Tag: Whistleblower

CNN health writer Wayne Drash gets emotional talking to Brooke Baldwin about a tip he received that a pharmaceutical company behind a 97,000% drug price hike is bribing doctors. #CNN #News

An overwhelming majority of Australians have lost trust in federal politics and want a strong, well-resourced anti-corruption commission, new polling shows. Integrity experts and Transparency International Australia will on Monday launch a sustained push on the major parties to make substantial commitments to boosting integrity in the lead-up to next month’s election, including the establishment of a properly empowered federal integrity commission, reforms to donations and lobbying, and better protections for whistleblowers. Their push coincides with polling released by the Australia Institute showing trust in Australia’s federal parliament is low and declining further. Coalition's plan for anti-corruption body a 'sham' set up to protect MPs, former judge says Read more Respondents strongly supported (76%) the commission having the power to hold public hearings – something which the Coalition has ruled out in its proposal. I’ve never before known 34 judges to agree to a letter such as this.” The Coalition used its recent budget to give $104.5m in funding over the forward estimates for an integrity commission – though additional money will also be given to existing integrity bodies to enhance their functions. Australia's global corruption ranking sparks urgent calls for federal integrity body Read more Labor’s model would give the anti-corruption commission the powers of a royal commission, including an ability to hold public hearings where it is deemed in the public interest. Top of the list was a “strong, properly resourced national integrity commission”, with the power to hold public hearings, a wide jurisdiction and proper funding. It also wants greater control on political donations by introducing real-time donation and campaign expenditure disclosures, and lowering the threshold amount requiring public declaration. Transparency International also wants to see a properly resourced whistleblower protection authority. Brown was critical of the low level of resourcing announced by Labor and its decision to employ the five staff through the office of the commonwealth ombudsman.

British police are seen dragging the white-bearded WikiLeaks founder out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in a dramatic video after Ecuador withdraws his asylum; Greg Palkot reports. #FoxandFriends FOX News operates the FOX News Channel (FNC), FOX Business Network…

Democrats seek answers after whistleblower alleges the White House stopped credit history checks and allowed a high number of interim clearances; chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge reports. #SpecialReport #FoxNews FOX News operates the FOX News Channel (FNC), FOX Business Network…

The rightwing pressure group the TaxPayers’ Alliance has conceded that it illegally sacked the whistleblower Shahmir Sanni for revealing unlawful overspending in the Brexit referendum campaign, in a case that could have a major impact on how lobbyists are described in the media. The Taxpayers’ Alliance smeared me, but I continue to fight for the truth Read more In a development that lawyers have described as “almost unprecedented”, the group has also conceded that it illegally vilified Sanni on the BBC in coordination with a network of other “linked” organisations. The alliance has accepted all the allegations Sanni made during his action claiming unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal, direct discrimination and “dismissal by reason of a philosophical belief in the sanctity of British democracy”. Significantly, it has also conceded that it is liable for what Sanni’s lawyer, Peter Daly of Bindmans, describes as “extreme public vilification”. In Sanni’s case, they also coordinated with Downing Street. The network includes the Adam Smith Institute, the Centre for Policy Studies, the Institute of Economic Affairs and Leave Means Leave. The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, is calling for a full inquiry into the groups’ funding and said that in the interests of “openness and accountability” the BBC must make clear they are lobbyists, not thinktanks” as they are sometimes referred to. A separate claim by Sanni against Downing Street is still ongoing. BeLeave revelations taint the Brexit result. At the time of publication, the TaxPayers’ Alliance had not responded to the Observer’s request for comment.

Komninos is not one of the 10 senior politicians under investigation, but his name does appear in one of the anonymous testimonies — obtained by POLITICO — where he is accused of accepting a bribe from Novartis in the form of “bundles of cash wrapped in orange tapes.” In an interview, he denied the allegation and said he worked to lower drug prices while in office. The testimonies, which were given under oath, contain several other similar tales of government officials receiving bribes in the form of bundles of cash. Novartis declined to comment on the allegations made in the anonymous Greek testimonies and the FBI report. We believe this is highly inappropriate and will defend our people and company against these claims.” The FBI declined to comment on its report and referred questions to the U.S. Embassy in Athens, which also declined to comment. Countersuits Maria Spyraki, a member of the European Parliament and spokesperson for the opposition New Democracy party, said that nothing in the documents released by Greek investigators so far provides hard evidence of any wrongdoing by senior politicians in Greece. “But the witnesses are not enough.” She added that the Greek parliament committee investigating Novartis had found no specific evidence incriminating any public official in Greece. In January, New Democracy also filed official questions to the minister of justice, Stavros Kontonis, asking him to explain how he plans to shelter the Greek judiciary from political influence amid allegations that those who have been accused are personalities that the ruling Syriza party would like to see tarnished. Stefanos Komninos, the former secretary-general of the ministry of economy, shipping and competitiveness, is accused in one witness statement of having kept the price of a box Galvus, a type 2 diabetes drug, at €300 instead of €150. A spokesperson for Touloupaki told POLITICO that her office is still conducting preliminary investigations into allegations that Novartis bribed public officials in Greece. Touloupaki’s office is also collaborating with anti-laundering officials in several EU countries to gather evidence of bribes being laundered out of the country, the two officials in Touloupaki’s office said.

Members of the official Brexit campaign during the EU referendum may have committed criminal offences relating to overspending and collusion, according to lawyers advising whistleblowers who worked inside the organisation. They were reviewing a dossier of evidence supplied by solicitors Bindmans, which contained examples of alleged collusion showing that Vote Leave and BeLeave were not separate and therefore that the leave campaign spent over the £7m legal limit set by the Electoral Commission. The dossier has also been passed to the Electoral Commission, which is responsible for election law. Tamsin Allen, from Bindmans, told a press conference “that there is a strong suspicion that the campaigns were very closely linked and co-ordinated, in which case it may be that Vote Leave spent huge sums unlawfully and its declaration of expenses is incorrect”. Vote Leave formally declared it had spent £6.77m during the campaign in the summer of 2016, well below the £7m limit. Bindmans’ dossier was largely based on evidence supplied by Shahmir Sanni, a volunteer who worked at both Vote Leave and BeLeave, with supporting evidence from Christopher Wylie, a former employee of the political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica who worked on the Trump election campaign and who had worked for AggregateIQ. Wylie said that an employee of AggregateIQ had told him the relationship between Vote Leave and BeLeave was “totally illegal” because “you are not allowed to coordinate between different campaigns and not declare it”. The lawyers said there were also “grounds to investigate” Stephen Parkinson, Vote Leave’s national organiser, who now works as Theresa May’s special adviser and Cleo Watson, who was Vote Leave’s head of outreach and also now works at No 10. Montgomery and Mountfield said in their opinion that there were “significant questions” about the role of a senior Vote Leave official who appeared to have removed references to themself and others in discussions with BeLeave after the referendum by appearing “to change permissions on a BeLeave shared drive in March 2017 while an EC [Electoral Commission] investigation into Vote Leave was under way”. Vote Leave has repeatedly denied it coordinated its activities with BeLeave.