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defavouredkings · 4 years

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The Anti-Progress Stance Of The Nigerian National Assembly

Anti-Progress Stance Of The Nigerian National Assembly Seeing the way things are moving in this country, the lawlessness, no rule of law has resulted in some people describing Nigeria as a 'jungle where the right and privileges of citizens are trampled upon with outright disregard with no repercussion of any sort', however, some people still believe in the practice of fundamental human rights despite the realities of human right abuses we face daily in the country. From the successive governments, both military and civilian have denied Nigerian good governance, protection of their rights and visionary leadership, the citizens on their own ends, have always agitated and stood against the government to provide these benefits. The brutality and inhumanity of military governments did not stop Nigerians from demanding their rights and they have continued to demand them in this democratic dispensation. Anyone that has studied the political progression and history of Nigeria will agree with me that the major challenge confronting the country is bad leadership because those in government do not have the interest of the common citizens at heart. It is more disappointing that the politicians that represent the people in the state and federal legislative arms of government in the country, who are expected to deliver the dividend of democracy and good governance to the grassroot are only promoting their individual selfish interests. Instead of making life easy for the common man, the National Assembly which constitutes the Senate and House of Representatives, is known for engaging in idle talk, unnecessary arguments, pushing self-serving legislation, engage in physical combat and creating a national nuisance by dancing and singing on national television. The only panacea or remedy to good governance is to entrust the country into the hands of responsible, honest and transparent leaders, putting people of high integrity in charge of every sector of the economy to drive the engine of progress across the country. Over the years since Nigeria gained her independence, the National Assemble saddled with the responsibility of making laws for the betterment of human lives and conditions have always done little or nothing to justify their office, instead, they only advance their selfish interests. The disturbing question now is, can’t the leopards of the Nigerian National Assembly change its spot? Very recently, the newly inaugurated 9th assembly headed by the Senate president, Ahmed Lawan declared to the greatest amazement and bewilderment of the nation that no member of the Nigerian National Assembly received jumbo pays. He further admitted in a hurry that his monthly take-home is 750,000 naira only, yet it is obvious to the blind that what these lawmakers didn’t take in monthly salaries were been carted away in allowances and bonuses that run into several million. This is a far cry from the expectations and yearnings of the great people of this country who thought the 9th assembly comprises of more men and women of integrity who are committed to building potent national institutions and ensure proper management of the nation’s resources, assets as well as public morality in government’s finance. But then, amidst controversies, a presidential Advisory Committee Chairman, Professor Itse Sagay debunked Lawan’s false claim of 750,000 naira monthly salary. Sagay revealed that each senator goes home with about 15 million naira monthly as personal emolument and other perks attached as previously confirmed by a former senator, Sen. Shehu Sani from Kaduna central who was a part of the 8th Assembly. Why then has the 9th assembly decided to feed the public with lies, fibs and to dash the rising hopes of the people in the new political dawn promising sanity financial appropriateness in government business? Simply put, the Nigerian 9th National Assembly was in business like it was a usual business, committing sharp practices against the nation’s treasury. Some actions and inactions on the floor of the two chambers i.e. the Senate and the House of Representative were a source of considerable disquiet, capable of aggravating the socio-political equilibrium of the nation, allowing to make inroads into the nation’s growing democracy and economy. The general populace of the nation waited patiently with suspicion and watched the activities of the National Assembly studying in silence to know the next line of action till its iniquity wanted to run over the brim. Emphasizes should be made on how the 8th National Assembly embarked on some hypocritical resolutions to wanting to kill the process of the most laudable program or agenda of the anti-corruption crusade of President Muhammad Buhari. The entire nation however was and still unconscious of the fact that corruption is not only the reproach and shame of the nation, and even the bane of the economy. It makes all efforts in planning and implementation of the national budget sand and fury, signifying nothing at the end of the day. It is then crystal clear that Nigerian National Assembly harbors and celebrates corruption in disguise. Total pretense and cheap political blackmailing were seen in such that many legislators of the lower chamber did not support the programs of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) led administration even though those members won elections on the platform of the party. ALSO READ: First Lady, Aisha Buhari Backs Social Media Bill Many illustrations could be made or cited in respect to Nigerian National Assembly processes of the last 8th assembly’s constitutional disengagements and unconstitutional functions including being hostile towards frightening the executive government, incapacitating government machinery by rendering nugatory some federal appointments already in the offering for approval. All these radiated to the 9th assembly revealing the alarming hollowness, weakness of characters, sickening depth of lust for money and obsession with transient political powers that the National Assembly had perilously sunk since the inception of the present democratic dispensation. As a result to this connection, the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), saddled with fixing the remuneration of political office holders, monitoring the revenues occurring to federation account and blocking revenue leakages amongst its laudable mandate, must be up to the task and half the enormous greed of National Assembly for excessive funds in the course of any assignment or oversights. The commission (RMAFC) is however called upon and encouraged to achieve its mandate which is very wide and extensively important to the country’s economy, and all hands must be on deck to ensure that the true nature of the National Assembly is revealed as noted for overbearing inclination and should be totally abjured and jettisoned in favor of highly responsible, dynamic, resourceful and patriotic lawmaking for peace and prosperity of Nigeria as a bright country. Read the full article

#AhmedLawan #HumanRightAbuse #ItseSagay #PresidentBuhari #RMAFC #ShehuSani

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scotsjamaican · 5 years

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An Epistle from an Angry EX-Prison Officer

The dismissal of a Prison Officer by his Governor, even after a Police investigation cleared said Officer of any wrong doing, has resulted in many other Officers breaking the Law by going on strike.

The following was written by an ex P.O to vent his feelings on the subject.

I completely agree and understand his anger and frustration.

In their drive to privatise these services, the Government is putting Governors on performance related bonuses that is resulting in unsafe manning levels and unsafe practices that would NOT BE tolerated in any other occupation. H&S would crucify them.

Anyhoos here are his heartfelt words.

80% of those in Prison suffer from mental health we now believe. Is that the prisoners or the staff, I wonder if anyone cared to ask?

The War

The weak, unable, feeble, scared Are holding court, they must be heard Smashing, raging, violent cries A puppets hand with the devil’s eyes They mask their sins behind the suit To take your job the pirates loot

Bells ring on, the netting springs, A call for staff, the 5s bell rings Another down, the sick board full Priority 1, the wings too dull?

The greasy pole is lubed and prepped Another one slides up on deck Fists are clenched, enraged and pumped I want my shower, I’ve just been dumped

Deal with it, we have no staff Whatever it takes to save my back Your scared, in fear, must fight alone You did your job, you must be sacked

The guards, the warders, turn key, screws A lazy hack and breaking news No pay rise, safety, pensions broke Retirement plans gone up in smoke

Praise you not but rule from a desk Not a word from their mouth is true The encircling sharks that search for wrongs The ‘old man’ and his crew

The toxic mix of power and greed While up the ranks they fly No time to stand and hold the line With the likes of you or I

Tired, broken phone goes off You daren’t get out of bed Palpitations, sweat and pain The day ahead you dread

The tea room spirit all but gone Get those landings clean Pick up the dirt and don’t go sick Our sleepy hollow dreams

And still they cross the thin grey line One day to the next Saving lives and keeping safe The public they protect

The threat no longer lives within But travel home at night A new age breed to crush and drive The rank and file fight

Courage is now corruption Bravery now insane If you can’t keep safe behind the walls Only one group you can blame

Toil balance through the roof Battling on the stairs No voice left in the boardroom Snakes fill up the chairs

Perhaps it’s harsh, I’ve met some good Most we’ve served aside The good times all but gone tonight And too our service pride

Now like a wounded animal And backed against the wall No option left but bite and scrap It’s time they made the call

United front and nothing less A message heard and read Minister you picked a war tonight It’s time you made your bed

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narcisbolgor-blog · 6 years

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Millennials, Its Time To Get The Hell Over Ourselves And Join Forces With The Next Generation

Jade Masri / Unsplash

That’s right, I’m talking to you, sitting at your work desk scrolling through your now “old-school” iPhone 6, refreshing your news feed, Instagram, and Snapchat an embarrassing number of times in a weird apathetic routine that your brain has, at this point, outsourced to mere muscle memory. Also, I totally know you just favorited that tweet about eating tide pods or ajax or whatever because #lolz. And I know when you get home tonight, you’re going to pour yourself a glass of vino, and proceed to mindlessly swipe through Tinder while binge-watching Black Mirror season 4 and occasionally refreshing Instagram so you can like more photos of your friends’ dogs. You’re doing this all in the name of “self care” but really it’s because you, me, and a majority our generational peers are caught in a self-sabotaging cycle of suppressing our true feelings of anger, frustration, and powerlessness over what’s going on in the world around us. We continue to shove these feelings deeper and deeper into the very bottom of our beings until we’re sufficiently numbed out on soul lidocaine. This is how we’ve come to be labelled as the most cynical generation, ever. And studies have shown, millennials maintain unprecedented levels of mistrust when it comes to politicians, Congress, the U.S. justice system, even the Church has failed many of us.

Of course, we have every right to be the cynical, numbed out, tide pod meme jokesters that we’ve become. We have every right to google as many photos of cute puppies on the Internet as we please. Because if you, like me, were born sometime between 1981 and 1996 (according to Pew Research that’s the age range for millennials), then you know we as a generation have lived through some crazy bullshit. Granted, every generation experiences its share of war, economic fluctuations, and political discord, some more strongly than others. But Generation Y, as we’re often labelled, grew up in this special kind of hell that I don’t think past generations could have predicted. Many of us were just entering junior high or high school when the September 11 terrorist attacks ignited nationwide panic and a subsequently pointless ten-year war, fueled by politically enabled corporate greed. Then, in 2008, the housing market collapsed, plunging the U.S. and much of the world into a global financial crisis that lasted over a decade. We watched as our government flushed billions of dollars in bail-out money into the large investment banks whose corrupt and greed-fueled risky lending actions were the primary reason for the housing collapse. We continued to watch, helplessly, as those same banks took that government bail-out money, our parent’s money, and handed out millions of dollars in bonuses to top executives.

Oh and then in the midst of war and a global financial crisis, enter smartphones and the subsequent rise of social media. While providing us with unparalleled new levels of interconnectivity and power, smartphones also served to overwhelm us with feelings of inadequacy as we began constantly comparing our lives with the social-media filtered lives of our peers and celebrities like The Kardashians. We began to experience isolation from our real-life relationships as we became preoccupied with communicating via our avatars – the internet versions of ourselves. Despite the subconscious, chronic layer of depression our smartphones were projecting onto us, we found these same devices useful as a tool for filtering out the noise from what was going on in the world around us. Sadly, many of us millennials, myself included, have become self-absorbed and far too skillful at filtering reality via the distraction of our phones; we forget there’s this whole new generation coming up after us – Generation Z. And they need our support.

Generation Z, generally agreed upon by researchers as anyone born after 1996, has never known a life apart from the continuous, looming threat of terrorism. Generation Z cannot remember a time when mass shootings in schools weren’t “just a part of growing up, kiddo.” In fact, a 2013 Gen Z-focused issue of The Cassandra Report revealed that 43% of 7- to 13-year-olds anticipated school violence/shootings would have a stronger impact on their generation than even the invention of social media and the election of the first Black President. Generation Z are digital natives who understand the potential of social media to create powerful, interconnected movements of people fighting to affect tangible change in the world. Generation Z observed the viral explosion of the long overdue #MeToo movement, spurred on a global scale by women of all ages, and they took notes. This past week, our nation and our government have witnessed the unwavering commitment of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas high schoolers and the thousands of other students who have joined them in organizing marches, school walk-outs, and public speeches, in an effort to see common-sense gun laws voted into action by Congress.

Millennials, I know our generation has seen some rough times, I know many of us are tired of trying to change the way things are, I know often it’s more comfortable to bury ourselves in our work and our phones than face what’s really going on in the world around us. But now, more than ever, is the time for our generation to stand with our young cohorts and show them they have our support, as they proactively seek to affect change in our government and our laws. There are so many tangible ways we can take an active role in supporting the efforts of these brave teenagers. One way we can help is by donating to their GoFundMe campaign to support the March for Our Lives event planned for March 24 in Washington, DC and cities across the nation. The GoFundMe has raised $1,851,447 in just 3 days. Another way we can assist in raising awareness for the legislation these kids are fighting for is by simply posting on our social media. There’s an Instagram account called @everytown that posts quality, informed content about the need to end gun violence in America. I’ve seen some of my well-respected peers on Instagram reposting from that account.

With our constant access to the Internet, social media, and countless apps, all via our smartphones, there are so many effortless ways we can help propel the activism of these young people forward so that true change can come about. In the words of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk at the 2016 Recode Conference, “You have more power than the President of the United States had twenty years ago…you can answer any question, you can videoconference with anyone anywhere, you can send a message to millions of people instantly, you can just do incredible things.” Millennials, let’s put aside our disappointment, frustration, and cynicism, and let’s start doing incredible things again. Let’s join forces with Generation Z in shouting from the tops of our lungs “NEVER AGAIN!”

More From this publisher : HERE ; This post was curated using : TrendingTraffic

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Millennials, Its Time To Get The Hell Over Ourselves And Join Forces With The Next Generation was originally posted by 11 VA Viral News

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lodelcar · 7 years

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THE EUROPEAN GLOOM: ARE THERE REMEDIES?

Picture: Entrance gate of the Royal Palace of Potsdam (Germany)

Are Western economies in the camp of the losers?

Recently I went through 2 publications by two important thinkers of this time: one was Stephen Hawking, the world famous astro-physist[1], and one was Avishai Margalit[2], a 77-years old Jewish philosopher and peace activist. Both commented on the populist trends and the economic gloom in the Western world. Both warned for obstructing globalisation and international trade and took the widening gap between haves and have-nots for granted. Both pleaded for some form of system enabling the disappointed middle-classers of the Western world to be compensated for the loss of industrial jobs. But both did not make any suggestions at all. Both admit that local or even international politics are overruled by economic and financial multinationals that find the cheapest labour force on the planet and avoid taxes by selecting the less demanding countries to install their headquarters. And it has to be admitted: freeing international trade had many advantages. Millions of people in Asia, Africa and South-America live a more decent life. Famine has been reduced drastically. There is a raising middleclass in those continents that start to enjoy live and to become more confident in the future. Some of the United Nation’s millennium goals were achieved. But the traditional Western economies suffer: labour opportunities, the source of everybody’s income shrinked drastically. And because of the still growing world population, the workers’ offer is gigantic. So job security disappears, which makes that also income security disappears, the basis of everyone’s existence. And the technology boom makes that the pace of this effect will intensify dramatically in the coming years. These are the reasons for a gloom in Europe and the US, a sort of global burn-out of the majority of the population. Can we do something about it?

The globalisation threats

Since Margaret Tatcher and Ronald Reagan, the world became a village. Trade barriers were abolished and third world countries were also forced to open their borders. The winners of this policy are the multinationals and the companies with no feeling for corporate social responsibility. Company owners that respected their workers were considered as old fashioned or “pioneers” and were replaced by “managers”, incentivised by “bonuses”. The shareholders also changed from individuals with money on the bank to banks, portfolio managers, hedge fund managers “managing third parties money or even own funds". They consider companies as a tool to make money. The rule was simple: buy commodities, components, labour and transport at the lowest price and sell them at the highest. Delocalise all activity from the company’s original ecosystem to the one with the lowest fiscal and salary conditions, even if the jobs of thousands are jeopardised. Hence: the profit becomes gigantic. The search for cheap commodities exhausted the planet, but managers and shareholders did not care about the planet. The production of components and even finished products was constantly moved to places with the lowest labour cost. The quality of the product lowered dramatically, but that was an opportunity. Because the price to the end consumer was so low, the latter did not care to buy a new product. Hyper consumption makes the market work. The question what to do with litter was not put. That is a problem for the collectivity to solve, not for the producing company. Managers and shareholders do not care about the planet.

Jobs and techniques developed for centuries in the Western world disappeared overnight. The tradition of quality based products disappeared. One cannot ask from people who are paid 2$/day to concentrate and to be proud of what they produce. But new types of jobs showed up in the Western world: high-tech jobs, and sales jobs, and logistic jobs and service jobs. And a lot of bullshit jobs[3] invented by governments that needed to support job creation in order to keep their population satisfied. And governments reduced labour time. And tried to fill in leisure time in an appropriate way. Governments sponsor or even organise now festivals, and football tournaments, olympic games… The Romans are their most attractive example: give bread and games, panem et circenses. The gladiators became soccer players, or pop singers. They risk their lives constantly because of the paparazzi or lone wolf terrorists, but they are paid extremely well for it.

The technology threat

And then the apps appeared. Everybody would become self employed. App developers organized the economy differently. All the benefit went to them: job security was wiped out. The survival of the fittest. Literally, because the not-fit will be replaced by intelligent robots in the coming years. And everybody says: we will have to live with it, we should not do like the labourers in the nineteenth century who attacked the weaving looms. The story of the union man who visited the Ford-factories in Detroit in the twenties is very actual again. When Henry Ford said to Union man Walter Reuther: “Walter, how are you going to get those robots to pay your union dues?“, the union man replied: “Henry, how are you going to get them to buy your cars?“.[4] Sociologists and even the gurus from Silicon Valley are aware of the development and call for measures. They propose a basic income for everybody, so that people who cannot find a job, have a decent income to survive. “American opponents of the Basic Income argue that people - tending to benefit – will no more come out of the hammock as they get free money. Proponents believe that we are very creative human beings, ready to make a leap forward if we do not have to work for a living. Those stereotypes ignore how individual people perceive their work. It is not because some creative solo players feel good outside the labour market that this principle applies to everyone. Because work is also: social contact, structure in one’s life, getting respect for the value one produces” [5] In a recent interview, the philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah, author of the book “Ethics of Identity” (2016) resumes it well:” What is needed now is that as many people as possible can find meaningful work that allows them to earn a decent income.”[6]

In his above mentioned analysis Stephen Hawking seems to accept that new technology does end up with excessive wealth in a few hands. He acknowledges “it is socially destructive. But it is inevitable. That’s progress.” Hawking does not explore the idea that one would stifle technological progress because the negative consequences of it are too important. And no one actually does. After all, nobody wants to give the impression of fighting the battle against fabric looms in the 19th century again or to predict that trains will prevent the cows to give milk.[7]

The individualization threat

The most important threat is the cultural threat: hyper-individualism. Top managers, how brilliant they are, have no eye for the global picture anymore. In fact, they never had. They had to manage a company. But nowadays, they are asked also to give their opinions about the economy and a country’s development. And they consider their lives as what counts, and if very successful, extrapolate their way of life to the rest of the planet. Tech Entrepreneurs begin to feel like gods who, far above the ordinary crowd, must receive the levers to solve the world’s problems. Peter Thiel, founder of PayPal and venture capitalist wrote in 2009 in a public contribution: "Most importantly, I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible. (...) ".[8] The social media and their rudeness even increased this trend. People do not care about reality anymore. People do not care about social behaviour anymore. Twitter and Facebook became tools to verbally destroy people without being condemned. Sam Altman, the fanatic believer in the technological revolution, commented recently in The New Yorker[9]: "I have very narrow technological interests. I have no patience for things that do not interest me: parties, most people. If someone looks at a picture and says he's there all sorts of subtle feelings, then I watch the wonder of an alien.”[10]

This trend has other consequences in the rest of the world. In many countries, greed and corruption make that only few politicians have an open mind and a willingness to assist their fellow countrymen in their development towards a better life. Greed and corruption make also that multinationals have been able to overrule the rule of law and arrived at a level where no nation in the world is strong enough to stop them. The Wikileaks’ never ending row of scandals shows clearly that there will be always people and companies trying to avoid to pay taxes and to contribute to the growth of their home countries, as well as there will always be small countries trying to attract this type of greedy people and to use their minor contribution for their own benefit.

Positive trends

Within this gloomy row of trends, one can also observe groups that try to find solutions to this situation. These solutions are not to be found in populist arguments: closing the borders, the values and virtues of the nation, creating trade barriers, new types of democracy, renationalization of industries,…. These are far left or far right wing proposals and will only be profitable for a small minority. All these extremist problem solvers are only against something, never stand for something. Solutions are to be found by creating something new, acceptable on the long run by a majority of the inhabitants. Let’s describe trends we observe in society and that are hopeful for the future.

a. The social entrepreneur

In all countries we can find entrepreneurs that have a feeling for good citizenship. They are inspired by civil or by religious values, but they tend to combine economic strength and strategy to the evident role a company plays in the society they operate in. Critics claim that the pursuit of social causes hurts the bottom line of a company and therefore creates unsustainable business.[11] Indeed, if pursuing social causes hurts the bottom line of a company, the shareholders have the right to complain. But recent trends assure this social attitude of company owners can also be a tool for boosting public appreciation for a company and therefore become a powerful marketing argument.

In the book "All social 3.0. Entrepreneurs can save the world? "[12] the authors outline a future where social conscience can be linked to efficiency, a kind of capitalism where entrepreneurs who mainly pursue social objectives play an increasingly important role. Even better: have to play. As entrepreneurs continue to pursue only profits in an obstinate way, they have no future and humanity awaits a barren future, the authors suggest.

b. Localisation

Compared to globalisation, Europe starts to observe a strong trend for localisation. [13] This trend is picked up not only by the local food industry, but also by the local fashion industry and even the local production companies. The trend started by farmers that wanted to reduce the number and the strengths of intermediaries between themselves and the end consumer. The trend is based upon a search for qualitative and healthy crops, vegetables, meat and dairy products. Moreover: the search for a certain authenticity had as a result that regional dishes were promoted once again. The EU started to promote this trend by protecting the name and the origin of the products.[14]

But this search for quality and diversity, received also an injection of pride. National clothing industries, severely hurt by the cheap import from China, Bangla Desh and Vietnam, started to focus on national fashion items and national fashion designers. The cheap segment was lost, but upper segments could still be exploited, when marketed in the right way. National or regional brands appeared in almost every country of the EU, combining quality with local identity.

The localisation issue also caught up another dimension. Traditional industrial complexes bound to be closed by their multinational owners, tried to fight back, by introducing another type of company structure: the co-operative. They discovered indeed, that multinationals do not always close Western production entities because of their lack of profit or lack of productivity. Greedy shareholders motivated managers with large bonuses to close down Western production entities because they could produce cheaper elsewhere and therefore make excessive profits. The co-operative model exists since a very long time in France, Italy or Spain under the name SCOP. Cooperative and participative companies in which the employees are still the majority shareholders since they hold at least 51% of the company's capital. Together they take major decisions at general meetings during which each co-operator has a voice.[15] In France, there were 2274 SCOPs in 2015, including 375 in the industrial sector. In Spain, the social economy represents 10% of the GDP. “An example of the dynamism of the cooperative sector in Spain is the consumers’ and users’ co-operatives who are competing with large groups Commercial distribution companies, adapting to a changing consumer environment, in which consumer preferences can differ very much from region to region and change also quickly overtime.”[16] In Italy, some 102.000 co-operatives are operational. 24% of them are to be situated in the agricultural sector, being responsible for 46% of the national production, 15% of the co-operatives are to be situated in workshops.[17]

Is this a model to be followed? This is a model that requires a lot of solidarity, and good leaders able to convince their fellow-workers and co-owners of the direction to go. Lots of these initiatives did not live a long life outside the indicated countries. The market in Northern Europe, with a strong Anglo-Saxon presence, is much more competitive. But even in the Scandinavian countries and in the Netherlands, the model is not inexistent and sometimes successful.

c. Circular economy

The care for the planet also created nice examples of solidarity, as a remedy to the hyper-individual world. The reasons why they saw the light and why they were successful were heterogeneous. But the principle is always the same: together one can much better reach a goal than alone.

The barter economy is back in the 21th century. Exchanging goods and services has been of all times. But 2 large motives made it reappear in this beginning of the 214st century in Europe. One is the crisis that jeopardized the existence of many.[18] The second is the climate change which made people think and forced them to reduce their consumption. In Flanders and the Netherlands, the barter trends and organizations that grew spontaneously are regrouped now and even sponsored by the regional authorities.[19] Items that are bartered: sharing of goods, lending of tools and machines, bartering goods, exchange of books, exchange of clothes, leasing of tools and machines between companies, exchanging services such as reparing tools, renovating houses, gardening.

Where before the crisis, those who preached the cradle-to-cradle approach were considered as loners if not lunatics, political movements such as the Indignados and the climat change issue have put the circular economy on the agenda. It is not yet mainstream, but the number of followers of the trend has reached its early majority stage. The fact that innovative entrepreneurs start to invest in recycling factories for plastics, shows that the trend becomes irreversible.[20] In Northern Europe we start to see interesting examples of cradle-to-cradle applications such as: recovering precious metals from smart phones, ipads, computers and televisions using used office desks as raw material for new furniture, reusing the plastic from plastic bags a.o., reusing the material from pet bottles for fleeces, road works, …, reusing the yarns from mechanical carpets in new carpets, reusing old building materials as rubble for new concrete construction. These applications do not always require innovative technology. But they require a chain of users, inexistent until now in Southern Europe. Reusing waste as a new raw material is the first step in an application chain that requires also start-ups in Southern and Eastern Europe.

The regional approach & Indirect Fiscal Involvement

a. The Regional Approach

“Homogenizing forces of globalization endanger the local knowledge, relationships, and regionally diverse cultures that once connected people and place. They require therefore a specific approach, which often differs from the national policy. The approach also tends to diversify. Diversity within and among regions reduces vulnerability to stresses and shocks from climate change, disease, shortages, transmission or transport failures, and so on. A greater diversity of production systems within and among regions offers greater opportunities for ownership, community investment, and social capital formation. Regional trade networks offer opportunities for shared responsibility, stewardship, and community. Especially when national and international institutions prove rigid and inflexible, the emergence of novelty and innovation at local and regional scales can be critical to leadership on global problems such as climate change.”[21]

“What exists is regional cohesion in many cases. Identification with common values, a common way of life, a common past and culture, a common language, common educational goals and results, a common landscape. On a regional level, civil society groups exist and have common goals and contribute to a common economic and social development. On a regional level, SMEs do business with each other. Regional cohesion is less artificial than sometimes national cohesion. Regional cohesion has sometimes transnational issues. There are Basks on both sides of the Pyrenees. There are Irish on the entire island, there are Limburgers on both sides of the Meuse. There are Albanese speaking in Albania, Kosovo, Montengro and Macedonia. And they collaborate, peacefully, because they feel to have the same needs and desires. And in several countries, regions have already a political interpretation. Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Spain have strong regions, with important political power. The UK is struggling with its regional level, because representing 4 countries with strong national feelings. Poland, Czech Republic, France, the Netherlands, Sweden have developed a regional approach up to a certain level, because their feeling has been that the regional approach goes together with a bottom-up way of dealing with the problems that affect people the most: homes, families, health, education, jobs”.[22]

b. Indirect fiscal involvement

We do not believe that subsidies are able to modify trends. The involvement of public authorities should be on an indirect level: stimulating parties to collaborate, monitoring trends, using the fiscal tool to steer, to avoid or to stimulate economic and social developments. And as well local, regional as national authorities should be able to use those tools. In close communication with each other, not creating a competition between parties, but for the good of all the community.

Regional and national governments should agree which power they allocate on which level and for which domain they can use fiscal instruments. Fiscal instruments stimulate or discourage. When property owners become too demanding in city centres preventing SMEs to take part in an diversified offer, cities should be able to create different tax levels on store rent, based upon the required rent. When multinationals replace workers by robots in their factories, regions or nations should be able to compensate the health care insurance contribution for the fired living work force with company taxes. Companies willing to stimulate cultural, educational or social programs in a region should be allowed to a tax reduction program. Tax avoidance on a national level through tax shopping programs inside Europe should be tackled on a supranational level. With its 443 million consumers, the 27 European member states[23] is an interesting market that cannot be ignored by multinationals. It is a fact that there is no consensus on social and economic development, which makes that European countries are no real counterpart to the powerful multinationals.

Direct political involvement

Many technological developments take place in Silicon Valley. The US is a country with low taxation rates and low national company monitoring. It is a country with very little state control, enabling everybody to develop the wildest business ideas and to put them into practice. In many cases, the US stand on their own with this way of coping with innovation. Innovative entrepreneurs therefore make huge profit, because not hindered by complicated legislation. Technological innovation destroys many jobs, and creates many others. The types of jobs that are created differ fundamentally from the destroyed jobs. Many parts of the US suffer from the disappearance of traditional jobs. The rust belt, the traditional industry states, suffer from a dramatic shift in competences. The emerging states like Alabama and Georgia, emerge because of the low salaries that are paid to workers, who cannot live from 1 job and who are not represented by trade unions, inexistent in those states. The same goes for the UK, where only one part of the country generates challenging jobs, the South-East. The North and Centre as well as Wales, with their traditional industries destroyed in ten years’ time under Margaret Thatcher, still struggle to re-invent themselves. The Anglo-Saxon model gets a lot of headwinds on the European continent and even in Asian countries. Every development should be controlled thoroughly before getting implemented in Europe. Every business model has also to be examined by its values, not only by its income. The time for a free, liberal market, where everybody can do whatever he wants, is over, because the free market showed not to be perfect afterall.

The technological developments proposed by Silicon Valley first launched disruptive economy companies: Uber, AirBNB, Amazon and others. Many consumers are convinced by the benefit of it. Many governmental authorities are confronted with the odds of the system and try to reput them in balance. The fact that Amazon is now announcing it will even make the grocery market disruptive is frankly alarming[24]. Because, with their disruptive fantasies, they do not respect any social demand, such as quality, advice, service. The disruptive model is only based upon marketing, communication and income. It should be monitored very strictly: too many lies and hoaxes are launched in order to gain cause. Governmental bodies have a tremendous task in this evolution: that costs money, requires tax income. Taxes that will not be generated by the disruptive distributors who always try to avoid to pay taxes.

The technological development from Silicon Valley now works hard on artificial intelligence, trying to replace the human worker by a robot. And of course, many progressive thinkers applaud this phenomenon. And again, many politicians are afraid of the developments. Because, when workers are replaced massively by robots, what will happen to the people? The Swedish TV-serial “Äkta människor” (Real humans) gave a fictive prediction of the consequences of the introduction of intelligent robots. It was not a very encouraging perspective.

And then there is the proposal of Thomas Piketty[25] to include environmental bylaws in each trade agreement that will be signed in the future. It should go further than that. Transport through all means of transportation should be taxed. The price of carbon-emission by boats, trucks, airplanes etc should be paid and included in the price of goods. Governments have to make enormous efforts in order to reduce carbon-emission in the nearest future. But disruptive distributors, internet sales organisations do not care about this element: they just transport and make money, destroying local producers and quality of life.

Closing observations

Much is to be done. As Hawking mentioned: we are living in a dangerous time. The danger does not come so much from terrorism and immigrants looking for a better life. The danger comes from an evolution in Western society that started after the second world war. People rejected religion, social behaviour such as keeping up appearances, victorian or edwardian morality. Freedom and democracy were the buzz words; and free trade with open borders. The motives of the French revolution became the new standards: freedom, equality, fraternity. This last one received a different meaning in every country and every political party interpreted it according to its own standards. From positive projects such as the EU, the euro, the UN that were created with enthusiasm after WWII, we are now in a negative spiral. Everybody knows what he does not like or want, not what should replace it. We crave positive projects, and we see that civil society in many countries works on it. But what we also see is that this happens in a restricted context: the neighbourhood, the village, the town, the region. And that sometimes the initiators claim an intervention from Europe, in order to cope with situations that should be fixed on a multinational level. In most of the cases, the nation state is an obstacle. Because pretending there is a nation with one type of population, having all the same needs and expectations. And that is not the case, never has been.

Louis Delcart, board member European Academy of the Regions www.ear-aer.eu

[1] Stephen Hawking, This is the most dangerous time for our planet, in the Guardian of December 1st 2016

[2] Stevo Akkerman, Als ik naar Nederland kijk breekt mijn hart,(Watching the Netherlands, they break my heart) in Dutch newspaper Trouw of 27/12/16

[3] David Graeber: On "bullshit jobs", 21-8-2013, The Economist, http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2013/08/labour-markets-0

[4] George Zarkadakis, Will a Robot Replace You? In The Huffington Post, 11-10-2015, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-zarkadakis/will-a-robot-replace-you_b_8506324.html

[5] Hoe Silicon Valley het basisinkomen kaapt (How Silicon Valley hijacks the basic income) in “De Standaard”, dd. 17-12-2016; http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20161216_02631186?shareid=8993f13ad93b85f7bf2af2c09cbaa9d3f54907b7a592cf53a8bd75ead5b1ea6710bf5cacb9ccddd54fc8ffd061184b0c845e99ed1cbf5ad8f289a1bcd461eb5e

[6] Helaas zijn mensen niet op hun best in tijden van onzekerheid,(Unfortunately, people are not at their best in times of uncertainty), interview with Kwame Anthony Appiah in De Standaard 31-12-2016

[7] Bart Sturtewagen, Het zal van de bollebozen moeten komen (It will have to come from the whizzes) in De Standaard, 3-12-2016;

[8] Geert Noels, Disruption: in search of a human balance, De Standaard, 15-10-2015; https://www.linkedin.com/post/edit/6057532870501691392

[9] Tad Friend: Sam Altman’s Manifest Destiny, in The Newx Yorker, 10-10-2016; http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/10/sam-altmans-manifest-destiny

[10] How Silicon Valley hijacks the basic income in “De Standaard”, dd. 17-12-2016;

[11] When should entrepreneurs pursue a social good? 10-6-2016 in Entrenreneur.com https://www.entrepreneurship-campus.org/when-should-entrepreneurs-pursue-a-social-good/

[12] Allemaal sociaal 3.0. Kunnen ondernemers de wereld redden? (Everybody social 3.0, Can entrepreneurs save the world?) 2016, Manteau, Antwerp

[13] http://lodelcar.tumblr.com/post/139787275600/localisation-in-a-globalising-world

[14] Sometimes this EU behaviour leads to conflicts because the regional definition was too narrow. In Belgium, “jambon d’Ardennes” (smoked ham from the Ardennes) could only be produced in the Ardennes according to az new European regulation, although the porc meat comes from Poland, Spain and France. Traditionally, many Flemish factories also produce “jambon d’Ardennes” in the original way. Maybe this way of protecting regional products leads to the opposite result of the one legislators had in mind.

[15] Natacha Mann, Pourquoi pas une SCOP pour sauver Caterpillar? In RTBF, 27-12-2016 http://www.rtbf.be/info/societe/detail_pourquoi-pas-une-scop-pour-sauver-caterpillar?id=9490339

[16] Elena Toribios Lozano, La Economía Social en España. Una Análisis de las Cooperativas de Consumidores y Usuarios, Master Scriptn Palencia, june 2014 https://uvadoc.uva.es/bitstream/10324/6191/1/TFG-L486.pdf

[17] TIPOLOGIAS DE COOPERATIVISMO-Cooperativismo en Italia, 17-9-2013, https://elcooperador.wordpress.com/2013/09/17/tipologias-de-cooperativismo-cooperativismo-en-italia/

[18] Jonathan Chew, Greeks switch to bartering because there’s not enough currency, in Fortune International, 21-9-2015, http://fortune.com/2015/09/21/greece-bartering-economy-tsipras/

[19] Netwerk Bewust Verbruiken vzw, Goederen ruilen, delen en huren: een overzicht, 17-11-2016, https://www.bewustverbruiken.be/artikel/goederen-ruilen-delen-en-huren-een-overzicht

[20] Huts start met grootschalig recyclageproject,(Huts starts wide-scale recyclingproject) in De Standaard, 16-01-2016

[21] Ecotrust, Resilience & Transformation: A Regional Approach, 2012, Portland Oregon

[22] Louis Delcart, The Regional Approach, Next Step in the Democratic Process, 11-11-2015, LinkedIn Pulse, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/regional-approach-next-step-democratic-process-louis-delcart?trk=mp-author-card

[23] not taking the UK into account

[24] Laura Stevens and Khadeeja Safdar: Amazon Working on Several Grocery-Store Formats, Could Open More Than 2,000 Locations, The Wall Street Journal, 5-12-2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-grocery-store-concept-to-open-in-seattle-in-early-2017-1480959119

[25] Piketty: Rich individuals must foot bill for climate change, Euractiv, 5-11-2015

#european gloom #gloom #regional development #social entrepreneurship #circular economy #indirect fiscal policy

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rajawaliqqloginpkvterbaik-blog · 4 years

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jawaqqlogin2020-blog · 4 years

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11 Creative Ways to Write About download pkv games for pc

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rajawalipokersituspoker1-blog · 4 years

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deniscollins · 5 years

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1MDB Case in Malaysia Deepens Goldman’s Crisis

If you were a Goldman Sachs investment banker, what would you do if a Malaysian financier, with strong connections to the Malaysian government, offered you a no-compete bid to issue bonds for a Malaysian investment fund: (1) accept the offer, (2) reject the offer, or (3) inform government regulators? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?

Since becoming a symbol of Wall Street greed during the financial crisis, Goldman Sachs has tried to recast its image as an investment bank that cares as much about ethics as it does its bottom line.

Now, that makeover is being undone by the bank’s work for an obscure investment fund in Malaysia, which has entangled it in civil and criminal investigations around the world. Goldman recently received subpoenas from New York regulators, held talks with federal prosecutors and is likely to incur billions of dollars in penalties. It is one of the most serious crises in the bank’s 149-year history.

The international legal assault on Goldman intensified on Monday, with prosecutors in Malaysia filing criminal charges against the bank, accusing it of defrauding investors by raising more than $6 billion for the fund, which was supposed to benefit the Malaysian public but ended up enriching Goldman and others.

And that is just the start of the bank’s troubles.

Lawyers for Goldman met this fall with federal prosecutors in what appeared to be an early step in settlement negotiations, according to three people familiar with those talks. Two of its senior employees have already been charged.

The bank and some of its employees recently received subpoenas from regulators in New York, who are investigating the circumstances in which Goldman netted about $600 million in fees through its no-bid work for the fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB, according to two people with knowledge of the subpoenas.

1MDB was supposed to finance infrastructure and other development projects to benefit the Malaysian public.

Instead, according to prosecutors in the United States and Malaysia, it became a font of corruption for people close to Najib Razak, who was then the prime minister. Goldman helped the fund raise $6.5 billion from investors in 2012 and 2013. The money paid for an enormous spending spree by executives and public officials that included the purchases of diamonds, Birkin bags, Picassos and a Monet, as well as financing for the Hollywood film “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

Michael DuVally, a Goldman spokesman, said the bank would fight the Malaysian charges, which he said “do not affect our ability to conduct our current business globally.” He said that officials with 1MDB and the Malaysian government lied to Goldman about how they planned to use the money that the bank raised.

Goldman has previously said it was cooperating with law enforcement and that it might incur “significant fines” from investigations into 1MDB in the United States and elsewhere.

While the charges filed by Malaysia’s attorney general on Monday represent the first time the bank itself has been criminally charged, the biggest threat to Goldman comes from the United States, where multiple law-enforcement and regulatory agencies are building cases.

The United States Justice Department is leading the investigation. In court filings, prosecutors have described an elaborate scheme by Goldman employees to cover up kickbacks and fees to secure business that involved shell companies in different jurisdictions. Each of the three times that Goldman issued bonds for 1MDB, the financier accused of directing the fraud, Jho Low, provided directions on whom to bribe in order to secure contracts, according to filings.

In internal emails disclosed by prosecutors, Goldman bankers referred to their 1MDB work under the code name Project Tiara. When Malaysian authorities seized assets that they said had been bought with stolen 1MDB money, they found 14 diamond tiaras. They also tracked down a $250 million yacht, a $35 million Bombardier jet and a see-through grand piano that is in the living room of the supermodel Miranda Kerr.

The Justice Department has already filed criminal bribery and money-laundering charges against two former Goldman bankers, Timothy Leissner and Roger Ng. Mr. Leissner, who managed Goldman’s relationship with 1MDB, pleaded guilty in August. Mr. Ng is in Singapore and intends to fight extradition to the United States.

A few days after those charges were announced on Nov. 1, Goldman’s legal team met with prosecutors from the Justice Department’s criminal division, according to the people familiar with the talks. Goldman’s lawyers outlined their defense against possible charges — apparently an early step toward a potential legal settlement.

Then, at a Dec. 11 meeting in Washington, prosecutors met with the former New Jersey governor, Chris Christie, and other representatives for Mr. Low, who has been criminally charged in the United States and Malaysia.

At that meeting, Mr. Low’s lawyers wanted to discuss the federal government’s efforts to seize their client’s assets, and they noted that Mr. Low could offer the prosecutors information about Goldman’s role in the scandal. The prosecutors rebuffed that idea, noting that their investigation of Goldman was largely complete, according to three people familiar with that meeting.

A final settlement is still months away. It is unclear whether Goldman itself will face criminal charges in the United States. Any settlement is likely to include a penalty stretching into the billions of dollars, likely making it one of the biggest corporate penalties imposed so far during the Trump administration.

Investors are paying attention. The bank’s shares fell 2.7 percent on Monday, after news of the charges broke. Its shares are down by more than one-third since last year, reflecting both its troubles and the overall souring sentiment on Wall Street.

In a sign of how seriously Goldman is taking the investigation, the bank has retained lawyers from firms including Akin Gump to represent employees who have been questioned by federal authorities, according to people with knowledge of the hirings.

The Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York State Division of Financial Services are also moving forward with separate investigations of Goldman’s role in the 1MDB fraud.

The New York regulator, which oversees Goldman’s state-chartered banking unit, recently sent subpoenas to Goldman and a number of its employees asking them to appear for interviews early in 2019, according to the two people familiar with the subpoenas. The regulator plans to interview about eight Goldman employees who sit on the bank’s so-called capital committee.

In those interviews, the regulators will likely focus on the decision by the capital committee to temporarily take on $300 million in debt from the 1MDB bond offerings and to charge the fund fees that were unusually high, the two people said.

The stakes are especially high for Goldman because some of its top executives were connected to the 1MDB deals. Lloyd C. Blankfein, who stepped down as chief executive in October, met privately with Malaysian officials, including Mr. Low.

Mr. Blankfein, who is currently Goldman’s chairman, told The New York Times last month that the scheme was the work of rogue employees who “evaded our safeguards and lie.”

In Malaysia, Attorney General Tommy Thomas filed criminal charges on Monday against three subsidiaries of Goldman, including Goldman Sachs International, the London-based unit that houses much of the bank’s international operations.

Mr. Thomas said the government would seek more than $2.7 billion in penalties against Goldman.

Malaysia also charged Mr. Leissner and Mr. Low. Mr. Low’s lawyers said in a statement that he was innocent. “It is clear that Mr. Low cannot get a fair trial in Malaysia, where the regime has proven numerous times that they have no interest in the rule of law,” the statement said. Mr. Low is believed to be in China, though his exact location is not known.

Mr. Thomas said on Monday that Goldman misled potential investors in the marketing materials it provided as it prepared to sell bonds for 1MDB, in violation of Malaysian securities laws. Goldman received fees from the government fund that were “several times higher than the prevailing market rates,” he added. Those fees in turn led to fat bonuses for Goldman bankers and increased the bank’s prominence in Asia.

Goldman has “fallen far short of any standard,” Mr. Thomas said. “They have to be held accountable.”

#Goldman Sachs #Malaysia

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investmart007 · 6 years

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Ohio News: Jury convicts former MetroHealth Chief Operating Officer and three others in kickback and bribery scheme

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Ohio News: Jury convicts former MetroHealth Chief Operating Officer and three others in kickback and bribery scheme

Cleveland, Ohio – The former Chief Operating Officer of MetroHealth Hospital System and three other men were convicted by a jury for their roles in a conspiracy to defraud the hospital and others through a series of bribes and kickbacks totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars related to the hospital’s dental program.

Edward R. Hills, 58, of Aurora, Sari Alqsous, 34, of Cleveland, Yazan B. Al-Madani, 34, of Westlake, and Tariq Sayegh, 38, of Cleveland, were all found guilty of criminal charges following a trial that lasted several weeks. They are scheduled to be sentenced November 27.

“These defendants ripped off taxpayers and betrayed the community’s trust when they accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and other bribes,” U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman said. “Their egregious, offensive behavior lasted nearly a decade and now they will be held accountable for their actions.”

“A jury decided to hold Mr. Hills and his associates accountable for their roles in defrauding our healthcare system,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Stephen D. Anthony said. “The investigation revealed these individuals engaged in a pervasive pattern of fraud, betraying the MetroHealth Hospital System, its employees, and our community. The collective efforts of the FBI, IRS, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Ohio Office of the Inspector General, United States Attorney’s Office, and MetroHealth officials led to the disruption of this destructive illegal activity. ”

“Edward Hills was placed in the utmost position of trust by MetroHealth, but he chose to abuse that position of trust for his own personal greed and ego,” said Ryan L. Korner, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Office. “These defendants had the opportunity to come clean and tell the truth. Instead, they chose to obstruct the investigation by telling witnesses to not to cooperate with law enforcement. Now they are convicted felons facing a lengthy prison sentences for their crimes. Today’s guilty verdicts are a direct result of the excellent partnership amongst IRS Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, FBI, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and the Ohio Office of the Inspector General.”

“This investigation unraveled a complex scheme that involved corruption on a number of different levels,” said Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. “Corruption like this has no place in Ohio, and I applaud the work of all our law enforcement partners who investigated and prosecuted this case.”

Hills worked in various capacities at MetroHealth, including as Chief Operating Officer and Director of MetroHealth Dental. He also served as interim President and Chief Executive Officer from December 2012 through July 2013. Alqsous, Al-Madani and Sayegh are dentists who worked for MetroHealth.

According to court documents, testimony and documents presented at trial:

Hills, Alqsous and Al-Madani engaged in a racketeering conspiracy from 2008 through 2016 involving a series of elaborate bribery conspiracies, witness tampering and other crimes. These bribes include Hills soliciting cash, checks, a $3,879 Louis Vuitton briefcase, a 55-inch television, airline flights and use of a downtown apartment from Alqsous, Al-Madani and others. In return, Hills took official actions on their behalf, including allowing them to work at their private dental businesses during regular business hours while receiving a full-time salary from MetroHealth.

Alqsous, Al-Madani and others gave cash, checks and other things of value to Hills beginning in 2009. Evidence included text messages and meetings, often at expensive restaurants, which resulted in cash being deposited into Hills’ bank accounts.

Alqsous sent a text message to Al-Madani and another person in 2013 that stated: “With 22nd of October approaching we ll be celebrating Dr hills bday earlier this year…1000 dollars each is the gift from the 3 sons their father.” Later that day, $3,000 was deposited into Hills’ bank account.

In 2012, Alqsous rented and lived in an apartment at the Perry Payne apartment building in downtown Cleveland. When he bought a residence, Hills instructed Alqsous to continue paying rent and other bills at the Perry Payne building, even though Alqsous would no longer be living there. Hills used the Perry Payne apartment to house an associate and for his own personal use in 2013 and 2014 while Alqsous, acting on Hills’ orders, continued to pay rent and other bills.

Hills instructed Alqsous to purchase furniture for the apartment for Hills’ personal use. Alqsous sent Hills a text in 2013 stating: “I bought your bedroom yesterday…there is mirrors everywhere…You will like it.”

Hills became interim President and CEO of the MetroHealth Hospital System in December 2012. Around that time, he told Alqsous, Al-Madani and others that he wanted a specific Louis Vuitton briefcase because his predecessor had a similar briefcase.

Alqsous texted a photo of the briefcase to Hills and wrote: “The guys are also very excited about their raise haha.” Hills responded with: “Thanks I’m so excited to have my bag to start my new job as #1.” Later that day, Alqsous, Al-Madani and others purchased the briefcase for $3,879 from Saks Fifth Avenue in Beachwood and later presented it to Hills.

As director of MetroHealth Dental, Hills was responsible for determining monthly bonuses for dentists who produced receipts in excess of their monthly salary and benefits. Dentists typically received a monthly bonus totaling 25 percent of the monies they generated for excess receipts.

Between 2010 and 2014, Hills regularly upwardly adjusted the bonuses of Alqsous, Al-Madani and others, by a total of approximately $92,829.

Hills also allowed Alqsous, Al-Madani and others to retain full-time salaries and benefits at MetroHealth without requiring them to work full-time hours, thus allowing them to operate private dental clinics. Hills, acting at the request of Alqsous and Al-Madani, provided MetroHealth dental residents to practice at those private clinics during regular business hours. Neither Alqsous nor Al-Madani paid wages or salaries to the resident dentists.

Additionally, Alqsous, Al-Madani and Sayegh solicited and accepted bribes totaling tens of thousands of dollars from prospective candidates to the MetroHealth Dental residency program.

In a typical year, the MetroHealth Dental residency accepted four to six candidates for the residency program from a pool of 40 to 60 applicants. Alqsous, Sayegh and Al-Madani each had the authority to influence the selection of dental residents, and Hills had final decisional authority over who was selected for the residency program.

Alqsous and Sayegh often identified and selected candidates who were from Jordan or trained at a Jordanian dental school, telling them they would have to pay a “donation” to MetroHealth to be considered. Alqsous and Sayegh directed the candidates to pay the “donation” directly to them, and in some cases, told the candidates a portion of the money would go to Hills.

Alqsous, Sayegh and Al-Madani solicited at least $75,000 in bribes from resident dentist candidate between 2008 and 2014.

In another conspiracy, Al-Madani and Alqsous paid bribes to Hills in exchange for him taking actions to refer Medicaid recipients to private dental clinics owned by Al-Madani and Alqsous instead of MetroHealth. All three took steps to conceal this activity by claiming kickback checks totaling $17,600 written to Hills were for “consultation fees” or “professional fees”.

Hills, Alqsous and Al-Madani also conspired to obstruct justice, instructing people not to cooperate with law enforcement after becoming aware of the federal investigation in 2014.

Hills also made false statements on tax returns, failing to claim approximately $165,751 in unreported income stemming from bribes, kickbacks and other things of value between 2011 and 2013.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Om Kakani, Michael L. Collyer and James Lewis following an investigation by the FBI, IRS-CI, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Ohio Office of the Inspector General.

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SOURCE: news provided by JUSTICE.GOV on Monday, July 30, 2018.

#AURORA #Bribery scheme #Department of Justice #DOJ #Edward R. Hills #kickback scheme #ohio news #Sari Alqsous #Tariq Sayegh #TodayNews #Westlake

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