EU-DIGEST: Fraud

Showing posts with label Fraud. Show all posts

5/7/23

Turkey elections : more than just a change of Government

On May 14, Turkey will elect a new parliament and a new president. And after 20 years in power, the incumbent president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is not the clear favorite. The polls also show his electoral alliance trailing behind that of the opposition.

What is Turkey's political system?

According to its constitution, the Turkish Republic was established in 1923 as a parliamentary democracy. Erdogan, however, was keen to change this — and in 2017, his governing AKP party amended the constitution with the support of its ultra-nationalist partner, the MHP.

They introduced an executive presidential system with the 2018 elections. Since then, the president has not only the country's head of state, he also heads the government. The office of prime minister has been abolished.

The president is directly elected by the people for a five-year term, and under the new system he has wide-ranging powers. He appoints and dismisses ministers and high-ranking civil servants at his own discretion, and he also heads the cabinet.

The head of state also has the power to issue presidential decrees and to fill many posts in the judiciary, as well as in specific departments such as finance or education. The most important offices of the secret service and the powerful religious authority Diyanet also report directly to the president.

11/4/20

US Election 2020 - final results will be days off: Tighter than expected vote may take days to resolve

Mr Trump, a Republican, claimed to have won and vowed to launch a Supreme Court challenge, baselessly alleging fraud, while Mr Biden, a Democrat, said he was "on track" to victory.

Read more at: US Election 2020: Tighter than expected vote may take days to resolve - BBC News

8/1/20

USA: Donald Trump can't delay the election or stop it, but he can avoid it

Trump tweeted that voting by mail — something many think might be wise during a pandemic — would lead to "the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history."

"Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???" he finished.

Read more at:
Trump can't delay the election or stop it, but he can avoid it | CBC News

11/21/19

Israel: PM Benjamin Netanyahu indicted for bribery and fraud

Attorney general announces charges against Netanyahu as crisis deepens for longest-serving leader

Read more at:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/21/israeli-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu-indicted-for-bribery-and?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Add_to_Firefox

9/21/19

EU commission: Nine EU 'commissioners' asked to clarify declarations

Nine EU commissioner candidates have been taken to task for incomplete financial declarations by the European Parliament's (EP) legal affairs committee.

The revelation, made by French left-wing MEP Manon Aubry, on Twitter on Thursday (19 September) did not name names.

But eight of them were listed by Polish news website Onet.pl, citing an EP source.

The Onet.pl list included: Josep Borrell (Spanish candidate for EU the foreign affairs chief portfolio); Elisa Ferreira (Portuguese candidate for cohesion and reforms); Johannes Hahn (Austria's candidate for budget); Stellia Kyriakidu (Cyprus' candidate for health); Rovana Plumb (Romania's candidate for transport); Didier Reynders (Belgium's candidate for justice); Kadri Simson (Estonian candidate for energy); and Janusz Wojciechowski (Polish candidate for agriculture).

The candidates were asked to submit additional information on their declarations by 27 September, so that the legal affairs committee can give the green light for their public hearings by the parliament, starting 30 September.

Read more: Nine EU 'commissioners' asked to clarify declarations

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6/16/19

Israel: Israeli court convicts Sara Netanyahu for misusing state funds

Israeli court convicts Sara Netanyahu for misusing state funds

4/10/19

Middle East -Israel: Netanyahu wins re-election with a parliamentary majority, despite of the fact that he is under investigation

"Israel's Netanyahu wins re-election with parliamentary majority: tally" -

4/4/19

Turkey: Erdogan and AKP show their real faces following losses at the Municipal elections in Turkey. Local and foreign observers call Government sore losers and abusers of their powers

Mr Erdogan and his AKP party are showing their real manipulative faces following their losses in major Turkish cities during the municipal elections in Turkey by not accepting most of the results.

Protests have been lodged by the EU and the US to Turkey for this undemocratic manipulative behavior by the Erdogan Government following the Municipal Elections

3/7/19

USA: Trump campaign boss Paul Manafort sentenced to 47 months for tax and bank fraud

Ex-Trump campaign boss Paul Manafort sentenced to 47 months for tax, bank fraud

Read more at:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/manafort-sentence-tax-bank-fraud-1.5046393

2/25/19

Moldova: Early results: No party secures majority in Moldova ballot - by V. Ghirda and N. Dumitrache

Near-final results from Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Moldova showed no party secured a majority, a result that could leave the former Soviet republic in limbo between pro-Western and pro-Russia forces.

With 97 percent of the votes counted early Monday, the broadly pro-Russia opposition Socialists had 31.5 percent, while the pro-European group ACUM had 25.9 percent. The incumbent Democratic Party was trailing in third place with 24.1 percent.

The election comes as the Democratic Party’s governing alliance has lost support over rampant corruption, falling living standards and the erosion of democracy in Moldova, a small landlocked nation between Romania and Ukraine.

President Igor Dodon forecast another election in the coming months. “We have a major risk of early elections,” he said after casting his ballot.

An inconclusive outcome could lead to instability, and Dodon and pro-Europe leader Maia Sandu have warned of demonstrations if elections are found to be marred by fraud.

If lawmakers fail to form a governing coalition within 45 days of the election result, the president will dissolve the legislature and call a new vote.

More than 3 million voters were eligible to choose representatives for the next four years to the 101-seat legislature. Parties needed to win a minimum of 6 percent of the ballots to enter Parliament.

Election authorities said voter turnout was just over 49 percent when polls closed.

ACUM party leader Maia Sandu told The Associated Press that the election was “the most undemocratic in the history of Moldova.”

“A gang of thieves ... has captured the state institutions” and are “scaring ... threatening and impoverishing us,” Sandu said Sunday as she urged Moldovans to vote.

One voter, Svetlana Druta, said she had voted to change the judicial system.

“We need to start from the top and then (change) elementary schools and kindergartens, and then we need a good health” system, she said.

Last year, the European Parliament called Moldova “a state captured by oligarchic interests.” The European Union also froze aid to Moldova after a local court invalidated the 2018 Chisinau mayoral election on a technicality, a move to thwart the apparent victory of a pro-Europe candidate.

But Vladimir Plahotniuc, the Democratic Party chief and the country’s de facto leader, insisted Sunday that the ruling party had brought “order and discipline” through its economic policies.

Despite that claim, an estimated 1 million Moldovans have moved abroad to find jobs, mainly in the EU and Russia.

Moldova’s voting system has been changed in what critics say is a ploy to help the two main parties — the Socialists and the Democrats — carve up influence.

About 340 international observers from 38 countries monitored the ballot.

Read more: Early results: No party secures majority in Moldova ballot

2/6/19

USA: Democrats launch new investigations into Trump's finances and Russia links

Democrats launch new investigation into Trump's finances and Russia links

12/9/18

USA: Trump at the center of massive fraud against the American people says top Democrat

Trump 'at center of massive fraud against Americans', top Democrat says

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/09/donald-trump-michael-cohen-payments-impeachment-jerrold-nadler?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

11/19/18

Global Automobile Industry: Carlos Gosn chairman - Nisan, Renault, Mitsubishi arrested on fraud charges

Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn arrested over 'misconduct' -

3/28/18

Brexit Vote Fraud: May says Vote fraud allegations will not derail Brexit

British Prime Minister Theresa May says her government will continue with plans to leave the European Union, despite allegations that the Leave campaign received illegal funds.

May said during Prime Minister's Questions: "Can I simply say this. If there are those who are trying to suggest that the Government should be rejecting the result of the referendum as a result of these sorts of claims, I will say very clearly, the referendum was held, the vote was taken, the people gave their view, and we will be delivering on it."

Two separate whistleblowers, one from Cambridge Analytica and one from within the Vote Leave group have instructed lawyers to hand over evidence to the Electoral Commission to outline their claims that Vote Leave acted illegally.

The allegations have scandalised Brexit, one year before the UK plans to leave the EU.

Facebook's Mark Zuckerburg has been forced to apologise for how his company used people's data and questions have been rasied about how tech companies have intervened within democratic processes.

Vote Leave officials deny breaking election rules and call this an attempt to undermine Brexit.

8/2/17

Venezuela opposition leaders taken from homes overnight

U.S. President Donald Trump said in a statement late Tuesday that he holds Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro personally responsible for the health and safety of two of the country's leading opposition figures who were taken from their homes in the middle of the night by state security agents.

"The United States condemns the actions of the Maduro dictatorship," Trump said in a written statement released by the White House.

The statement says Leopoldo Lopez and Antonio Ledezma are "political prisoners being held illegally by the regime."

Earlier Tuesday U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said it's "very alarming" that two of Venezuela's leading opposition figures were taken from their homes in the middle of the night by state security agents.

"We call for their immediate release," State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters Tuesday.

Read more: Venezuela opposition leaders taken from homes overnight - World - CBC News

5/11/17

USA Trump Administration:Trump’s Odds of Impeachment Are Spiking Online - by Bess Levine

Since the election, millions of people the world over have comforted themselves with the thought that no matter how outrageous, incompetent, or stupid Donald J. Trump may be, at least the odds are reasonably high that he won’t make it through a full term. Sure, with Republicans controlling Congress, impeachment would be no easy feat, but sooner or later, he would have to do something that would get them to put country before politics. (Whether Vice President Mike Pence would be an improvement is, among Democrats, another subject of debate.)

While we’re probably not there yet, the events of this week—wherein Trump fired the man who was investigating his campaign for ties to Russia—have betting men and women worldwide putting more money on the odds of The Big I. Per Politico:

On the website PredictIt, traders set the Trump’s chances of still serving as president at the end of 2017 at 83 percent, as of Wednesday afternoon. That’s down from 87 percent at the close of trading Tuesday — though the price has stabilized from the low-water mark of 79 percent following the Comey news. Across the pond, where bettors have been more bullish on Trump’s potential removal, the Irish bookmaker Paddy Power told Politico on Wednesday that its Trump impeachment odds had shortened, from 10/11 (52 percent) to 4/6 (60 percent) . . .

The odds on Bovada, another offshore gambling site with a bigger U.S. footprint, are more pessimistic about Trump’s removal. Trump is considered marginally more likely than not to serve a full term as president; bettors have to wager $130 to win $100 that Trump will make it to January 20, 2021.

Of course, the G.O.P. does not appear ready to wash its hands of Trump and, as Politico points out, as of now, “few Democrats are openly talking about impeaching” him. Then again, the president is little more than 100 days into his term. Imagine what kind of unhinged, potentially impeachable acts we have to look forward to.

Read more: Trump’s Odds of Impeachment Are Spiking Online | Vanity Fair

5/5/17

French Pres.Elections: Macron launches legal suit after Le Pen repeats 'Bahamas bank account' rumours

Putin and Le Pen in Moscow

French prosecutors have opened an investigation after Marine Le Pen repeated rumours that Emmanuel Macron had a hidden offshore bank account in the Bahamas during Wednesday night's live TV debate. Macron said her suggestion was "defamation".

Macron's team had earlier announced that the candidate had lodged an official complaint over "the spreading of false information" to try to influence the result of an election.

The complaint was filed the morning after a memorable live TV debate between the two presidential election candidates.

During one particularly heated exchange in a debate marked by insults and invective the pair argued about the legal issues they faced.

After Macron said it wasn’t him that was under investigation by police, referring to the fake jobs allegations facing Le Pen, the far right candidate replied: “I hope we don’t discover you have an offshore account in the Bahamas.”

Macron warned her that her suggestion was "defamation".

Judicial sources told AFP prosecutors in Paris had opened a probe following the complaint from Macron, which comes three days before Sunday's presidential run-off vote.

A source close to the case told AFP, the complaint targets "information that circulated Wednesday night on the internet" (probably from Russian sources) alleging tax evasion in the Bahamas.

Read more: Macron launches legal suit after Le Pen repeats 'Bahamas bank account' rumours - The Local

4/28/17

French Presidential Elections: EU MEPs act to strip Le Pen of immunity in fake jobs case - by Eric Maurice

Le Pen and Putin during their recent meeting in Moscow

The European Parliament launched a procedure to lift immunity of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Wednesday (26 April) over claims she misused funds.

The assembly's president Antonio Tajani announced that a request from French judges had been forwarded to its legal affairs committee. The process is scheduled to begin in June.

The move comes as Le Pen, an anti-EU politician who has been an MEP since 2004, campaigns for the second round of the French presidential election on 7 May.

French judges requested her immunity be lifted at the end of March over claims of undue payments to members of her National Front (FN) party.

The parliament alerted the EU's anti-fraud office, Olaf, in 2015 after it discovered that about 20 people paid as assistants to FN MEPs were also listed as working at the party's headquarters near Paris.

According to a report leaked by French media earlier this year, Olaf found that Le Pen signed work contracts for her bodyguard and her head of cabinet assistant. It said the contracts could constitute a "misappropriation of funds, or fraud and use of fraud".

Last September, Le Pen was asked by the parliament to repay €339,946 to cover the salaries of the two assistants.

Paris judges opened a case against the FN over embezzlement, organised fraud, forgery, and undeclared work. They searched the party's headquarters in February.

Le Pen's head of cabinet, Catherine Griset, was charged a few days later.

According to Le Monde newspaper, judges found a document that could prove that the FN established a system to fund the party with EU parliament money.

"In the coming years, we can manage only by making large savings thanks to the European Parliament and if we obtain additional transfers," FN treasurer Wallerand de Saint Just wrote in a note to Le Pen, according to Le Monde.

On Thursday, the AFP press agency said parliament told judges the cost of the alleged fake jobs between 2012 and 2017 was €4,978,122.

Le Pen has denied any wrongdoing and said that the case was "persecution by political opponents".

She has so far refused to comply with court summonses, but losing her immunity would oblige her to obey.

The EU parliament already lifted her immunity in an unrelated case in March. She is under investigation in France after posting on Twitter, in 2015, pictures of men being tortured and killed by the Islamic State (IS) militant group, to protest against the comparison between IS and her National Front party by a journalist.

Le Pen, who came second in the election first round on Sunday, wants France to leave the euro and has promised to organise a referendum on the country's EU membership.

Read more: MEPs act to strip Le Pen of immunity in fake jobs case

4/17/17

Turkey Referendum Fraud: "Erdogan Uber Alles", as even the law is not sacred anymore in Turkey

Erdogan's Democracy In Action

Less than 24 hours after Erdogan declared "victory", Tana de Zulueta, head of the monitoring mission of the OSCE/ODIHR, offered a harsh analysis on the way the Turkish referendum was conducted.

In a damning statement, she said: "The legal framework for the referendum neither sufficiently provides for impartial coverage nor guarantees eligible political parties equal access to public media."

The ruling party and the president were given preference in the allocation of free airtime, she said.

The campaign framework was described as "restrictive" and "imbalanced" because of the involvement of Erdogan and other national and local public figures in the "yes" campaign.

De Zulueta also said that monitors saw 'No' supporters subjected to police intervention at events while also being equated to terrorists by senior officials in the 'Yes' camp, during a fractious campaign period. Monitors also said that the change in ballot validity rules was deemed to have undermined "an important safeguard and contradicting the law."

The Turkish High Electoral Board at first said it would not accept ballots that were missing ballot commission stamps. But it announced a changed of course after voting was underway Sunday, saying it would accept unstamped ballots "unless they are proven to have been brought from outside."

Given the fraud and controversy so far surrounding the Turkish referendum, leaders of member states of the European Union have been cautious about the results of the referendum in Turkey.and no EU leader sent the traditional congratulations message to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his victory so far.

EU-Digest

4/16/17

Turkey votes to expand president’s powers wih minimal margin; critics cry fraud - by E. Becatoros, S. Fraser and Z.Bilginsoy

Turkey Referendum :Erdogan 's intimidation worked barely

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won a historic referendum Sunday that will greatly expand the powers of his office, although opposition parties questioned the outcome and said they would challenge the results.

With 99 percent of the ballots counted, the “yes” vote stood at 51.37 percent, while the “no” vote was 48.63 percent, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. The head of Turkey’s electoral board confirmed the “yes” victory and said final results will be declared in 11-12 days.

Although the margin fell short of the sweeping victory Erdogan had sought in the landmark referendum, it could nevertheless cement his hold on power in Turkey and is expected to have a huge effect on the country’s long-term political future and its international relations.

The 18 constitutional amendments that will come into effect after the next election, scheduled for 2019, will abolish the office of the prime minister and hand sweeping executive powers to the president.

In his first remarks from Istanbul, Erdogan struck a conciliatory tone, thanking all voters no matter how they cast their ballots and calling the referendum a “historic decision.”

“April 16 is the victory of all who said ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ of the whole 80 million, of the whole of Turkey,” Erdogan told reporters in address that was televised live.

But he quickly reverted to a more abrasive style when addressing thousands of flag-waving supporters in Istanbul

“There are those who are belittling the result. They shouldn’t try, it will be in vain,” he said. “It’s too late now.”

Responding to chants from the crowd to reinstate the death penalty, Erdogan said he would take up the issue with the country’s political leaders, adding that the question could be put to another referendum if the political leaders could not agree.

Note EU-Digest: Given the result of the referendum and charges of intimidation in addition to the possibility of massive electoral fraud, President Erdogan, in all reality, can not really claim he got a sweeping mandate to change the Turkish Constitution in this referendum

The fears of electoral fraud and government meddling is now more relevant than ever, fueled by the extraordinary powers the government wields under the state of emergency.

The badly crippled Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the main Kurdish political force, which has been trying to soldier on with its “no” campaign against its main rival, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has also voiced their concerns.

HDP members say they have been facing the “unchecked power” of the government, reflected not only in obstructions to their campaigns, but also in moves to keep party activists away from polling stations today, March 16.

Read more: Turkey votes to expand president’s powers; critics cry fraud - The Washington Post

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