An arm of the United States Marshals Service undervalued what could amount to untold millions of dollars in assets forfeited by white-collar criminals — including some from the family of Bernard L. Madoff — and sold them for far less than they were worth, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan. New York Times, 12/26/2010
East Africa is in urgent need of strict enforcement of anti-corruption laws to boost socio-economic development in the region, an official has said. Speaking at a Democracy and Good Governance conference in Bujumbura, Burundi, Ms Beatrice Kiraso (pictured), the deputy secretary general in charge of Political Federation said the vice has undermined development and the provision of social services, which subsequently has increased the cost of doing business. She said: "Corruption is an evil that undermines development and provision of social services.” The Citizen Correspondent, 12/26/2010
Banco Panamericano SA’s former Chairman Luiz Sebastiao Sandoval said former Chief Financial Officer Wilson Roberto de Aro and the bank’s former accountant, Marco Pereira da Silva, were responsible for accounting irregularities that led the bank to a 2.5 billion-real ($1.48 billion) bailout, O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper reported. Bloomberg, 12/26/2010
A US Attorney in North Carolina is closing in on some of the nation's biggest federal prosecutors in collecting forfeitures, according to year-end figures from the government. The state's Western District was seventh in the nation in asset forfeiture* collections this year despite being 53rd in size. The Southern District of New York topped the list. Asheville Citizen-Times, 12/26/2010
The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into small Swiss regional banks which may have helped Americans evade taxes, the New York Times reported, citing two people briefed on the matter. The investigation will also look at Wall Street banks that provide banking services to these regional banks, known as cantonal banks, the paper said in an article published on Thursday. Reuters, 12/24/2010
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