Mobile phones have already transformed life in developing countries. They have brought phone service to remote areas that had little hope of ever seeing landlines. They have also had major economic benefits for so-called micro-entrepreneurs, helping them with everything from establishing mobile barbershops to determining the best time to bring goods to market. And now they are trying to fight corruption.
Apple has launched an app, called ¿½¬“Antimordidas¿½¬¿½ or ¿½¬“Antibribes¿½¬¿½, to help users fend off corruption in Mexico City. The app has various features such as a calculator for verifying traffic fines and a user-friendly compendium of traffic regulations. It is soon to be launched for Blackberry as well. Given the interest that this story has garnered in other countries, especially India (where most versions of the story do not specify that the app is only available for Mexico), apps for other locations should not be far behind.
It is always encouraging when new technology is used to combat ancient problems. However, it is unfortunate that the app is limited to smartphones. Corruption hurts most for the people who can least afford it ¿½¬€œ who happen also to be the people who can least afford smartphones. The Economist has predicted that within five years everyone on earth who wants a cell phone may have one, but smartphones will remain luxury items (except in New York, where people seem to think they are a fundamental need).
Shouldn¿½¬¢t it be possible to fight corruption with a traditional mobile phone? You don¿½¬¢t need fancy apps, just a number to call to report abuse anonymously (which does exist in some locations). An information line is also handy, where callers (or better yet, texters) can find out similar facts as those displayed on Mexican iPhones. Further innovation from handset manufacturers would be welcome. As a social program, they could support a designated mailbox for subsidized SMSs detailing shoddy infrastructure projects or dishonest service providers. Allowing photos to be sent for free would be better still.
There is space for much more innovation in smartphone anti-corruption technology as well. A good start would be a streamlined app for reporting bribery, with automatic submission of time, date, and location: for government agencies and some service providers, no further information would be necessary to discern trends and determine which offices require management intervention.
2010.06.05 Palestine: Announcement of a new university course: "Integrity, Transparency and Accountability in Combating Corruption"
In 2007, AMAN
developed a university course entitled: “Integrity, Transparency and
Accountability in combating corruption” in collaboration with Birzeit
University (BZU) and a number of academics and Palestinian experts. The
curriculum aims at enabling Palestinian youth to recognize the efforts of combating
corruption through the theoretical and practical knowledge as well as through
identifying the conceptual framework of the integrity system, transparency and
accountability. This is perceived as an attempt to enhance the capacity of
higher education to effectively contribute to the building of a Palestinian
national integrity. The course has already been offered as a pilot phase at two
universities in Palestine, namely, BZU in the West Bank where the entire book
was studied over a period of four semesters and at the Islamic University in
Gaza. Both universities adopted the book and incorporated it in their curricula
either as a university requirement for students of the public administration at
BZU, or as a pilot stage for the students at the Islamic University (IU).
At the end of
2009, AMAN and in cooperation with the National Endowment for Democracy adopted
the project "Combating Corruption through Education" and performed a
comprehensive evaluation for the book by an educational expert. Then AMAN with
a number of local experts started revising and developing the reference book
based on the National Integrity System Study- Palestine 2009. Moreover, a
manual has been developed for University instructors and professors offering a
range of methods and tools, exercises, and case studies to enable them to offer
the full content efficiently and to render a maximum benefit. In addition to
(BZU) and (IU), three other universities in the West Bank have adopted the
course, namely, Al-Quds University / Abu Deis, The Arab American University /
Jenin (AAUJ) and Hebron University/ Hebron.
In this
regard, the Coalition for Accountability and Integrity "AMAN" held a
press conference where a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between
the concerned universities and AMAN. As indicated in the MOU< the course
will be offered as a mandatory course for Law students at A-Quds, and AAUJ,
while BZU and Hebron Universalities demand it for Public Administrative
students. It is worthy to note that all universities will also offer the course
as an elective to all students.
AMAN’s Board
Chairperson, Dr Hanan Ashrawi, Commissioner for Combating Corruption-AMAN Dr.
Azmi Shuaibi, and Executive Director, Ghada Zughayar attended the conference.
In opening
the conference, Dr. Shuaibi presented AMANs’ vision and philosophy on fighting
corruption in general with emphasis on educational methods for long term
effects. He illustrated the need and importance of teaching this course at the
university showing appreciation for the cooperation and response from the
various universities. His speech was followed by remarks from BZU
representative who gave a briefing on the university’s experience and
evaluation of the course taught during 2009. Representatives of the other three
universities also gave a short speech about adopting the course before the
signing of the MOU.
Anti-corruption student network regular meeting was held in Zagreb from 7th till 10th May. The representatives of all network teams presented their national research reports and discussed the problems they came across during their research.
Some important conclusions were made during the meeting. The final form and content of the National reports and the Monitoring
know how-package were decided upon. The final National reports will include research results from all network teams and the Monitoring know-how package will contain monitoring tools which would help future researchers with their own projects on this topic. Each team will be responsible for
a certain chapter, and a draft version of a Know-how package will be
finished until next network meeting.
ACSN meeting will take place in the begining of May in Zagreb
The regular meeting of the Anti-corruption student network for 2010 will take place from 7 till 10 May in Zagreb, Croatia. representatives of teh all Network members will discuss the work plan for the 2010 academic year and the development of the Monitoring Know-how package.
Three Athens-Clarke County employees and one University student have
been arrested and charged with bribery and false writings after it was
alleged they received money to sign off on community service hours
which were never completed.
According
to documents obtained by The Red & Black, University student Joseph
Siskey, 31, was arrested Tuesday and charged with two counts of felony
bribery, party to the crime and false writings, party to the crime. ACC
Leisure Services employee Tracy Woods, 41, was charged with three
counts of felony bribery and three counts of false writings. Another
employee, Charles Robinson, 42, was charged with two counts of felony
bribery and two counts of false writings. An arrest warrant was issued
for Clay Brown, a third employee, in connection with the incident.
These arrests came after an investigation was launched when a probation officer contacted police on Dec. 4.
According
to the police report, he pointed investigators in the direction of
possible fraudulent documents which were received from probationers.
“This
investigation was instigated internally,” said Sandi Turner, an ACC
public information officer. “It was a diligent employee in Probation
Services who saw things that didn’t look right and started asking
questions. There was no whistle blower, just someone that was doing
their job very well.”
Though they are no longer employed by the
county, Brown, Woods and Robinson held the positions of program leader,
program specialist and recreational assistant, respectively. In these
positions, it would be their job to sign off on community service hours
completed by individuals at the court’s request.
According to the documents, it is alleged Robinson solicited and received a total
of $87 from two different individuals in exchange for signing off on community service hours which were never completed.
Furthermore, it is alleged Siskey aided the employees in performing the bribe and falsifying the documents.
Turner did not know how many individuals had been solicited.
All three county employees have been fired, and Turner said there may be protocol changes.
Community
service supervisors may be required to sign affidavits and workers may
be assigned to where they will complete the hours instead of being able
to choose.
“This would bring control back to the probation
office,” Turner said. “Workers wouldn’t be able to go somewhere they
have a friend.”
This incident marks the second time this semester
someone affiliated with the University has been involved in a
corruption investigation.
In February, University employee Dorin Lucian Dehelean was arrested and charged with extortion.
“We don’t see this kind of thing very often,” University Police Chief Jimmy Williamson said. “Maybe its a sign of the times.”
Investigators in Cologne are looking into
whether a company bribed dozens of professors to advance the academic
careers of its clients. A number of Ph.D. holders might soon lose their
titles, and academics are worried the scandal will put a dent in the
reputation of German universities.
Germany is a country that has traditionally been obsessed with
titles -- especially those of the academic variety. Any person with a
doctorate is entitled to be addressed as Herr Doktor or Frau Doktor --
and generally speaking, that is what people do. But are all of those
titles earned in a legitimate fashion? Most certainly are, but this
weekend the public prosecutor in Cologne went public with its
countrywide investigation into mass fraud. According to the prosecutor,
more than 100 professors from across Germany are suspected of bestowing
doctoral titles in exchange for bribes.
The scam involved an academic consulting firm in the Cologne suburb of
Bergisch Gladbach that allegedly paid bribes to professors in order to
help its clients obtain Ph.D.s more quickly.
But the story actually goes back decades. The last major step in
the prosecutor's investigation came in March 2008, when investigators
searched the main offices of the Institut fr Wissenschaftsberatung
("Institute for Academic Consultancy") in Bergisch Gladbach and carried
out boxes and boxes of contracts with its clients and associates within
academia. What the well-known establishment did -- that is, giving a
helpful boost to Ph.D. candidates -- was no secret in the university
scene. But its legality was always a matter that aroused much
suspicion. And now the professors are being accused of having possibly
awarded Ph.D.s to unqualified candidates.
"We went through tons of material after the raid," Gnther Feld,
Cologne's senior public prosecutor, told reporters on Sunday. "And that
is what produced the concrete suspicion against the people who have now
been indicted." The majority of the suspects under investigation,
academics from a wide range of fields, are freelance university
instructors and lecturers and not professors holding long-term
appointments.
The institute at the center of the investigation has been around for
over 20 years and buys space in newspapers and trade magazines across
Germany advertising its services in helping people obtain doctorate
degrees. The company pledges to clients that it will help them find
both a good topic to write a dissertation on and a professor
well-suited for overseeing the dissertation work. The company can
charge as much as €20,000 ($28,700) for these services, with a cut of
€4,000 going to the professors. And that is where the illegal part of
the arrangement arises: Since it is already part of a professor's job
to oversee Ph.D. candidates, in effect, they were getting paid twice
for the same job.
'Just Totally Nuts'
Martin D.*, who holds a Ph.D. in philosophy, is the institute's
managing director. This is not his first run-in with the law. In July
2008, a regional court in the western city of Hildesheim sentenced D.
to three and a half years in prison and slapped him with a €75,000 fine
for bribery. The court found that he had introduced over 60 Ph.D.
candidates to a law professor at the University of Hanover, whom he
paid to accept the candidates. In many cases, the candidates didn't
fulfill any of the prerequisites for pursuing a Ph.D. Germany's Federal
Court of Justice confirmed the lower court's decision in May, ending
any appeals D. might have. A court also convicted the law professor for
accepting bribes. In one case, he actually admitted he had given a
better evaluation to one female candidate in return for sexual favors.
Frank Grtz, the founder and long-time head of the institute, fared
better. He escaped prosecution after being judged unfit to stand trial
for health reasons. For many years, Grtz had been a vocal advocate for
the institute and had always claimed that it provided genuine
professional services -- including information on legal issues related
to earning a Ph.D., access to databanks and literature research and
contacts with potential Ph.D. advisers. Before the institute went bust
and its Web site was shut down, it used to advertise online that: "We
will help you find a professionally competent Ph.D. adviser (whether it
is a full or an associate professor), who has a track record for being
a successful and fair adviser and expert." To add to his institute's
appeal, Grtz also advertised that he kept a "dissertation museum" and
a prize for the shortest dissertation.
Manual Ren Theisen, a professor of business management at Munich's
Ludwig Maximilian University, has had his eye on Grtz and other Ph.D.
consulting services for a long time. As far back as the early 1990s,
Theisen expressed his doubts about this kind of company's questionable
business model. As he sees it, it is "absolutely idiotic" for someone
to pay a whole lot of money for something they could already get for
free. And he gets angry about the thought that someone's dissertation
might not be proof of that person's academic achievements.
For many years, Theisen raged against this system -- alone and in
vain. What's mind-boggling about all this is not the fact that there
are now so many ongoing corruption investigations against professors.
Instead, the truly astounding thing is that it took so long to get
underway. As Theisen sees it, public prosecutors and university
departments just "looked the other way" for too long. "Ph.D.
consultancy has grown to become a genuine business sector," he says.
"We're talking about millions of euros here."
Part 2:
Reactions and Remedies
For law-enforcement officials, finding clear proof of wrongdoing has
been a bit of a problem because the Ph.D. consultants operate in a gray
zone of sorts. For one thing, offering databank research for sale isn't
necessarily illegal, nor is helping people make contact with potential
Ph.D. advisers. The thing that really put the institute on the public
prosecutor's radar was the fact that the institute was moving money
around in the process of offering these services. The German
Association of University Professors and Lecturers (DHV) has described
this as "a practically impenetrable legal thicket." DHV spokesman
Matthias Jarosch believes that the matter puts "the reputation of an
entire profession into question."
That is pretty much how Annette Schavan, Germany's minister of
education, sees it, too. On Sunday, Schavan said that if the
accusations turn out to be true, the credibility of Germany's academic
community could sustain major damage. "The public should be able to
expect from universities that they handle the process of awarding
Ph.D.s with the utmost diligence," Schavan said, adding that she backs
the DHV's calls for stricter regulations on granting Ph.D.s. DHV
managing director Michael Hartmer recently said on the public
television show "MDR Sputnik" that it would be sensible to have people
sign an affidavit claiming that they did not receive any unauthorized
assistance while producing their dissertations because "it would have a
deterrent effect."
The clients of the Ph.D. consultants are usually working academics
who wanted to have a doctorate -- and were willing to pay for it. It's
still unclear what consequences they might face as a result of the
investigation, but Feld believes that there will be no legal ones.
"Some media sources leave the impression that the institute's clients
didn't even write dissertations," Feld told reporters. "But that's not
right. The real issue is whether the professors were bribed to choose
certain candidates." Feld adds that his office's investigations have
shown that the majority of the institute's clients weren't aware of the
element of bribery involved.
Ignorance Is No Dissertation Defense
Still, DHV managing director Michael Hartmer sees things
differently. In his view, the clients should not be able to claim
ignorance as an excuse. He notes that a simple Google search would have
sufficed to clue the clients in on the shady nature of the Ph.D.
consultancy business. And he believes that the clients might have their
degrees annulled. "These people know that they obtained their titles
through academic efforts that were not just their own and that they did
so with the help of Ph.D. consultants," Hartmer told the German news
agency DDP. "So it is totally clear: If they have already been awarded
a Ph.D., they will be stripped of their title."
Still, the fact is that not every client succeeded in obtaining a
Ph.D. In the case of the law professor at the University of Hanover,
for example, only a handful of the 60 candidates he oversaw ultimately
received their doctoral degree. When news of the scandal broke in March
2008, the University of Hanover promptly launched an investigation and
invalidated nine of the doctoral degrees it had awarded, including ones
for a judge and several civil servants and lawyers. The dean overseeing
the law school there says, "We assume that all of the candidates -- and
particularly all of the ones dealing with law -- knew what they were
getting into." He adds that more investigations related to revoking
degrees might be in the pipeline.
Widespread and Persistent
For the time being, Cologne's public prosecutor's office has chosen
to refrain from announcing the particular places and people under
investigation. According to a report by the German news magazine Focus,
however, the investigation involves instructors at universities across
Germany -- in Frankfurt, Tbingen, Leipzig, Rostock, Jena, Bayreuth,
Ingolstadt, Hamburg, Hanover, Bielefeld, Hagen, Cologne and Berlin.
Most of the universities have yet to make a public comment on the
affair. However, officials at the University of Bayreuth have admitted
to having promptly asked the prosecutor's office to provide information
about which professors and Ph.D. students might be involved.
In the meantime, there are still plenty of shady companies to be
found on the Internet that are eager to provide such services. Here a
few choice examples:
"'Whether it's for term papers, B.A. or
M.A. theses, or Ph.D. dissertations, our specialists are ready to help
you with their expertise and specialized knowledge in all fields." (a
company from Halle)
"Our team of over 400 academically
trained ghostwriters work in all specialized fields at a high academic
level, at a good price and in an interdisciplinary way. They can meet
your deadline and remain confidential. We have the capacity to process
even large assignments in line with your requirements." (a company from
Lhne)
"When we say academic consultancy, we
mean Ph.D. consultancy. We have much experience in this field and would
like to offer this service to students wishing to receive a Ph.D. in
Eastern Europe and the customary doctoral programs there." (a company
with a contact address in Slovakia)
"Are you hoping to complete a thesis or
dissertation that requires a lot of work? We can provide you a concrete
program for doing so in a manageable amount of time. Short on time? We
can solve some clear problems and overcome some bureaucratic hurdles.
Looking for the perfect topic for your doctoral dissertation? We can
provide you with advice and help you find a Ph.D. adviser." (a company
from Leipzig)
* German privacy law forbids media sources from fully identifying individuals until they have been convicted of a crime.
2010.03.09 Macedonia: Young people want a future without corruption
Secondary school students awarded with certificates for the best essays on the topic "Corruption is not my future"
Fighting corruption is a challenge for all generations. For adults it
is expressed in the need to build a society in which all will live well
and have equal job opportunities and progress. “For the youth it is a
challenge to understand and realize the problem and evil it is that
threatens their future,” stated Professor Slagjana Taseva, President of
Transparency-Zero Corruption. She added that this pilot activity, based
on the essays from Macedonian high schools regarding the topic:
“Corruption is not my future”, is the first and only of its kind.
"For
the adults the future depends on whether young people will have the
opportunity to learn what comprises corruption, and why we say that it
is evil. These students from the high schools are recognizing the evil,
and have very nice ideas about how they would like their future to be,
without corruption", emphasized Taseva.
Creating awareness among children and adolescents is easier than
among adults. “Instructing young people about the negative aspects of
corruption is the best preventive measure that we have in the fight of
the spread and growth of corruption,” said the Norwegian Ambassador in
the Republic of Macedonia, His Excellency Kjetil Paulsen and added that
like raising awareness among young people, the laws that will regulate
this matter are also important. For him, the developed awareness is
crucial for recognizing and dealing with this evil.
So why should the education process be the leading lecturer among the
youth? The media and educational systems are battling sources for
information received by students. Therefore, in the education process
there should be an academic introduction which will teach the young
people that the future is not in corruption, because through the
various media outlets, it is much easier for them to learn corrupt
practices than to say "NO" to the corruption.
With respect to the family and tradition over time, the corruption will
be deleted as a word,” said Snezana Mironovska, director of Josip Broz
Tito High School
"The family always gives the main direction to the child, so each
should start from their own family so that the children will be
educated as they should, in accordance with the laws, and corruption
will be on the lowest level,“ stated Mironovska.
Certificates for the best essays on the topic: "Corruption is not my
future" were given to the following students: Verche Karafiloska,
Tamara Kotevska, Simona Lokvenec and Sara Robeli.
2010.03.11 Whistleblower call over school place fraud
A report into parents who cheat to get their child
into a school calls for whistleblowing hotlines to be set up.
England's
Chief Schools Adjudicator, Ian Craig, also calls for councils to make
random checks on 10% of applications to cut fraud.
He estimates
last year 4,200 fraudulent applications were made in England.
Schools
Secretary Ed Balls backed the idea of random checks but stopped short
of saying that a place should always be withdrawn if obtained
dishonestly.
Where a family is found to have cheated
to get their child a school place, the adjudicator says local
authorities should have a duty to withdraw the place from a child.
Punished
In
his response, Mr Balls says he does not want to criminalise parents and
that no child should be punished for their parents' actions.
He
says before a child is removed from a school his parents are accused of
cheating to get them in to, an appeal should be heard - within two
weeks.
No child should be punished for their parents' actions, but
neither should families on waiting lists be unfairly disadvantaged or
delayed
Ed Balls, Schools Secretary
He says it is the "default position" that a place should be withdrawn
but also that "it will be for the appeal panel to decide whether the
child should remain in the school".
Ed Balls said: "I take this
issue very seriously, and am keen to address it proportionately.
"While
I am reassured that only a tiny minority of parents apply dishonestly, I
am also clear that every place gained by deception is denying another
child their rightful place.
"No child should be punished for
their parents' actions, but neither should families on waiting lists be
unfairly disadvantaged or delayed."
Dr Craig's recommendations
include:
Local authorities should point
out in their admissions booklets what the consequences of dishonest
applications would be
Local authorities should be encouraged to
publicise a whistle-blowing telephone number in their admissions
booklets and elsewhere
Local authorities should routinely
check, as a minimum, a random 10 % sample of applications, and alert
parents to this in their admissions booklets
In cases where
deception is proved, there should be a duty on local authorities that
places must be withdrawn
On the recommendation that local
authorities check a random 10% of applications, Ed Balls added: "This -
along with further information in the School Admissions Code on
detecting fraudulent applications and how they can be addressed, with
letters being sent to parents whose applications are suspect - seems to
be a reasonable approach."
Dr Craig was asked by the government
to look into the issue of fraud in school places and then to make
recommendations on how to curb the problem.
In his latest report,
the chief schools adjudicator said local authorities had reported to
him that they had dealt with 1,400 cases of fraud last year.
But
he said the data suggested there were at least two cases suspected for
every one that was found and dealt with, so he thought the number of
fraudulent applications was "in excess of 4200 per year".
He
reported that a "significant minority" of local authorities said they do
not currently withdraw places once children have begun school, as this
was considered to be punishing the child for the actions of the parent.
Councils do not want to be in conflict with parents but are
dependent on parents working with them to make the system fair
Local Government Association
"Most of those consulted accepted that, reluctantly, this may be the
only way in which a parent may be dissuaded from submission of false
information," he added.
Dr Craig said most of the councils and
parents he canvassed for the report agreed that prevention was better
than the cure and that effort should be concentrated on deterring
would-be cheats.
Parents had complained to him that "insufficient
care was taken at either county or individual school level to detect
fraudulent applications and apply appropriate sanctions to
perpetrators".
A spokeswoman for the Local Government
Association, which represents local authorities, said: "We understand
that parents want to do the best for their children. Councils do not
want to be in conflict with parents but are dependent on parents working
with them to make the system fair for every single child.
"In an
ideal world there would be no need to ask councils to investigate
parents, because the system works best when everyone is honest and open
in applying for school places"
2010.03.06 School admissions: more parents facing 'fraud' investigations
An increasing number of parents are being investigated over suspected
admissions fraud after attempting to cheat to get children into the best
schools, it can be disclosed.
Local councils across England
have revealed how children's school places had been cancelled or frozen amid
concerns families lied on application forms.
Many parents are suspected of submitting false addresses in the catchment
areas of the most sought-after secondary schools.
The admissions watchdog has already suggested that the use of relatives€™
addresses €“ normally grandparents with the same surname €“ is among the most
common scam by parents attempting to play the system.
Other families have been found renting homes close to the best schools or
even swapping houses with friends.
More than one-in-10 councils contacted by The Daily Telegraph said they
had already uncovered examples of cheating in secondary school admissions. The
numbers are expected to climb further in coming weeks as schools submit fresh
evidence.
As many as one-in-six children missed out on their first choice school amid
fierce competition in some areas.
Some faith schools, grammar schools and new-style academies are believed to
have received as many as 10 applications for every place.
The competition has forced some parents to go to extreme lengths to maximise
children€™s chances of getting in.
This week, councils told the Telegraph that they had already uncovered
suspected fraud.
Hartlepool, Reading, South Tyneside, Telford
and Wrekin, Derby and the London boroughs of Hackney and Barnet were
among those confirming cases.
Telford council said it was investigating
around six instances in which €œparents have tried to use a false address€,
adding that figures could rise.
A spokesman for the Learning Trust, which runs education in Hackney, east London, said it believed
that some parents were €œtrying to use other relatives€™ addresses€.
Derby Council said up to 10 families were still being investigated.
Barnet said it had seven cases of suspected admissions fraud, while Lincolnshire said it was
acting on €œless than 10€.
Children can be stripped of places if parents submit false information on
application forms.
The disclosure follows the publication of a report by the official
admissions watchdog last year that suggested as many as 3,500 families may have
lied to get children into schools in 2009 €“ but only around 1,100 were caught.
In a report, Ian Craig, the Chief Schools Adjudicator, said many parents
were employing €œquite bizarre€ tactics to cheat the system.
Using grandparents€™ addresses on admissions forms was the most common
method, followed by parents who rented homes near the school gates. Some
married couples even pretended to separate, with one moving into the catchment
area of a good school.
Friends and neighbours often colluded to €œplay the system€, Dr Craig said,
and in one case multiple false applications were traced back to parents at the
same pre-school.
Some councils already carry out their own doorstep inspections of parents to
ensure information on application forms is accurate.
But they claim that attempts to crackdown on cheating is being undermined by
the lack of proper sanctions, other than taking away the place.
Dr Craig was asked by Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, to draw up a list of
suggested new powers to clampdown on the problem.
His recommendations will be published later this month, but he will stop
short of suggesting criminal prosecutions for suspected admissions fraud.
Speaking last week, Dr Craig said: €œAlthough I had initially started off
thinking that criminalisation might be a good thing, I think it became very
clear that no political party was going to imprison parents for fraudulent
applications.€
The report is expected to call for improved detection techniques and a media
campaign to highlight the fact that other children lose out when families jump
the queue for school places.
It follows an attempt by Harrow Council to prosecute a parent for fraud
after she used her mother's address in the catchment area of PinnerParkFirstSchool.
She denied the charges and the case was dropped on advice from lawyers that
it was unlikely to succeed.
Susan Hall, deputy leader of Harrow Council, said: "If these reports
are true, this is deeply disappointing and effectively will act as an open
sesame to all those parents who believe they don't have to abide by fair play
when it comes to getting a school place.
€œIt would appear we remain in legal limbo with no effective sanctions
against those who want to play the system.€
2010.02.24 Nepal education minister removed over corruption claims
Nepal's Education Minister Ram Chandra
Kuswaha has been removed from his post amid allegations of corruption.
The
bribery allegations against Mr Kuswaha led to international donors
suspending millions of dollars in funding for schools.
He denies
accepting bribes from more than 1,000 teachers to secure them jobs in
the schools of their choice.
He also denies receiving payments
from a textbook printing firm. Impoverished Nepal relies heavily on
foreign aid.
The government replaced Mr Kuswaha on
Wednesday amid growing controversy over the corruption allegations.
The
education minister left his job "based on the recommendation" of his
Terai Madhes Democratic Party, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Minendra
Rijal told AFP news agency.
Mr Kuswaha strenuously denies any
wrongdoing.
"I have not committed any irregularity. There is only
a suspicion, they have only expressed suspicion," he told the BBC
Nepali service on Tuesday.
"I want a proper investigation on the
issue to determine any wrongdoing. If the money hasn't gone where it was
meant to go, that should be investigated. And after the investigation,
the irregularities found should be annulled."
Correspondents say
losing the funds for schools would be a major blow for Nepal.
The
country is one of the world's poorest and depends on foreign
governments and aid agencies for nearly 25% of an education reform
programme which will cost an estimated $4bn over the next seven years.
Germany Rocked By Allegations of Ph.D. Bribes
No child should be punished for their parents' actions, but
neither should families on waiting lists be unfairly disadvantaged or
delayed
