Nepal Government considers snooping bribery allegations

Nepal government is mulling investigating the bribery allegations with a possible Maoist-China link, after demands for a probe were raised by political parties and citizens groups alike.
The case involving UCPN-Maoist leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara surfaced after an audio tape was leaked to the media in which he was reportedly heard asking a Chinese official Rs50 crore, apparently for weaning away Madhesi lawmakers ahead of the seventh prime ministerial run off, and has led to an chaos in the country.

A demonstration was held in front of the Chinese deputation by youth organisation, Independent Youth Group Nepal.
The members of the group demonstrated against the reported intrusion by China in the political affairs of Nepal, and handed over a protest note to an embassy official.
Taking serious note of the allegations, the Nepalese cabinet said it is considering establishing a probe committee to look into the event."The government will ask the Constituent Assembly chairman Nemwang and the Attorney General on the issue of forming a probe pane to look into on the audio tape scandal," said government orator Shanker Pokharel.
In advance, Nepali Congress (NC) members and leaders of civil society submitted letters of complaint to the chairman of the constituent assembly (CA) Subash Chandra Nemwang.
A delegation comprising NC leaders, including chief beat in the Paliament, Laxman Ghimire, and general secretary Bimalendra Nidhi submitted a memorandum to Nemwang and expressed concern over the shame.

Maoist leader Mahara was allegedly heard demanding Rs500 million from a Chinese official allegedly to buy 50 lawmakers to ensure Prachanda's victory in the prime ministerial run-off.
Ahead of the seventh round of voting in the parliament, a delegation of civil society leaders also submitted a memorandum to Nemwang demanding that the voting be postponed and the allegations be thoroughly probed.

Chinese officials involved in Daimler bribery case

Daimler was charged by the US government of offering bribes worth tens of millions of dollars to foreign government officials in at least 22 countries, for contracts between 1998 and 2008.
China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), China's largest oil refiner, is also involved in the case.
The kickbacks of cash and gifts of luxury armored cars, golf clubs and vacations helped secure government contracts from countries including China, Croatia, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Iraq, Cote d'Ivoire, Latvia, Nigeria, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
According to the file released by the court, during 2001 to 2005, Daimler Chrysler paid at least 4.1 million euros (37.31 million yuan) in "commissions," "gifts" and lavish vacation to Chinese government officials and in return the car company received contracts worth 112 million euros from Chinese firms.
Many of these payments were made through "third-party accounts" that were supervised by the most senior management of Daimler's sales operations. The file showed that Daimler and Daimler Chrysler China had a bank account named "special commission" with an account number that ended with "819". The money in this account was used to bribe Chinese officials.
The file also showed that during 2001 to 2004, Daimler and Daimler Chrysler China employees offered graft of at least 188,800 euros through the "third-party account" to obtain contracts worth 5.53 million euros.
On February 28, 2002, Daimler offered 18,000 euros in bribes through Texas-based firm Shores International to the wife of a Chinese government official as commission. The money was used in a transaction involving a car worth 1.01 million euros to Sinopec.
Almost a year later on February 21, 2003, Texas-based company Lily Energy Service gave 15,000 euros to Changqing Petroleum Exploration Bureau to sell six trucks worth 492,000 euros each.
Also, the file claimed that Daimler gave about 2.6 million euros to Chinese government officials to ensure receiving contracts worth 71.56 million euros from Sinopec and BGP. The money was given to senior managers of Sinopec and BGP as well as their families.
Daimler admitted previously that it made hundreds of improper payments, but said that the company would cooperate with the investigation.
Sources disclosed that Daimler has reached an agreement with the US government to pay $185 million in fines to end the long-running investigatio