Argentina to battle graft:
Lat/Am
The Argentine government sent to Congress this week a series of proposed laws that would heavily sanction businesses found guilty of corruption involving the public sector, according to a document seen by Reuters on Saturday.
Currently, Argentine law punishes individuals involved in such corruption cases, but not companies. Under the proposed laws, companies could be fined heavily or suspended temporarily from doing business, among other measures.
The proposed laws allow for decreased punishments for companies that collaborate in ongoing investigations or adopt internal policies that make future corruption unlikely. Punishments could be made more severe under the proposed project if high-ranking officials in a company know of the corrupt practices or if such practices cause environmental damage, among other factors.
“The threat of sanction of organizations and the possibility of mitigating responsibility after collaborating in the prevention and detection of crimes against public bodies are tools to aid the prevention of corruption,” reads the proposal.
The initiative would allow for fines of up to 20 percent of a company’s gross annual income and the suspension of a company from doing business for up to ten years. (RTRS) women dressed in white, several thousand Venezuelans marched through Caracas on Saturday in the first of what the opposition hopes will be growing protests against the quashing of a referendum to remove President Nicolas Maduro.
The opposition coalition, seeking to end 17 years of socialism in the South American OPEC nation, says this week’s suspension of its drive for a plebiscite against the unpopular leader shows Venezuela has abandoned democracy.
Polls showed the majority wanted the recall referendum, but the election board halted the process this week citing court orders based on government allegations of fraud during an initial signature drive.
That left Maduro, who won an election to succeed Hugo Chavez in 2013, on track to complete the six-year term. Government officials have been exulting at the referendum’s failure, saying the opposition is to blame for delaying the process and then committing fraud by adding names of minors and dead people to their first signature drive. (RTRS)
Maduro
Chavez