Early in October last year, Thailand’s cabinet at the time approved the transfer of three senior head officials from the country’s Ministry of Education following a probe into alleged malfeasance in relation to the construction of the Songkhla Lake Aquaculture Research Centre, an aquarium and marine research centre in the southern province of Songkhla.Earlier in March, an embezzlement scandal going back to 2008 involving scholarships from the Sema Phatthana Chiwit Fund worth US$3.7 million wa

Indonesia's constitutional court Thursday rejected a bid to overturn President Joko Widodo's re-election victory and dismissed his defeated challenger's claims of widespread voter fraud as groundless.The court threw out the case lodged by ex-general Prabowo Subianto, saying he did not prove he lost the April vote because of widespread cheating and voter fraud – allegations that sparked deadly rioting in the capital of the world's third-biggest democracy."The plaintiff

Having trouble opening a bank account or transferring funds? Getting stopped by customs officers while travelling abroad?

Indonesia’s president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has done it again. Not only has he managed to hold on to his position for a second term, he beat his old rival Prabowo Subianto with an even bigger margin than he managed in 2014.

Cambodia’s Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary is symbolic of the country’s poor forestry management. Around 2,000 square kilometres (sq km) – around three times the size of Singapore – is lost to illegal logging in Cambodia every year where wildlife sanctuaries – despite their name – are not spared.When first established in 1993, the Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary located five hours north of the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh covered 2,425 sq km.

Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker Roger Ng is in plea talks to avoid a United States (US) trial on charges that he broke American anti-bribery laws and conspired to launder money embezzled from Malaysia’s state investment fund, 1MDB.Ng arrived in New York from Malaysia early Monday and appeared in federal court in Brooklyn, where he entered a not guilty plea.

Chinese President Xi Jinping sought Friday to bat away concerns about his ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), saying his global infrastructure project will have "zero tolerance" for corruption while vowing to prevent debt risks.In a speech kicking off the BRI summit, Xi also offered soothing remarks to the United States (US) over subsidies, the yuan and trade as the two sides head into fresh high-level talks next week.Xi's signature foreign policy aims to reinvent the anc

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s grand Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is getting a makeover to tone down government rhetoric and tighten oversight, after allegations of corruption and a lack of sustainability dogged some of its highest-profile projects.Beijing is taking a range of steps to exert more control over the program, officials and participants said, including a more muted publicity drive, clearer rules for state-owned-enterprises, restricting use of the BRI brand, and building overseas

When Indonesian authorities arrested a politician with some 400,000 cash-filled envelopes, it was a stark reminder that a long-time election staple is alive and well in the corruption-riddled country –vote buying.Bowo Sidik Pangarso was detained last month for alleged embezzlement from a fertiliser firm, but officials also discovered the lawmaker had boxes stuffed with envelopes of low-denomination notes totalling about eight billion rupiah (US$565,000).Graft-busters suspect the cash was earm

Malaysia's disgraced ex-leader Najib Razak pleaded not guilty to all charges against him as he went on trial Wednesday over a multi-billion-dollar fraud, almost a year after his shock election loss.The 65-year-old faced the first of several trials over his alleged involvement in the looting of sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, a state investment vehicle established to develop the economy of the Southeast Asian nation.The former premier and his cronies are accused of plundering billions of doll