Screening tonight: Paradigm Episode 2! Local Government Corruption in NZ #Sky #YouTube

Updated post
Tue, 15 Sep 2015 at 1:25 a.m.

███ A “MUST” WATCH
Vincent Eastwood Published on Sep 14, 2015
Local Governance & Corruption, Paradigm Episode 2 Vinny Eastwood
Episode 2 of PARADIGM broadcasted on Face TV Sky Channel 083 on September 14th 2015 at 9pm NZT

TOPIC: Local Governance & Corruption
GUESTS: Bruce Rogan from the Mangawhai Residents and Ratepayers Association with activist and Mayoral candidate Penny Bright.
● How privatisation and secretive powerful roundtable groups (comprised mostly of large companies) have led to the rise of unelected, unaccountable officials.
● The utter refusal of EVERY SINGLE AUTHORITY in New Zealand to investigate corruption.
The police, the judiciary, the ombudsman, the minister for local government, the auditor general, political parties, the list goes on, every authority whose job is to investigate, prevent or punish corruption actually supports it!
● Why local citizens have no rights and why local government has no rules.

FACE FACT KIWIS
Believing NZ is corruption free was the very mechanism by which criminals took control of our country. The only reason NZ is #2 on Transparency International’s “perceived” least corrupt countries in the world list, is we’re the 2nd best in the world at concealing our corruption.

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Vincent Eastwood Published on Sep 12, 2015
Paradigm Episode 2 coming soon! Local Government Corruption
PLEASE SHARE THIS!
Help me get as many people as possible to watch the show tomorrow night!
9pm NZT

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Received. [names deleted]
Mon, 14 Sep 2015 at 4:00 p.m.

Re: DOCO ON CORRUPTION, AND MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL.

Tonight (14 September, 9:00pm) on Sky channel 83 there will be an episode of Paradigm which will feature the Kaipara Scam. Paradigm is a program that is the brainchild of a guy called Vinny Eastwood, and it is not an exaggeration to say that Vinny has picked up the ball that John Campbell (or rather Channel 3) dropped. Promo for the programme is at https://www.facebook.com/vincenteastwood/videos/10153220793607879/
Vinny has a deceptively casual and disarming manner that belies a very serious commitment to exposing corruption and fraud (he calls it scumbaggery).
As an MRRA member you will already be aware of the degree of scumbaggery besetting Kaipara, but it is highly unlikely that your friends and relations will grasp the scale of what is happening in New Zealand. Please do yourself a favour and send this email to everyone in your circle, especially your adult children, who are going to be wealth-stripped by the corporates that are taking over. Add your personal plea that they take a few minutes away from Coronation Street and watch something that might actually affect their lives.
Our financial year ends on 31 October. We want everyone to renew their membership please and we want new members from all over the country (world!) as we mount the final campaign to get justice for the country’s ratepayers. Please renew – don’t just leave it to the other guys to carry all the water. What other association can you think of that supplies over forty free informative newsletters per year?!, and has an executive team that is prepared to go to jail to defend your rights! (informative might be stretching it, but beauty is always in the eye of the beholder, going to jail is still a real possibility!).
The annual sub is still only $15.00 per family, or $10.00 single, and we have put no limit on donations, because we do not want to discourage that philanthropic person out there with $100,000 they have no further use for.
The account number is 38 9012 0318164 00 or cheques to MRRA at Box 225 Mangawhai 0540. Make sure please to include your membership number […], and if you are a new member please provide a name and phone number so we can call you and get all the details.

Kind regards,
MRRA Executive Committee.
[Mangawhai Residents and Ratepayers Association]

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█ More at Kaipara Concerns (online news):

LOCAL GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION SCAM 14.09.2015
Tonight, Monday night (14 September 2015), 9pm on Face (access) TV. Sky network channel 83.

NZ’s MASSIVE Local Government Corruption Scam, Paradigm Episode 2

Bruce Rogan (Mangawhai Ratepayers) and Penny Bright interviewed by Vinny Eastwood on council corruption in New Zealand.

See the promo video here. #Facebook

See Bruce Rogan’s rates revolt speech here. #YouTube

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Related Posts and Comments:
28.8.15 Joel Cayford: ‘Mangawhai Ratepayers at Court of Appeal’
2.2.15 LGNZ run by Mad Rooster Yule, end of story
27.11.14 Auditor-general Lyn Provost #Resign
31.10.14 Whaleoil on “dodgy ratbag local body politicians” —just like ours at DCC
9.9.14 Mangawhai, Kaipara: Latest news + Winston Peter’s speech
19.7.14 Whaleoil / Cameron Slater on ratepayers’ lament
12.6.14 Fairfax Media [not ODT] initiative on Local Bodies
29.5.14 Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents Assn wins at High Court
11.4.14 Councils: Unaccountable, ready to tax? #DCC #ORC
31.3.14 Audit services to (paying) local bodies #FAIL ● AuditNZ ● OAG…
29.1.14 Mangawhai, Kaipara —we hear ya!
3.12.13 LGNZ: OAG report on Kaipara
12.11.13 Northland council amalgamation
29.6.13 Audit NZ and OAG clean bill of health —Suspicious!
21.4.13 Councils “in stchook” —finance & policy analyst Larry.N.Mitchell
19.3.12 Local government reform
21.2.12 Kaipara this time

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Joel Cayford: ‘Mangawhai Ratepayers at Court of Appeal’

Link received. [Hooray!]
Fri, 28 Aug 2015 at 10:50 a.m.

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### joelcayford.blogspot.co.nz Thu, 27 August 2015
Mangawhai Ratepayers at Court of Appeal

Joel Cayford [‘Reflections on Auckland Planning’] updates the Court of Appeal hearing (25-26 August) – Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents Association v Kaipara District Council – in front of Justice Rhys Harrison, Justice Mark Cooper, and Justice Forrest Miller.

Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents Association (MRRA) is represented by Matthew Palmer QC and barrister Kitt Littlejohn. David Goddard QC represents the council.

Cayford summarises the “causes of action for this hearing – which followed the judicial review heard by Justice Heath (posts here and here)”:

“that the Kaipara District Council (KDC) does not have the power to rate for unlawful purposes. That KDC acted unlawfully in deciding to enter into and expand the Ecocare Wastewater Scheme, and that it could not then enforce rates on ratepayers.

“that the Validation Act did not retrospectively validate ALL matters stemming from those unlawful decisions. It only validated various historic rating defects. Significant matters – including the additional $30,000,000 loan were not dealt with or validated by the Validation Act.

“that the KDC acted inconsistently with the Bill of Rights Act by initiating Validation Legislation which had an effect of undermining MRRA judicial review proceedings – to which they had a right.”

Of critical interest, Cayford says Matthew Palmer, in his closing, “told the Justices, to the effect: “a consequence of adopting the arguments of my learned friend would mean that any Council in New Zealand can breech Local Government Act provisions with impunity, leave ratepayers with the bill, and mean that Long Term Plans all become window-dressing, ratepayer submissions become meaningless. That cannot have been what Parliament intended.””

█ Read Cayford’s excellent post and reader comments here.

LinkedIn: Joel Cayford

Although the Court of Appeal ruling is some way off, fallout might very well illuminate effects of the Dunedin stadium rort, council debt loading and issues of general competency.

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Related Posts and Comments:
2.2.15 LGNZ run by Mad Rooster Yule, end of story
27.11.14 Auditor-general Lyn Provost #Resign
31.10.14 Whaleoil on “dodgy ratbag local body politicians” —just like ours at DCC
9.9.14 Mangawhai, Kaipara: Latest news + Winston Peter’s speech
19.7.14 Whaleoil / Cameron Slater on ratepayers’ lament
12.6.14 Fairfax Media [not ODT] initiative on Local Bodies
29.5.14 Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents Assn wins at High Court
11.4.14 Councils: Unaccountable, ready to tax? #DCC #ORC
31.3.14 Audit services to (paying) local bodies #FAIL ● AuditNZ ● OAG…
29.1.14 Mangawhai, Kaipara —we hear ya!
3.12.13 LGNZ: OAG report on Kaipara
12.11.13 Northland council amalgamation
29.6.13 Audit NZ and OAG clean bill of health —Suspicious!
21.4.13 Councils “in stchook” —finance & policy analyst Larry.N.Mitchell
19.3.12 Local government reform
21.2.12 Kaipara this time

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

ODT editorial pretty bang on, but News: MOVED ON ?

In the run up to the Northland by-election, today’s Otago Daily Times editorial claims: “Much was made at the time by Opposition MPs of when and how much Mr Key knew about the motives behind Mr Sabin’s departure but, by and large, the public has moved on.”

We, moved on?
Surely not, NOT with our readings and (mis?)understandings of Prime Minister John Key as they evolve. His Auckland-based polish and shininess, Kiwi/Maui-BBQ-golfing style, plastered over with Merrill Lynch effects of a pronounced nose — in corners it shouldn’t be — are, well, terribly hard to keep bolstering up or gaily smiling about.
[Add New Zealand’s lack of controls on foreign investment, circus chum Minister Nick Smith on RMA reforms, housing need, and his no-traffic with dodgy imported concrete…. Paula Bennett as new minister for the unholy mess of Local Government….]
We will be moving on, differently if not DEFENSIVELY. If, assertively.

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### ODT Online Sat, 21 Feb 2015
Editorial: Winston Peters – the waiting game
OPINION Prime Minister John Key will face an early litmus test of how his Government is tracking when the Northland by-election is held on March 28. The by-election is being held to find a new MP for the electorate after the sudden departure from Parliament of Mike Sabin, the former chairman of the law and order select committee. […] On paper, the by-election should be an easy win for National. The wildcard, however, is New Zealand First leader Winston Peters.

Mr Peters is the one MP who has any hope at all of getting enough media attention to pose a threat. His comments, for instance on SkyCity Casino, sending armed forces personnel to Iraq and drought support to farmers, generate newspaper headlines and lead news bulletins.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: stuff.co.nz – John Key PM by Murray Webb; skykiwi.com – Winston Peters (interviewed by Jessica Mutch)

Stuff: Roughly one million didn’t turn out #derision14

The official election results will be announced on October 4

### Stuff Last updated 16:03 21/09/2014
Voter turnout near record low
By Charlie Mitchell
Roughly a million people didn’t show up to vote for Saturday’s election, making it one of New Zealand’s worst turnouts in the last century. An estimated 77.04 per cent of enrolled voters took part in the election, slightly higher than the 74.2 per cent turnout in 2011, which was the worst in percentage terms since before women got the right to vote in 1893.

This year’s result still ranks as the third-worst turnout in the last 100 years, with the number of non-voters almost tallying to the number of votes that went to National.

The estimated results are based on the 2,405,652 votes received before voting closed, which includes nearly 300,000 special votes that are yet to be counted. Voter turnout has been on a downward slide since the 1960s, when it consistently reached 90 per cent. It has declined in each election since the advent of MMP, with the exception of 2002.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: radionz.co.nz – Keys vote (detail)

Election Night

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█ Key says he will lead a government that governs for all New Zealanders

Prime Minister John Key’s National Party has won a third term with an unprecedented govern-alone victory in the general election.

National won 48 percent of the party vote, giving it 62 seats in the 121-member parliament.

It’s the first time since MMP was introduced in 1996 that any party has held a majority without needing coalition partners.

█ Key: The issues that matter

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Kim Choe (@kimchoe) tweeted at 10:56 PM on Sat, Sep 20, 2014:
Kim Dotcom blames himself: “I’m sorry to say this, but we lost because of me”. Read more: http://t.co/JHw6TkMNgG #decision14
(https://twitter.com/kimchoe/status/513280476547543040)

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: Jared Savage (@jaredsavageNZH) at Twitter [screenshot]; mediaworks.co.nz – (TV3) Decision 14 – Live Stream, John Campbell and John Key PM [screenshot]; Internet Party (@InternetPartyNZ) at Twitter [screenshot]

Minister of Finance Bill English on Dunedin governance #Regions #Cull

Received from Anonymous
Wed, 23 Jul 2014 at 6:29 p.m. and 7:02 p.m.

Message: Watched a few moments of Question Time from Parliament today and in response to a question on regional development Minister of Finance Bill English said (citing the most recent ANZ survey) “the top two areas for business confidence are Otago despite the complaints of their civic leadership, and the Waikato”. Have a look from about 3’20” of this clip. Great stuff.

Bound to receive not a word of reportage from the ODT.

A really big dig at Cull.

In The House – Question Time
Topic: Growing Gaps among Regions
23/07/14 23.07.14 – Question 4: Hon David Parker to the Minister of Finance
Does he agree that there are growing gaps among the regions of New Zealand, making the economy and society increasingly unbalanced; if not, why not?
Url: http://www.inthehouse.co.nz/video/34086

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Mangawhai, Kaipara —we hear ya!

Received from our northern friends (html email partially rebuilt here).
Wednesday, 29 January 2014 4:10 p.m.

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Getting the Validation Bill ready for Parliament

● The new Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents Association (MRRA) website can be viewed here.
● “When Government Goes Bad” – see the MRRA video on YouTube.

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The KAIPARA VALIDATION BILL

KAIPARA’S PROBLEMSParliament “solves” the problems of Kaipara with the Validation Bill

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LATEST NEWS
● OAG report: Summary
● OAG report: Full Report* (click the sections on the left)
*Link to download report (PDF, 2.6 MB; 423 pages) is broken at OAG website.

A MESSAGE FROM THE MRRA
3 February 2014
The day that JUSTICE finally comes to Kaipara
Come to the Court Case in Whangarei 3-7 February
The High Court is located at 105-109 Bank Street Whangarei
The hearing commences at 10 AM.
You have paid for this, so come and watch it play out. Those who came last time were glued to their seats for the whole day. Watching our justice system in action when the matter is one you are involved in is a riveting experience.
[Six days at court] might be needed but we won’t know until Feb 3rd. The hearing should play out as follows: Administrative stuff first, then MRRA puts its case (possibly all of Monday and some of Tuesday), then KDC puts its case Tuesday and all of Wednesday. Then MRRA replies, which will take part of Friday. The judge will then sum up and indicate what he is going to do, and perhaps reserve his decision which he would then hand down in writing some time later.
The Judge has instructed that a second courtroom be made available with closed-circuit TV to accommodate the large number expected to attend this hearing.
In an earlier decision the Judge said that this judicial review raises important legal questions of wide public interest.
It may be one of the most important cases in connection with Local Government that has ever gone to trial in New Zealand. The issues at stake are of fundamental significance to everyone who lives in this country. This is not a tiff over rates. This is a test of what power elected and appointed officials really have to take money from ratepayers and taxpayers and use it in any way they choose. The Government and the Kaipara District Council (KDC) both say that councils must have the power to take any amount of money they want, for any purpose whatsoever, and the ratepayer has no say at all in the process.
If you think that’s OK, then we have not reached you. If you think it is not OK but nothing can be done about it, please be assured that something can be done — and it is in the High Court where that will happen. Eventually, the people will call a halt to the madness.

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COUNCIL INCOMPETENCE 29.01.14
Frank Newman comments here on the Dunedin City Council’s fancy $230 million covered stadium that “will forever be a black hole that eats ratepayer money”.
There will be no easy fix for Dunedin’s ratepayers. Their elected representatives of the day were reckless and ratepayers will be punished for a very long time because they (as a society) elected a reckless bunch of people to make decisions on their behalf.
I do not know of the Dunedin Councillors complied with the law and consulted with ratepayers but Kaipara ratepayers find themselves in a very similar situation.
The debt for EcoCare is completely unmanageable for a small council such as the KDC but the Commissioners and the Banks have so far delayed the inevitable day of judgement by mesmerising ratepayers with promises of only three percent rate increases over the next ten years.
How can that happen, you might ask, when there is such a massive debt to pay? The answer is that it can’t. But to levy high rates now and charge extra capital payments per household right across the district would result in a massive rate strike and civil disobedience and the collapse of the KDC.
To prevent that, the Commissioners and the Banks have made promises of minimal rate rises that cannot be substantiated and are so dishonest that they border on the criminal. They are nothing more than a confidence trick and the reality is that, sooner or later, ratepayers across the district will be billed for the principal of the debt. Generations of Kaipara ratepayers will pay for the EcoCare folly just as generations of Dunedin ratepayers will pay for their Stadium folly.
The only difference is that the MRRA has challenged the validity of the Kaipara debt in the High Court and is asking that Court for a ruling that ratepayers are not responsible for an illegal debt that was secretly entered into by the Councillors.
Never before have ratepayers made such a challenge and no doubt many ratepayers across the country will be awaiting the outcome.
If Councils can operate outside the law with utter impunity, with all the watchdogs sound asleep, and the ratepayers have to pay all the bills, then we have been conned into being the peasants at the bottom of a 21st Century feudal system.
That is not a good place to be but unless we get behind the MRRA and support its action, then that is where we will end up.

[ends]

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LAST WORD from What if? Dunedin…
Will DCC’s stadium review be enough? Answer: NO
We’re staying busy —can’t blog it.

Related Posts and Comments:
3.12.13 LGNZ: OAG report on Kaipara
12.11.13 Northland council amalgamation
29.6.13 Audit NZ and OAG clean bill of health —Suspicious!
21.4.13 Councils “in stchook” —finance & policy analyst Larry.N.Mitchell
19.3.12 Local government reform
21.2.12 Kaipara this time

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

New Zealand: Salmond on democracy

Dame Anne Salmond says it is imperative that New Zealanders stand up for democratic freedoms … A quiet, obedient, and docile population; a culture of passivity and apathy; a meek acceptance of what politicians say and do – these things are not consistent with democracy.

### NZ Herald Online 5:30 AM Sat, 13 Jul 2013
Dame Anne Salmond: A warning to New Zealanders keep hold of democracy
By Dame Anne Salmond
In 2007, John Key, then Leader of the Opposition, gave a powerful speech to the New Zealand Press Club against the Electoral Finance Bill. He declared: “Here in New Zealand we often take our democratic freedoms for granted. We think they will always be there. We have a Bill of Rights which is supposed to protect our right to freedom of expression. What on earth could go wrong?”
I have a different view. I believe what Thomas Jefferson said – that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. There are times when we have to stand up for our rights, and the rights of our neighbours and friends, and indeed the rights of people we totally disagree with, or else these rights will begin to erode away.
I agree with these sentiments, absolutely. New Zealanders must stand up for their democratic rights when they are threatened, or they’ll lose them.
Who could have imagined that in 2013, this same political leader would be presiding over an assault upon the democratic rights of New Zealanders? This is a matter of such gravity that last month, the Law Society felt impelled to report to the United Nations that in New Zealand “a number of recent legislative measures are fundamentally in conflict with the rule of law”.

When a body as authoritative and dispassionate as the Law Society feels forced to report to the United Nations that the Government in New Zealand is acting in conflict with the rule of law, all New Zealanders should be very worried.

Extraordinary though it may seem, this statement is no more than the truth. In its report to the United Nations, the Law Society lists a series of recent acts that have allowed the Executive to use regulation to override Parliament, that deny citizens the right to legal representation and cancel their right to appeal to the courts to uphold their rights under the law.
The Law Society also draws attention to the use of Supplementary Order Papers and urgency to avoid proper Parliamentary scrutiny of legislation. They express their concern that a number of bills formally declared by the Attorney-General to be in breach of the Bill of Rights have recently been enacted.
This report does not mention other key defects in the law-making process in New Zealand at present. These include the willingness of a minority government to pass laws that impinge on the rights and wellbeing of New Zealanders at the request of foreign corporations – Warner Brothers, for instance, or SkyCity and various oil companies. None of these deals, which amount to “legislation for sale”, can claim a democratic mandate.
Read more

● Anthropologist and author Dame Anne Salmond is the current New Zealander of the Year.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: tepapa.govt.nz – Dame Anne Salmond

“Dunedin” – we introduce Transparency International UK

### newsinfo.inquirer.net 9:31am Wed, 15 June 2011
UK failing to address corruption—study
By Cassandra Vinograd – Associated Press
LONDON— Corruption is a much larger problem in Britain than acknowledged and key institutions are refusing to confront the problem, a global watchdog warned Wednesday. Transparency International UK called the findings of its two-year study into corruption in the UK a “corruption health-check” for the country — with a diagnosis of “growing threat, inadequate response”. The group said its research found that corruption is flourishing in some parts of the UK and there is “disturbing evidence” of denial in policy responses to the issue. “There is complacency and a lack of knowledge of the extent of corruption in key sectors and institutions,” according to the study.
Read more

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The findings show that the tentacles of organised crime increasingly extend to sectors such as prisons and sport where criminal activity and corruption are inextricably linked, affecting businesses, communities, the economy, and society’s most vulnerable groups.

### transparency.org.uk Wed, 15 June 2011
UK fails corruption health check
A report published today by Transparency International UK reveals that corruption is a much greater problem in the UK than recognised and that there is an inadequate response to its growing threat. More than half of the public believe that UK corruption is getting worse. The 3-volume report – the most extensive study into UK corruption ever undertaken – examines 23 sectors and concludes that key institutions are refusing to confront the problem.
Read more

Corruption in the UK: Overview & Policy Recommendations (PDF, 790 KB)
TI-UK Executive Director, Chandrashekhar Krishnan, gives an overview of the findings from the three Corruption in the UK studies, and sets out TI-UK’s policy recommendations.

Corruption In The UK: Part One – National Opinion Survey (PDF, 647 KB)
Results and analysis of an opinion survey of 2,000 UK citizens’ experiences and perceptions of corruption.

Corruption in the UK: Part Two – Assessment of Key Sectors (PDF, 630 KB)
Part two covers the following sectors: Police, National Health Service (NHS), legal profession, prison service, social housing, procurement, sport, City of London, construction, local government and UK Border Agency.

Corruption in the UK: Part Three – NIS Study (PDF, 1 MB)
The NIS study covers the following sectors: Business, civil society, electoral management body, executive, judiciary, law enforcement, media, ombudsman, political parties, public sector and the supreme audit institution.

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Transparency International UK is a Chapter of the world’s leading non-governmental anti-corruption organisation, Transparency International (TI). With more than 90 Chapters worldwide, and an international secretariat in Berlin, TI has unparalleled global understanding and influence.

Transparency International UK
– raises awareness about corruption
– advocates legal and regulatory reform at national and international levels
– designs practical tools for institutions, individuals and companies wishing to combat corruption
– acts as a leading centre of anti-corruption expertise in the UK.

Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It hurts everyone whose life, livelihood or happiness depends on the integrity of people in a position of authority.

http://www.transparency.org.uk/ @TransparencyUK
http://www.transparency.org/ @anticorruption

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr