EU Commission: Corruption across EU equals its annual budget

Corruption in the EU costs the economy 120 billion euro per year - equivalent to the EU’s annual budget, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said when presenting a new report, adding that “there are no corruption-free zones in Europe.”

Parliamentary siege: Over 100 MPs, ministers trapped by Bulgaria anti-govt protesters

Anti-corruption protests that have been peacefully going on for 40 days reached a climax in Bulgaria when demonstrators trapped a hundred ministers, lawmakers and journalists inside the parliament for over eight hours, urging the government to resign.

Police with shields formed a pathway through hundreds of Bulgarians to finally get all those trapped out of the building, pushing away the anti-government demonstrators. High-ranking officials were escorted outside in the capital, Sofia, at around 3am in police vans.

Twenty people, including 3 policemen, were injured, hospital sources said.

Anti-government protests escalated on Tuesday evening when several hundred demonstrators trapped the deputies and ministers inside Parliament hoping to oust the left-leaning government.

A total of 109 people - including three ministers, some 30 MPs, journalists and parliamentary staff were trapped inside the building, according to national television.

When a bus arrived at the site to escort the officials out, the demonstrators formed a human chain and threw bottles and stones at the bus, refusing to let the vehicle leave.

They shouted "Murderers!", "Mafia!", "Resign!" as dozens of police in riot gear pushed and clubbed them to clear a path for the bus. The people hurt included some with head injuries.

"Police reacted very adequately, policemen did their job perfectly although protesters behaved extremely aggressively," Interior Minister Tsvetlin Yovchev told reporters.

"We will try to find those who threw stones at police and deputies," he added.

President Rosen Plevneliev earlier issued a statement calling upon the protesters to keep the rally "peaceful and civilized."

"For the first time since the start of the protests we have now witnessed tension and attempts for provocation," Plevneliev said, urging for "calm and order."

Parliamentary Speaker Mihail Mikov suggested canceling Wednesday's planned parliamentary session, saying the deputies should not turn up for work until order was restored.

A member of the European parliament and former foreign minister, Ivailo Kalfin, wrote on Facebook: "With apologies to the millions who voted two months ago, we need new elections."

The Socialist-backed government took office after snap election in May, following the resignation of the previous cabinet provoked by anti-austerity protests.

The appointment of controversial media mogul Delyan Peevski as head of the national security agency initially sparked public outrage, with daily protests going on since June 14. Although the appointment was instantly revoked, demonstrators argued that the government is corrupt and must resign.

Recent public-opinion polls show they are supported by about two-thirds of Bulgaria's 7.3 million people, who have the lowest incomes in the European Union.


RT

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‘Out with the Mafia!’ Mass anti-govt protests backed by Anonymous grip Spain
Entire government of Luxembourg resigns after spying and corruption scandal forces its prime minister to quit
Threat: Anonymous #opRevolutie2013 Netherlands start


  

‘Out with the Mafia!’ Mass anti-govt protests backed by Anonymous grip Spain

In 30 cities across Spain thousands of people protested government corruption and called for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s resignation. In solidarity with the demonstrations, hacktivist group Anonymous knocked out the ruling People’s Party website.

More than 1,000 people gathered outside the headquarters of the People’s Party (PP) in Madrid. They brandished banners and chanted “Hands up, this is a stick up!” “The treasurer has our money!” and “They do not represent us!”

One person has been arrested, while seven police and five protesters were injured in the massive demonstrations.

Furthermore, in Barcelona, Valencia, Zaragoza, Malaga y La Coruna on Thursday masses of activists protested outside party headquarters. Outside PP offices in Valencia demonstrators wrote “Democracy has died here” on the tarmac.

A few hours before the protests began on Thursday, hacktivist group Anonymous infiltrated the People’s Party website. They emblazoned their logo on the homepage of the website under the banner “Government Resignation.” The hacker group published the news on its Twitter feed under the hastags #OpDimisión (Resignation) #FueraLaMafia (Out with the Mafia).

A wave of public indignation was triggered following the latest revelations in a government corruption case that has scandalized Spain. It concerns the PP’s former treasurer Luis Barcenas, who stands accused of a creating a slush fund containing millions of euro which was used to pay out “gifts” to party officials and illegally finance the party.

Spanish newspaper elMundo reported this week that senior party officials had shared 8.3 million euro ($10.9 million) between them from 1990 to 2008, citing court documents. 

The PP has disowned Barcenas, who is currently awaiting trial, but the former treasurer has threatened to reveal the full extent of the legal payments and name names. He has already alleged that Prime Minister Rajoy received illegal payments before he became prime minister.

Rajoy has denied the allegations and claims they are blackmail and an attempt by Barcenas to obligate the government to intervene in his trial.

Barcenas maintains his innocence and says that the funds came from lucrative private ventures, including art dealing. Swiss authorities have frozen the former treasurer’s bank accounts which currently hold 17.5 million euro.

The political scandal has enraged the Spanish public who are already disillusioned at the government’s failure to drag the country out of the current economic crisis.


RT

Entire government of Luxembourg resigns after spying and corruption scandal forces its prime minister to quit

 
  




















  


 Accused: Grand Duke Henri (left) was implicated in  espionage reports that led to the downfall of Juncker (right)



The Luxembourg government today resigned, brought down by a spying and corruption scandal that shook the tiny country better known for wealthy bankers than political intrigue.



Jean-Claude Juncker, prime minister since 1995 and the European Union's longest serving government chief, tendered his resignation to Grand Duke Henri, the royal head of state who himself has been implicated in media reports of espionage.

The government was forced to resign after junior coalition partners withdrew their support in protest at Juncker's apparent failure to rein in a secret service spiralling out of control. Juncker has proposed holding a general election in October, seven months ahead of schedule.

The catalyst for the resignation was a parliamentary inquiry published last week that said Luxembourg's security agency illegally bugged politicians and members of the public, purchased cars for private use and took payments and favours in exchange for access to influential officials.

In a scene reminiscent of a spy novel, former security chief Marco Mille recorded a conversation with Juncker in 2008 using a microphone in his watch.


Mille told Juncker he had reliable reports that Grand Duke Henri was in constant contact with Britain's secret services, according to one newspaper. The Grand Duke's office has denied the allegation.

The government was already under pressure due to renewed interest in a mysterious series of sabotage bomb attacks in the 1980s, known as the Bommeleeer affair, whose targets included electricity pylons and an airport radar system as well as a newspaper office.

Two former members of a special police force went on trial for the attacks at the start of this year.

Last month, the government and Finance Minister Luc Frieden survived twin votes of no-confidence in parliament over accusations that the minister had put pressure on investigators to close their inquiry into the bombings.

Juncker, for almost two decades the personification of Luxembourg on the international stage, chairing "Eurogroup" meetings of euro zone finance ministers from 2005 to 2013, may well return to lead the Grand Duchy after the snap election.

He remains a popular figure and has no obvious successor in his centre-right CSV party, particularly as the former finance minister has been tarnished, according to Philippe Poirier, politics lecturer at the University of Luxembourg.

Frieden, once touted as a possible future prime minister, has also come under fire over the re-purchase of a stake in Cargolux from Qatar Airways in January and European Union pressure to end Luxembourg's system of bank secrecy.

"The CSV crown price for many years, Luc Frieden, is himself involved in the telephone tapping and Bommeleeer affairs," Poirier said.

"Jean Claude Juncker is the electoral locomotive of his party. It's not the CSV, it's the Juncker party."


 Dailymail


Related:
Luxembourg PM resigns over spying scandal

US State Dept. caught in massive human trafficking operation

If you didn't know any better, you might think that our nation is in its death throes, based on the number of scandals that have broken in the past four or five years and the fact that the behavior of too many of our elected - and appointed - officials ranges from the disgusting to the criminal.

Among other violations of the Constitution and the public trust, the Obama administration has refused to enforce certain laws with which the president simply disagreed; ran a botched gun-walking operation into Mexico called "Fast and Furious," in which a U.S. border agent was killed with one of the guns; has expanded an NSA domestic spying operation begun under the Bush administration (under provisions of the USA Patriot Act); has used the IRS to target political opponents; and allowed a U.S. ambassador to be killed in Libya for purely political reasons.

Now comes word that a State Department official may be guilty of "selling visas for sex and money in what may have been a massive human trafficking operation," The Daily Caller reports.


Want a visa? Pay me and sex me up

Per the website:

The State Department acknowledged last week that one of its officials is the target of a probe over "allegations of improprieties relating to a Consular Officer formerly assigned to Georgetown, Guyana" without providing further details. Local media are also claiming the official, who was recently withdrawn from normal duties pending completion of an official investigation, associated with drug lords as part of his visa scam.

The report said the scandal evolved as executives and tourists alike complained their visa applications were being delayed, and local media outlets began reporting that one visa official had been demanding bribes and sexual favors in exchange for approving the visas.

"The Daily Caller has identified the suspect as Edy Zohar Rodrigues Duran, formerly of Mission, Texas, and currently living in Falls Church, Va.," the website reported.

Apparently Duran was eventually removed from his position in Georgetown, the capital of Guyana, in June - months shy of his scheduled departure date of September 2013, said Mark A. Benschop and Julia Johnson, a pair of Guyanese journalists who agreed to speak with the DC from Guyana.

The DC said it wasn't clear whether the State Department employee was fired or whether he was simply placed on administrative leave. That said, the website reported that Duran has created a dating profile in which he says he is looking for employment in the Falls Church area (a quick check of the URL identified in The DC story by Natural News discovered that the account has since been closed).

Officials began investigating allegations surrounding Duran in February; he left Georgetown in late June.


A bid to keep things quiet...

A subsequent report in the Guyana Observer News said Duran has been "accused of selling visas to many corrupt businessmen [and] drug dealers ... for as low as US$15,000." It added: "The Feds have not stumbled on concrete evidence on the issue of money for visas, but sufficient evidence on the sex for visas." That report is here.

In addition, Agence France Presse reported in early July that the U.S. embassy there was "investigating allegations that a consular officer who worked at the post was selling visas for thousands of dollars."

Quoting a Guyanese official the AFP reported that Duran "had negotiated to sell visas for as much as $40,000, using a popular restaurant and bar in Georgetown, the capital of this former British colony, to seal the deals." The report also said that Duran would sometimes travel to neighboring Suriname, which is a frequent stopover destination for Chinese migrants heading to the U.S.

"The embassy wanted a hush-hush on this whole affair," Benschop, a radio host and publisher of the Observer, told The DC. Duran was "demoted from the marriage and visa section and placed in a warehouse far away from the embassy. His tour of duty would have come to an end in September. All of these things caused eyebrows to be raised."

Sources:
dailycaller
guyanaobservernews
azonlinenews


J. D. Heyes

Luxembourg PM resigns over spying scandal

Luxembourg’s long-serving Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker officially announced he would resign following a spying scandal involving illegal phone-taps and other illicit activities.

The announcement comes as Junker’s junior coalition partner called for the dissolution of the house and early parliamentary elections.

Juncker’s departure follows allegations the country’s security services abused their power under his watch, including illegally bugging politicians, purchasing cars for private use, and taking payments and favors in return for access to local officials from 2003 to 2009.

A report commissioned by Luxembourg's parliament into the matter determined that Juncker failed to rein in the agency despite it being under his auspices. The July 5 document further said that the outgoing PM was “politically responsible” for failing to inform the parliamentary committee of control or justice authorities about the Luxembourg State Intelligence Service’s (SREL) alleged illegalities.

The report was commissioned after a Luxembourg weekly newspaper published a secretly-taped conversation from 2008 between Juncker and the head of SREL at the time, Marco Mille.

On tape, Mille revealed that his staff had secretly recorded a conversation involving Luxembourg's Grand Duke – the monarchial head of state – and that the sovereign was in regular contact with Britain's Secret Intelligence Service.

The ensuing parliamentary inquiry revealed extensive illicit activity: the existence of 13,000 secret files on people and businesses, illegal wire-taps on business leaders, and a counter-terror operation which was in actually a front to help a Russian oligarch pay US$10 million to a Spanish spy, and even a shadowy private dealership in luxury cars, AFP reports.

In June, the PM survived Luxembourg’s first no confidence vote in 150 years after the opposition Liberals and Greens accused Finance Minister Luc Frieden of pressuring the state prosecutor to stop legal proceedings against a group implicated in a series of 1980s bombings.  

However, the specter of a fresh no confidence vote once again hung over Juncker, who became prime minister in 1995 and is the European Union's longest-serving head of government, following the report.

The PM delivered a defiant speech to lawmakers on Wednesday in which he attempted to refute allegations that he has used the SREL to bolster both him and his Christian Social People’s Party.

Juncker initially refused to step down, claiming the PM should not be expected to resign over the alleged wrongdoing of a few intelligence agents.

"The intelligence service was not my top priority," Juncker told parliament. "Moreover, I hope Luxembourg will never have a prime minister who sees SREL as [his or her] priority."

However, Junker’s junior partner, Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP) President Alex Bodry, called on the PM to take” full political responsibility” for the scandal.

"We invite the prime minister to take full political responsibility in this context and ask the government to intervene with the head of state to clear the path for new elections," Bodry said.

Juncker, who said it would be impossible to take personal responsibility for the allegations leveled at him, ultimately resigned to avoid a vote of no confidence.

"I will convene the government tomorrow morning at 10am (08:00 GMT) and will go to the Palace to suggest snap elections to the Grand Duke," he told parliament on Wednesday.

As head of state, only the Grand Duke can officially dissolve parliament.

In line with Junker’s recommendation, the government will continue its work until early elections are held on October 20. It remains unclear whether the outgoing PM intends to run.

Demonstrators hold banner during protest rally in support of former U.S. spy agency NSA contractor Edward Snowden in Berlin July 4, 2013. (Reuters/Tobias Schwarz)

Political responsibility as last resort

Luxembourg, a tiny state nestled between Belgium, France and Germany, is viewed as a major European financial hub, where some 40 percent of the country’s 500,000 residents are foreigners working in banks and other European institutions.

Juncker’s departure over intelligence service malfeasance was a major wave in one of Europe’s most politically-stable states.

As the outgoing PM admitted the intelligence service scandal left him “no other choice than to hand in the government's resignation," other European leaders are increasingly being scrutinized for the alleged role in sweeping surveillance activities.

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, who oversees the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), has recently come under fire for the agency’s Tempora surveillance program, as well as its collusion with US National Security Agency’s (NSA) sweeping spying programs.

Last week the European Union began investigating whether Britain had broken EU law following reports it had tapped international phone traffic and shared vast amounts of personal data with the US, an EU source told Reuters.

Viviane Reding, the vice-president of the European Commission and EU commissioner for justice, wrote to Hague asking him to clarify the "scope of the [Tempora surveillance] program, its proportionality and the extent of judicial oversight that applies."

In Germany, where the US a reportedly combs through half a billion German phone calls, emails and text messages on a daily basis, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden recently accused the country’s political leadership of ‘being in bed’ with the NSA.

On Wednesday Chancellor Angela Merkel defended Germany's cooperation with US intelligence, dismissing charges its methods resembled those deployed in the former German Democratic Republic.

"For decades, intelligence services have been working together under certain conditions that are tightly regulated in our country, and this serves our security," Merkel told the German weekly Die Zeit.

"For me, there is no comparison at all between the state security [Stasi] of the GDR and the work of intelligence services in democratic states," she continued.

"These are completely different things and such comparisons only lead to a trivialization of what the state security did to people in East Germany," she said.

With elections slated for September 22, the center-left opposition has pounced on the issue, claiming Merkel, whose office coordinates and oversees Germany’s intelligence services, must have known more about NSA operations.


RT


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