning that all its phone-in and online competitions had been stopped as the company investigated a BBC Panorama report that the winners were being selected long before the lines closed, meaning that thousands of people were paying to enter contests they had no chance of winning.  (Times)  MORE: Viewers 'lose millions' to GMTV  BBC staff suspended

Big problems with BC freedom of information

VICTORIA - David Loukidelis, Information and Privacy Commissioner for BC, issued a report on February 15 about the government’s chronic problem with providing prompt access to information. It is not good news. (Tyee)   REPORT:  Timeliness of Government’s Access to Information Responses  .pdf    BC slow with information requests   Premier's little black book stays secret   Lobbying watchdog throws in the towel   Privacy commissioner makes his case for more

 
     

MIT dean resigns in lying scandal

CAMBRIDGE, MA - Marilee Jones, who joined the staff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1979 to lead the recruitment of women at the university, stepped down from her post after admitting that she had "misrepresented her academic degrees to the institute," according to a statement posted on MIT's Web site.  (CNN)  

Beware, there's bad news behind Internet headlines

Reader beware: the headline on your favourite Internet news site may have been bought and prescribed by a political party, candidate, lobbyist, corporation or TV show.   (Hamilton Spectator)   RELATED:  How big a story is CanWest's new deal?

 
     

Second suicide linked to corruption

TOKYO - A Japanese official under investigation for alleged corruption has committed suicide 24 hours after a scandal-dogged Cabinet minister hanged himself, throwing the beleagured Government into further turmoil. Shinichi Yamazaki, 76, the former head of a public corporation handling forestry work, leapt from his flat early today in Yokohama, just south of Tokyo. (Times online)   PREVIOUS:   Japanese minister hangs himself    Toshikatsu Matsuoka

Accident claimants upset

REGINA - Some accident victims in Saskatchewan say they are being denied justice because of enormous delays - often a year or longer - with the Automobile Injury Appeal Commission.  The commission was established three years ago as a forum for accident victims to appeal decisions by Saskatchewan Government Insurance on claims.  It was supposed to be faster, cheaper and less complicated than the courts. (CBC)

 
     

NJ city pays dead man $130K a year

CAMDEN, NJ - A recent audit of cash-strapped Camden, N.J. school district's finances found it was paying an employee $130,000 annually - and he's been dead for more than three decades.  The independent audit of Camden schools found fiscal mismanagement and lax controls for payroll, purchasing, and accounts payable.   The audit also found outside vendors have been overpaid more than $17 million.  (Fox)

Crime movie's director convicted of GST fraud

VANCOUVER - His directorial debut was about a filmmaker who turns to crime to finance his cinematic dream.  Life for Silvio Pollio appears to have echoed his art.  The Vancouver filmmaker has been sentenced in provincial court to a 22-month conditional sentence and ordered to pay a $101,951 fine for GST fraud he committed to write, direct and produce his movie How It All Went Down.   (Vancouver Province)

 
     

Fake invoice scheme exposed in court

MONTREAL - The construction industry's dirty little secret - fake invoices on demand to hide cash from the taxman - got exposed in detail yesterday in a Longueuil courtroom.  (Montreal Gazette)

Councillor's father charged with fraud

MONTREAL - A Montreal man whose daughter is a city councillor from the Southwest borough is accused of taking money from a real estate developer in return for trying to obtain a zoning change.  (Montreal Gazette)

 
     

Global fraudster faces new charges

TORONTO - Salim Damji pleaded guilty five years ago to defrauding up to 6,000 investors around the globe of some $78 million by conning them into believing he owned the rights to a tooth-whitening spray that would make them millionaires.   (Toronto Star)   PREVIOUS:   WFive: Instant White fraud

Fraud suspect marks birthday in jail

TORONTO - For Adam Spencer, today will be a birthday like no other.   The former chief executive of an information technology company will spend the first few hours of his 26th birthday in a jail cell before he heads to Old City Hall court to try to get bail after being charged with defrauding about 100 investors of $8.4 million.  (Toronto Star) 

 
     

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)  

More Peking Duck

NYC Chinatown donorgate under-covered

A $40M shortfall

Hsu cast wide net for donors

China Gate: The Movie

FBI reportedly examining investment

Clinton to return $850,000

Chinese gangster "Shrimp Boy" Chow and Hsu

'Chinagate'

Asian triads and Sidewinder

 
     

Police close 1200 pirate outlets

MOSCOW - Police set into motion large-scale operation against media pirates, having shut down a third of 3,600 outlets selling the counterfeit discs. The black market losses are estimated to reach at least 2 million rubles by this weekend.  (Kommersant)  

 

More arrests at the Accounting Chamber

The case of the Accounting Chamber

Russian fraud investigator shot

Russia plummets in corruption rating

 
     

Alleged fraudster in Manila

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 estafa case vs. couple from Canada

Accused fugitive to be deported

Raid turns up fugitive mom

Refugee claimant bilks millions from friends

 
     

We'll go easy with audits

OTTAWA - Defence Department officials reassured senior managers at the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre several years ago that government audits of their organization would not be too rigorous, despite previous problems with the way money had been spent. (Ottawa Citizen)   PREVIOUS:   Peacekeeping centre questioned

Immigrant money spent on race track

CHARLOTTETOWN - PEI's auditor general has raised concerns about how the Department of Development has been using money collected from immigrants, including funds from the immigrant investor program being spent at the track.  (CBC)

 
     

$1M  I.O.U.

HAMILTON - Hamilton is lending almost $7 million to downtown developers who owe the city $1.1 million in unpaid taxes.  A loophole in the rules means they can get interest-free cash without paying their full tax debt.  (Hamilton Spectator)

Refugee aided abuses: court

TORONTO - After serving eight years as a military officer in the African nation of Angola, Jose Pedro Justino applied for work with the Ministry of the Interior, despite its notoriety for abuse. (National Post)

 
     

Hidden earphone aids exam cheats

TORONTO - Britain's education authority has branded a Canadian company selling wireless miniature spy earphones that help students cheat during exams "shameless" - and has warned it will take whatever action it can.  (CanWest) MORE: Cheats get high-tech boost   Schools ban ipods

Video slots pulled from Ont. Casinos

TORONTO - Video gambling machines have been pulled from Ontario casinos after reports of subliminal messages being flashed while players are using the machines.  Eighty-seven of 22,000 slot machines were pulled by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation after the problem was noticed.  (CTV)

 
     

Nurses union hit by massive theft

VANCOUVER - The BC Nurses' Union says its former director of finance has been fired after admitting to skimming $700,000 from the union during the past six years.  (CBC)

Family charged in kickback probe

TORONTO - Gerald Rich, 64, his wife Queenie, 61, and their son Philip Rich, 27, all from Toronto, are each charged with fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud.   (Toronto Star)

 
     

Andres winery out $7M

NIAGARA - A Dundas woman is accused of pilfering more than $7 million from Grimsby-based Andres Wines Ltd. over an 11-year period and committing the largest financial fraud in the history of Niagara. Christine Marie Papakyriakou, 50, surrendered to Niagara police yesterday. (Hamilton Spectator)

BC Filipinos probe assets

VANCOUVER - A BC-based Filipino group is calling for an investigation into allegations that the Philippines First Family has secreted large amounts of cash in Canadian bank accounts while buying huge houses and other real estate in Vancouver and Richmond.  (Mata Press Service)   President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

 
     

Clampdown on bogus colleges

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

Who watches the watchmen?

College sold fake diplomas

Jack of all trades, qualified in none

List of Certified Institutions

Many questions few answers

Chilliwack-headquartered World Trade University

BC school closes before it opens

Degrees of embarrassment

Sujit Chowdhury

'Instant grad'

Would-be drivers shop for easy road tests

College fined

Province could be doing more

Government warned to keep eye on colleges

Ex-students sue college  

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

Schools disciplined but names kept secret

International students stir the BC economy

Private Career Training Institutions Agency

Too cool for school too  .pdf  

 
     

Skill or luck

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)  

Feds freeze poker winnings

Internet companies settle US gambling claims

Prohibition II   Good grief

Cashing in on betting fever

US Congress deals online gambling a bad hand

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

Bush signs US Port Security Act:

H.R. 4954

UIGA exempt some US online gambling

Betting on double standards in the US

US ban online gambling devastates stocks

 
     

NB Poverty reduction plan

ST JOHN - The provincial government is promising sweeping changes to its social assistance system as part of a new poverty-reduction plan.  Social assistance rates will immediately increase by 80% for people on the "lowest rung" of the system, who currently live on less than $300 a month.  (CBC)

National Council of Welfare

Low income in Canada

Canada 11th of 22

Commitment to Development Index

Center for Global Development,

The best place to live    Finland

2009 prosperity index

Canada rated #7

The worst places in Canada for winter

Welfare recipients poorer than Canadians imagine

NCW: Welfare incomes 2006 & 2007

Ontarians turning to food banks

Poverty, inequality rates jump in Canada

Growing unequal

Income inequality

Gulf in health between rich and poor

Economic disparities kill

Closing the gap in a generation

Taxes main expense for families in Canada

Children living in poverty

Campaign 2000

Child poverty soars in Ontario suburbs

Gap between rich and poor growing

Earning, income and shelter costs

Lifestyles across Canada

Canada gets low mark

Conference board of Canada: Society report

 

Rich get richer, poor get poorer

Youth entering workforce earn less than parents

Taxman seizes painting firm's revenues

Tax cuts won't buy a cup of coffee

Growing credit debt is crushing Canadians

Fastest rise in food prices in 14 years

Rich get richer, rest don't

High-income Canadians

Tax Bill has increased 1600% since 1961

Cost of living, part 1   Cost of living, part 2

Cost of living, part 3   Cost of living, part 4

Alberta $40M rent aid program over spent

Stats Can: Measuring housing affordability

Gap between rich and poor widens

Ontario hunger report 2008  .pdf

City homeowners hit with even higher tax bills

Sticker shock

House paper millionaires double in province

BC property values up 23%

Non-refundable personal tax credits

Quest Food Exchange

Housing costs exceeding means

Working poor can't buy the basics

Survey of household spending 2005

Stats Can: Hours worked and labour productivity

Inequality in wealth 1984 - 2005

Household spending rises

Tax Facts 14

Inequality and redistribution in Canada: 1976-2004

2% hold half of world's assets

 
     

DR Congo poll officials arrested

KINSHASA - Six election officials have been arrested for allegedly trying to rig vote counting after recent elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  They are reported to have been caught "red handed" trying to falsify voting documents in the capital, Kinshasa, and were taken to court on Thursday.  (BBC) 

Public works costs escalate

OTTAWA - After spending millions more on consultants than expected, Public Works may have to buy more expert help to build a much-maligned procurement system that's supposed to save Canadians billions.  (Ottawa Citizen)PREVIOUS:  AT Kearney   Secret report angers federal suppliers  

 
     

Pollution closes $2M beach

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)   PREVIOUS:  Student detects dangers at the beach     Ottawa major projects Petrie Island Park

Nun turns self in

OMAHA, Neb. - An Omaha nun turned herself in to police on Wednesday.   An arrest warrant issued for Sister Barbara Markey details how she allegedly used church money on gambling, gifts and travel.  Markey ran the Omaha archdiocese's Family Life Office until she was fired in January.   (KETV) 

 
     

Sticker shock

VANCOUVER - The price of widening Vancouver's Burrard Street Bridge has quadrupled - and not a shovelful of dirt has been moved.  (Vancouver Province)

Big tax bills coming

Infrastructure 'near collapse'

Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM)

Most live in the southern part of the country

$6B maintenance backlog

Alberta AG Annual Report 2006-2007

FCM Infrastructure report  .pdf 

Bombardier makes a pitch for piece rapid-transit

Water tunnel delays push up costs

Tests on bridges miss fatal flaws

Montreal overpass closed to trucks

Government to unveil details

Overpass tragedy leaves legacy of mistrust

Tremblay signals all-clear

Sky isn't falling yet - but parts of our city are

Subway, stores reopen after tunnel scare

1,000 posts prop up tunnel

City core in chaos

Risk of street collapse

Montreal downtown core shut down

 

Bridge collapses in Ontario

Johnson report's 'Negligence'

Bridge collapse seen as warning

21 more overpasses need repairs

13 of 20 overpasses deficient

Neglect, design to blame

Quebec fears panic

Lack of money delayed overpass repair: official

Overpass collapse not transport department's fault

City restricts trucks

Transport Quebec, contractor blame each other

Bernard company installed faulty steel rods

Daisy chain of contractors hired for overpass

Collapse raises questions about Canadian bridges

BC doing 'bare minimum' to keep bridges safe

Que. to ban heavy trucks on bridges, overpasses

Number of structures under review is chilling

Ministry knew bars were improperly placed

Overpass overlooked

Fears justified

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

What we're leaving: legacy of neglect

Alberta boom strains bridges

Aging Ontario bridges at risk

 
     

Missing school official owes $700,000

NANAIMO - A former school superintendent famous for advising schools against using the word "Christmas" to describe winter concerts has left Nanaimo and left behind a $700,000 debt to the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district. (Vancouver Sun)

RCMP probing offshore accounts in Vancouver market

VANCOUVER - The Vancouver Integrated Market Enforcement Team (“IMET”) is interviewing a significant number of Vancouver-area residents identified as the beneficial owners of securities accounts at a brokerage firm located in a Caribbean jurisdiction.    (RCMP Media Release)

 
     

Firms violated federal loan rules

OTTAWA - A government-commissioned audit released Monday 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)

 

April fool story

Power Corp. profit up

When does a fee become a tax?

Run Coporate Welfare off the road

Foreign investments need closer look

Feds to review policy on Cdns in foreign elections

 
     

Pelican Lake band in hands of 3rd-party management

PELICAN LAKE, Sask. - Years of turmoil over leadership of the Pelican Lake First Nation has resulted in a federal government department refusing to recognize any chief and council and placing the band under third-party management.  (Star Phoenix)

Museum won't be able to maintain renovated building

OTTAWA - The Canadian Museum of Nature is spending $216.6 million -- that's 30 per cent more than the planned budget -- to renovate areas of its building that, once refurbished, may have to be partially closed because of insufficient operating funds.  (Ottawa Citizen)

 
     

Cop's family cuts deal

VANCOUVER - Hong Kong officials, who were tracking the cop’s loot, said they are unlikely to seek the overseas assets that they linked to the proceeds of criminal activities of Hon Kwing-shum, after cutting a deal with the man’s family.   (Mata Press Service)

Crooked cop's family returns $20M

Should a wealthy B.C. family pay for the sins of their father?

When bad cops and bribes ruled streets

 
     

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'

Military justice: Denied

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

 
     

Farms avoid heavy fines

VANCOUVER - B.C. berry farms and labour contractors who repeatedly violate employment standards legislation are typically receiving only modest, $500 fines, despite a vow by the province to get tough on repeat offenders, records obtained by The Vancouver Sun reveal.  (Vancouver Sun)   RELATED:  Badly run drug recovery homes on rise: official

 Chapman takes donor to court

HAMILTON - Lawyers for election financing watchdog Joanna Chapman and a Burlington-based company charged with contributing too much to Mayor Larry Di Ianni's 2003 election campaign faced off in court yesterday in the first known case of its kind.  (Hamilton Spectator)   PREVIOUS:  Mayor Larry pleads guilty   Mayor's fund hits $100,000

 

Man charged with bilking investors

VANCOUVER - Kevin Jason Steele, a Vancouver man who allegedly passed himself off as a hotshot commodities trader and swindled $8.1 million US from investors has been charged with fraud.  (The Province)

Secretive group low-key

OTTAWA - Four days after they arrived quietly at a Kanata hotel, the world's rich and powerful left just as mysteriously, in limos and SUVs with blacked-out windows. (Ottawa Citizen)  PREVIOUS: Bilderberg group meets in Ottawa

Tricks for avoiding hidden fees

NEW YORK - Consumer Reports estimates that U.S. consumers collectively pay at least $216 billion in financial fees each year. That works out to about $750 a person in miscellaneous fees. Your cell phone bill and your Internet service provider may slap on some hidden fees.  (CBS)

Stock promoter's divorce reveals life of luxury

VANCOUVER - For more than a decade, Vancouver businessman Mark Harris made a fortune running boiler rooms - high- pressure telephone stock sales operations - in Europe and Asia.  (Vancouver Sun)

Scam bilks $12M from B.C. church's members

VANCOUVER - A group of Kelowna men is under investigation in connection with a massive U.S. faith-based Ponzi scheme that cost local church members in the Okanagan community an estimated $12.2 million.  (Vancouver Sun)

Costco wins beer, wine suit

SEATTLE - Costco Wholesale Corp. won a landmark legal battle Friday that could lead to lower beer and wine prices in Washington - and across the nation, if other states use the case's precedent to knock down their distribution laws.   (Post-Intelligencer) 

     

Record number of complaints against BC realtors

VANCOUVER - The Real Estate Council of B.C. says it expects to receive 400 complaints by the end of its fiscal year in June.   That number is up from a little more than 300 last year.  Along with complaints, licence suspensions are also climbing.  (CBC)

Stomach's Magna ponies up $504K for Cellucci

AURORA.- Former Massachusetts Governor and US Ambassador Paul Cellucci received $504,000 in compensation last year race-track operator Magna Entertainment Corp., in his role as executive vice president of corporate development. (Boston Business Journal)

 

Revenue reveals tax fraud levels

LONDON - HM Revenue & Customs halted 38,924 suspect tax credit applications between April and November 2005, the Treasury has revealed.  More than half these cases are believed to have featured attempts by gangs of organised fraudsters to obtain cash.  (BBC)

Bookkeeper gets one year for skimming $180,000

EDMONTON - Former bookkeeper Anne Grete Taje, who admitted to taking more than $180,000 from her employer -- at first to cover rent, but later for luxuries like Oilers' season tickets -- was sentenced to one year in jail. (Edmonton Journal)

Ferrari crash leads to game executive's arrest

LOS ANGELES - Sheriff's deputies have arrested the Swedish video-game executive who crashed his rare Ferrari Enzo in Malibu in February, alleging that he didn't own that car and others in his $3.5 million exotic-car collection, authorities said Sunday.  (LA Times)

Kick the tires

MONTREAL - Buying a used car? Then you may find sobering the findings of the Automobile Protection Association's annual survey of the automotive industry.   When the national figures are tallied up, at best you have a 40% chance of finding a fair deal.  (W-Five)  PREVIOUS:  Test Drive

10 years in prison for con man

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) 

Ties to con man snare clients in court case

'I am deeply and sincerely sorry'

The man who wasn't real

A free fall from grace

Michael Ritter pleads guilty

Admits guilt

Ponzi suspect plotted escape

Canadian charged in $43M embezzlement

 

Radler has paid millions for his sins

CHICAGO - The $250,000 fine that Vancouver businessman David Radler agreed to pay Monday as part of his plea agreement with the US Department of Justice is chump change compared to the millions he has already paid to atone for his financial sins.  (Vancouver Sun)  

Radler gets 29 months

Lawyer's fees top $100M

Judge bars Black from Canada

Black hiding $60M offshore, court told

Black must stay in US

'In general, a person convicted of a serious crime is inadmissible to Canada"

Black still a members of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada

Black day

Black 6 1/2 years  

Black sentenced

6 plus years in prison

Black to appeal

Black free on bail

Black order to stay in US

Trial exhibits

Black wants to regain Canadian citizenship

Hollinger sues Black, associates, for $700M

Steyn: Conrad Black trial

Black sues Newman for libel for 2004 memoir

Mulroney sues over 'secret tapes'

Peter C. Newman

Financial Post: Conrad Black trial

CBC Indepth: Conrad Black

Wikipedia: Conrad Black

Trial a glimpse into news media

     

Abandoned brides

Across India, an estimated 30,000 young women live to regret marriages that have left them alone, miserable and consumed with shame. They married Indian men living overseas in affluent countries -- including many from Canada -- known as Non-Resident Indians.  (Province Series)

Family members guilty of assault

Jail for attack on daughter-in-law

Holiday wives, abandoned brides & grooms

Where have our husbands gone?

Wanted - A few good snoops to spy

Indian police bust bridegroom scam

Seven get life term for murder of Jassi

Husband of murdered bride charged with rape

Asbestos-laden warship an albatross at sea

PARIS - When it first took to the seas nearly 50 years ago, the Clemenceau was the crown jewel of French naval prowess. Today, the decommissioned aircraft carrier is an albatross for France amid an uproar over the toxic waste the hulking ship carries.  (AP)

Appeal Court sends Saulteaux pair to prison

REGINA - Two former Saulteaux First Nation band officials convicted of improperly taking $2.8 million from a Treaty Land Entitlement (TLE) fund intended for their community are off to prison after the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal upped their sentences. (Star Phoenix)

 
     

Hotels hit in police fraud sting

VANCOUVER - Police allege three Downtown Eastside hotels operated by "unscrupulous" owners are preying on the homeless, the addicted and the mentally ill and were complicit in drug dealing, receiving stolen property and welfare fraud.  (Vancouver Sun)   

Former trustee, husband charged in scam

CALGARY - Police have laid 40 charges of fraud against a 65-year-old Calgarian alleged to be at the centre of a $1.36-million Ponzi scheme following a two-and-half-year investigation.   (Calgary Herald)

 
     

Malik misconduct case underway

VANCOUVER - A BC Law Society hearing into alleged misconduct by the lawyer son of a former Air India bombing suspect moved in camera almost as soon as it began Monday.   (Vancouver Sun)   PREVIOUS:  Defendant can sue BC   Air India Flight 182   Malik ousted from credit union board - terror links cited

Civil servant could face charges over doctored evidence

EDMONTON - In an unprecedented move, the province's information commissioner has asked a special prosecutor to determine whether an Alberta government employee should be charged for deliberately trying to mislead a public inquiry by submitting doctored evidence.  (Journal)

 

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)   

 

Secret US PROMIS software

Nothing is secret

Israel espionage case points to new Net threat   Scandal shocks business world

Secret world of industrial espionage

RCMP accuse former senior exec of $28M fraud

HAMILTON - The RCMP have charged a former senior executive of Philip Services Corp. with defrauding the recycler and environmental services company of about $28M, the latest twist for the former Hamilton firm that has been embroiled for years in accounting fraud allegations.  (CTV)

Statscan: Deposits in foreign tax havens up 700%

Canadian assets held in offshore financial centres - many of them in the Caribbean and regarded as tax havens - increased eight-fold between 1990 and 2003, to $88B from $11B, the agency said.   (CTV)   Study: Canadian direct investment in offshore financial centers

Israeli bank 'in laundering scam'

TEL AVIV - Police have arrested 22 people working at one of Israel's biggest commercial banks over suspected money-laundering.   The Bank Hapoalim employees are thought to have been involved in an operation worth hundreds of millions of dollars. (BBC)

Criminal inquiry begins into Alaska oil spill

Federal agents have begun a preliminary criminal investigation into the grounding of the cargo ship Selendang Ayu last month in Alaska, which resulted in six deaths and a major fuel oil spill.   (Seattle PI)

     

Feds probe bulletproof vest maker

WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutors are investigating whether a maker of bulletproof vests endangered lives, including President Bush's, by concealing potentially deadly flaws in the body armor sold to the government and police agencies.  (AP)

Justice Department study

Police vests may not be bulletproof, firm says

Interceptor Body Armor

Marines recall thousands of combat vests

Point Blank Body Armor Inc.

DHB Industries Inc.

Global Integrity Report

Greedy and gullible
     

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