An Algerian court has handed down verdicts in a major corruption case, sentencing two former prime ministers to years prisons and heavy fines, Qatar-based outlet Al Jazeera reported Tuesday.

On International Human Rights Day Tuesday, the United States Treasury announced sanctions against Marian Kočner, a controversial businessman facing trial in Slovakia later this month for his alleged leading role in the murders of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiance Martina Kušnírová. 

The US Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on several people and legal entities in Europe, Asia and Latin America under the Magnitsky Act, including Mayor of Ventspils in Latvia, according to Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, testifying this week in a Kuala Lumpur courtroom, said he had the right to use funds prosecutors allege were siphoned from his country’s strategic development fund to buy presents for his wife and for a former leader of Qatar.

Two anti-corruption groups hailed the start of a money laundering trial featuring the uncle of Syria’s dictator as a first step in combating corruption in France.

The CEO of Sweden’s telecom giant called the bribery scandal shaking Ericsson “unacceptable” as the firm vowed to overhaul its compliance system as well as pay more than US$1 billion to settle a corruption case.

A member of the Kyrgyzstan Parliament is proposing further government investigation following reports by OCCRP and its media partners that the country has harbored money laundering that is worth hundreds of millions of dollars and has cost the lives of currency couriers crossing its borders.

As many as 629 women and girls from Pakistan were sold as brides and taken to China, according to a list obtained by The Associated Press.

Two customs agents and a man were charged with drug trafficking in what authorities are describing as Australia’s largest-ever seizure of methamphetamine after investigators discovered the drugs hidden inside a shipment of stereo speakers.

Namibia’s state-owned fishing company has suspended its chief executive following media reports that government officials had taken bribes in exchange for the multimillion-dollar fishing rights to horse mackerel, Reuters reported.