Daily

Bulgaria: Asset Seizure?

The government of Bulgaria has proposed a new law on the seizure of illegally obtained assets, part of an attempt to respond to the EU censure last year for failure to combat organized crime.

 

Bourke Sentenced for Bribes

An American investor was sentenced to 366 days in prison and fined $1 million for conspiring to bribe officials in Azerbaijan in oil deal-making that a US prosecutor called the most audacious and corrupt scheme attempted in the former Soviet Union.

Index: US State Most Secretive

The United States received a dubious first-place ranking in a new report that for the first time has ranked secretive financial jurisdictions not just by their levels of secrecy, but also by how much money flows through a place every year.

Charges Await Djukanovic?

The Bari prosecutor leading the Italian investigation of Milo Djukanovic’s involvement in illegal cigarette trafficking has told Montenegrin media that the country’s Prime Minister, who currently enjoys diplomatic immunity, could face charges once he leaves office.

Knezevic Accuses: Redux

Ratko Knezevic , former aide to Milo Djukanovic, Montenegro’s leader, has again publicly accused the prime minister of ordering the assassination of Ivo Pukanic last year. 

Importing Crime: EU faces outside threats

Fortress Europe may not be such a fortress after all. According to an annual crime report from Europol, countries outside the European Union (EU) continue to influence organized crime in the 27-nation bloc.

Global Press Freedom

Reporters Without Borders has  released its eighth annual Press Freedom Index for 2009, with four Scandanavian countries and Ireland topping the list.

EC Report on Balkans

The European Union’s executive arm lauded Croatia and Macedonia for their efforts to reform enough to join the Union, but the same reports this week weren’t optimistic about neighboring countries’ progress.

Kosovo Gets Two Messages

The European Commission progress report  released this week on Kosovo faults the government’s handling of a range of issues, but that report came just  a day before an EC study document that proposed negotiations on visa-free travel and a trade agreement.

Interpol Move in OC Fight

Interpol has promised to share its databases and other information with UN police peacekeepers in an agreement intended to keep organized crime from gaining a foothold in war zones and other places of unrest around the world