Blog Archives

Investigative journalists must show citizens the way: We can clean up government without resorting to rancour or nationalism

In a reflection on the role of journalists worldwide, and in the Balkans in particular, Aida Cerkez and Rosemary Armao vent their frustration about one of the biggest challenges of investigative reporting: how to make people care. Do citizens really

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Posted in Sussex-Harriman conference

Politicised institutions are key obstacle to fighting corruption in Montenegro

Montenegro has on the face of it made good progress in adopting anti-corruption laws, but frequent political scandals suggest they are not being implemented. Jovana Marović, Executive Director of the Politikon Network, a think tank based in Podgorica, and a

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Posted in Sussex-Harriman conference

Cricket and corruption: The strange case of Shakib Al Hasan

It had been a stellar year for Shakib Al Hasan, the captain of the Bangladeshi cricket team, until on 29 October he was banned from cricket for a year for failing to report inappropriate discussions with an alleged bookmaker. CSC

Posted in Sport

Civil society needs support to fight corruption and organised crime in the Western Balkans

Civil society organisations (CSOs) and investigative journalists in the Western Balkans are critical to raising awareness about fighting corruption and organised crime, as well as supporting state authorities to develop effective strategies. But they lack capacity and resources to address

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Posted in Sussex-Harriman conference

Montenegro: Captured by Corruption

In the first of a series of posts by investigative journalists and civil society activists working on exposing corruption in the Balkans, Milka Tadić Mijović (President, Centre for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro) discusses impunity in Montenegro and the complicity of the

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Posted in Sussex-Harriman conference, Uncategorized

Britain, Saudi Arabia and corporate bribery: another Brexit conundrum

Anti-corruption NGOs have recently written to the Attorney General, concerned that the UK government may be tempted to drop its investigation into alleged bribery by Airbus subsidiary GPT in Saudi Arabia. Robert Barrington, Professor of Anti-Corruption Practice at the Centre

Posted in Business

Holidays bring warning messages: a Chinese approach to stopping graft

In the holiday season in China, public officials receive messages from the anti-graft watchdog warning them that “gift-giving is not allowed during the holidays”. Yang Wu, a PhD researcher at the CSC, explains the logic behind the messages With the

Posted in Regions

Corruption in Public Procurement: What happens after the contract is awarded?

A lot of research about corruption in public procurement builds on the availability of data about the contracting process. But what happens after the contract is awarded? Irasema Guzmán, one of the Centre’s PhD researchers, argues that corruption in this

Posted in Uncategorized

Conflicts of interest are undermining trust in UK politics. We need better regulation

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel is again under pressure over an apparent conflict of interest. CSC Director Liz David-Barrett suggests that repeated scandals in this area are inevitable – because the UK’s system for regulating conflicts of interest in politics

Posted in Politics

Can big banks be trusted with the fight against economic crime? The UK government seems to think so…

Sue Hawley, policy director of NGO Corruption Watch, examines the government’s approach to tackling economic crime and argues that its reliance on ‘public-private partnerships’ as regulators raises serious conflicts of interest and the threat of regulatory capture When UK Prime

Posted in Uncategorized