Tag Archives: corruption

Smoke and Mirrors: Can South Africa’s cigarette tax collector save itself?

It’s a story with all the hallmarks of a supermarket tabloid: sex, betrayal, spies and smuggled cigarettes. Yet the turmoil at the South African Revenue Service (Sars) has resulted in a very real crisis, centering on a deluge of illegal cigarettes which, according to a new report, have cost the…

Arnaud Gallet

Arnaud is a French freelance writer with an African heart who has lived in 10 different Sub-Saharan countries in the past decade. He is currently based in Paris.

Sierra Leone cracks down on corruption, APC officials arrested

In Sierra Leone, former vice president Victor Foh and former mines minister Mansaray Minkailu were arrested Thursday as part of new President Julius Maada Bio’s aggressive crackdown on corruption. Despite claims that the arrests are politically motivated, Maada Bio – the Sierra Leone People’s Party candidate elected in a disputed…

AT editor

DA presses Ramaphosa to stop paying Zuma fees

The Democratic Alliance (DA) party in South Africa balks at the idea of taxpayers continuing to foot the legal bill for former President Jacob Zuma, and has asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to reconsider his decision to do so. “In March, the DA filed papers with the North Gauteng High Court…

AT editor

Malawi’s Banda considers 2019 presidential run

Former president of Malawi Joyce Banda plans another run at the office in the 2019 elections, if she’s elected as chairwoman of her opposition People’s Party (PP). Banda made the announcement during a political rally Sunday in Blantyre, one of more than a dozen she has held since returning to…

AT editor

Rwanda’s Kagame, Ethiopia’s Abiy set to speak at AU Africa Day events

Africa Day celebrations begin at 11 a.m. Friday in Addis Ababa, where the African Union plans a day of celebration at its headquarters beginning with speeches from Rwandan President Paul Kagame, the current AU chair, and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia. They’ll be speaking alongside AU Commission head Moussa…

AT editor

ICIJ investigation has West African corruption in its crosshairs

The launch of a new investigative journalism series has all eyes on West Africa, where the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has partnered with reporters in 11 countries to, among other things, track down money in offshore tax havens and expose the elite clientele connected to the funds. “Leaked…

AT editor

U.S. issues warrant in illegal Zimbabwe elephant hunt, bribery case

The United States has issued an arrest warrant for a South African hunting guide accused of illegally shooting elephants inside Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe and bribing officials to have the ivory released. The U.S. Department of Justice says that 44-year-old Hanno Van Rensburg took an unnamed Colorado resident on…

AT editor

Bolloré blames African stereotypes in denial of West African corruption case

Wealthy French businessman Vincent Bolloré, facing charges in a corruption case involving the African countries of Guinea and Togo, publicly denied the allegations in an op-ed piece published Sunday in Le Journal du Dimanche and blamed a condescending attitude toward Africans and stereotypes about African corruption in the case. The…

AT editor

Malawi: Banda says she has proof she’s not under Cashgate investigation

Former president of Malawi Joyce Banda, returning this weekend to the nation after four years in exile, says she has documentation from Interpol to prove she is not under investigation in the country’s “Cashgate” scandal. Banda made the comment during a rally Sunday in Zomba attended by thousands of People’s…

AT editor

South Africa seizes $20.8 million in Zuma-linked Gupta family assets

In South Africa, the property and assets of the Gupta family were seized Monday in a raid on their Saxonwold compound in Johannesburg, in connection with an ongoing corruption investigation into a dairy project – one of many such cases implicating the influential Guptas, who are tied to former president…

AT editor

Global Witness calls for U.S. probe into Exxon Liberia oil deal

The UK-based Global Witness NGO has called on the United States to investigate oil major Exxon for its role in a 2013 oil block deal in Liberia, one it says implicates Exxon in corrupt business dealings. A Global Witness investigation released this week charges that Exxon knew that the oil block,…

AT editor

France’s Sarkozy denies wrongdoing in Libyan campaign cash scandal

Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president of France long shadowed by allegations of improper campaign financing, denied Thursday that he betrayed the country by accepting illegal cash from the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Sarkozy said during an extended TF1 interview that he was outraged and deeply wounded by formal indictments…

AT editor

SA: ‘Reasonable prospect’ of success as Zuma faces 16 charges

Former South African president Jacob Zuma will face 16 charges on fraud, corruption, racketeering and money laundering tied to a 1990s-era arms deal that has haunted his political career for years. The decision announced Friday by National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Shaun Abrahams reinstates charges originally filed against Zuma…

AT editor

Beijing fires back at Tillerson’s China-Africa remarks

China has fired back at the United States after claims by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that Beijing’s approach to African development is one of dependency and indebtedness. Tillerson, now in Ethiopia as he begins a five-nation African tour, made the remarks prior to departing the U.S. “We partner…

AT editor

Ramaphosa ready to deliver SA’s State of the Nation address

New President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa will deliver the country’s State of the Nation address at 7 p.m. Friday in Cape Town. The address follows the swearing-in ceremony for Ramaphosa held Thursday, after the sudden reversal of Jacob Zuma and his decision to resign just hours after he said,…

AT editor

Tag Archives: corruption

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