CORRUPTION

Islamabad, Dec 20:  Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain on Saturday said the terrorists have crossed all limits and don't deserve any leniency, days after a deadly Taliban terror attack in Peshawar killed 148 people, mostly children.   Hussain said the entire nation was united against the militants who attacked an army-run school on Tuesday in Peshawar. "The nation is today united against the militants and it wants that they should not be given any concession because they do not deserve," he said after meeting the hospitalised students injured in the attack.

Ranchi, Dec 20: The five-phased assembly elections in Jharkhand ended peacefully on Saturday, Dec 20. The elections will be declared on Tuesday, Dec 23. The Election Commission said that an impressive voter turnout of 70.42 per cent was recorded From Jharkhand in the last phase of the elections ABP-Neilson survey It projected that the BJP's tagline of "acche din" (good days) had a huge impact on the voters of the state. 

Kolkata, Dec 19: The troubles for the Trinamool Congress Party do not seem to end and now the Enforcement Directorate is probing in full swing charges of money laundering against Madan Mitra. The trust fund: What the Enforcement Directorate has stumbled upon is a transfer of money made to a trust in Bishopur allegedly at the behest of Mitra. The allegation is that the Sudipto Sen had transferred this money at the behest of Mitra who felt that the trust which ran a temple in his former constituency of Bishnopur was in bad state. The transaction: According to the Enforcement Directorate Mitra is alleged to have told Sen to transfer money to the tune of Rs 1 crore towards the trust which manages the Swaminarayan Temple. Although the ED has found a trail of Rs 50 lakh it is yet to find out how the rest of the Rs 50 lakh was transferred.

The Supreme Court on Thursday, Dec 18, while extending the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minster's bail also ordered that the High Court set up a special bench to hear the case on a day to day basis The High Court which will go on vacation for Christmas will resume proceedings on January 2. It has to first get a copy of the Supreme Court verdict and only then can the Chief Justice constitute a Special Bench to hear the matter. In all probability the proceedings will commence in January and will go on until the end of March.   Jayalalithaa's team happy For the legal team of Jayalalithaa this comes as a major relief. There was skepticism that the Supreme Court may not order an early hearing of the matter. In normal course courts have rejected such pleas since there are several appeals already pending. In the case of the Karnataka High Court appeals of 2010 are being heard at the moment. For Jayalalithaa she would require a clarity on the status of her case by the next elect

The 2G scam has shocked the conscience of the nation. It had all the big names in it and was a scam of huge proportion. However one must note that the case which was investigated by the Enforcement Directorate involving the transfer of Rs 200 to the Kalaignar TV promoted by Swan Telecom is the one to watch out for. The trial has commenced in this case and the Enforcement Directorate is confident that its detailed 143 page chargesheet has all that is needed to merit a conviction. The ED case The allegation in the case was that Rs 200 crore was transferred to Kalaignar TV by Swan Telecon. It is stated in the chargesheet that this transfer was made as a quid pro quo and the intent was to was actually for the Swan Telecon to bag the 2G spectrum. Everything became suspicious when the firm bagged the 2G spectrum at such a menial price.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif at the SAARC Summit in Kathmandu. (Reuters) NEW DELHI:   Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday evening spoke with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif over phone and offered his deepest condolences for the terror attack on a school in Peshawar. External affairs spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin in a tweet posted the prime minister's statement during his talk with Sharif.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:   Voicing concern over allegations of corruption against some judges, Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M) stalwart and Kerala Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan today said this was an ominous trend that would disgrace the sanctity and credibility of the judicial system and legal profession. "An independent and impartial judiciary is inevitable for survival of democracy. But, corruption charges against judges would disgrace the sanctity of the entire judicial system. Judges themselves should make efforts to ensure that this would not happen," Mr Achuthanandan said.      He was speaking after presenting the Pirappancode Sreedharan Nair Award, instituted by Kerala Lawyers' Club, to former Solicitor General and senior Supreme Court lawyer Gopal Subramaniam.

Illegal capital outflows increase for 4th straight year, study says More than $35 billion was illicitly drained from Thailand through money laundering, tax evasion, crime and false trade documentation in 2012, marking the fourth-consecutive annual increase in corruption-tainted outflows, a US think tank said.  Washington-based group Global Financial Integrity said in a report published Monday that Thailand moved up to eighth on its list of developing countries with the most illegal capital outflows in the decade through 2012. Only Indonesia, ranking seventh, Malaysia, at fifth, and China, in first, were more corrupt in Asia. However, unlike Indonesia and, particularly, Malaysia, Thailand has been backsliding on fighting corruption related it its international trade.