Ethics Newsline®

VARIOUS DATELINES
Stories related to corruption and were featured in various world-press reports last week. Among them:

• In France, presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy denied press reports that he cut a deal with president Jacques Chirac, offering Chirac protection from prosecution in a series of financial scandals in return for Chirac’s endorsement. The Paris-based International Herald Tribune reports that Chirac may face a raft of legal problems once his current immunity from prosecution — granted by law to sitting French presidents — expires at the end of his term in May. The Herald Tribune reports that Chirac has been under investigation for several years over alleged financing irregularities when he served as mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.
• China’s government now will mandate nationwide prices for prescription drugs in order to stop what officials say is profiteering by hospitals, doctors, and nurses who allegedly sometimes ask patients for bribes in order to prescribe certain drugs. According to the paper Shanghai Daily, the government also will crack down on the approval procedures for new pharmaceuticals in order to prevent producers from changing the names of the drugs in a bid to escape the planned price controls.
• Singapore will give a raise to ministerial-level officials, upping their salaries by an average 60 percent and totaling a breathtaking $1.25 million by the end of 2008, according to a report from BusinessWeek. Officials say the high salaries are necessary in order to attract top talent and head off the threat of corruption.