Day: March 2, 2022

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA — South Africa said this week the International Criminal Police Organization, Interpol, has requested countries seek out and arrest Rajesh and Atul Gupta, two brothers and businessmen who allegedly bribed top officials, including former president Jacob Zuma, to gain lucrative government contracts.

South African anti-corruption activists have accused the Guptas of “state capture,” a term meant to describe the brothers’ strong influence over former president Zuma and members of his Cabinet — influence that allegedly extended to contracts, policy and personnel choices.

While there are many allegations against the Guptas, the red notices — requests to member nations to arrest — were issued for a case involving a relatively small $1.5 million pertaining to procurement fraud.

South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority requested the red notices last year, but Rajesh and Atul Guptas’ lawyers objected. The application had to be reviewed by Interpol to make sure, among other things, that there was no political bias.

Interpol’s ambassador for the Turn Back Crime Campaign, Andy Mashaile, said South Africa also took time to secure an extradition treaty with the United Arab Emirates, as it’s believed the brothers are in Dubai.

“You can then go to Interpol Dubai and say: ‘Interpol Dubai, we know this is the place where the guys are living, this is the street name and the street number, this is how they look, these are their images. Please help us get these people in your detention center or in your cell, in jail until we are able to fetch them from Dubai,'” Mashaile said.

Interpol has 194 member countries and, while red notices do not compel them to execute arrests, the notices do help in tracking the whereabouts of suspects or fugitives. Their photographs are posted on all local law enforcement systems.

Political analyst Sanusha Naidu of the Institute for Global Dialogue said the red notices could help the 2024 reelection campaign of South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, because it shows he is taking action against corruption.

“But I think what it also suggests is that at an international level, you know, getting the international community and, in particular, Interpol to also take a stance and align with the position that Ramaphosa has,” Naidu said. “So, I think in terms of him moving forward and trying to say to the South African public, I’m doing what I have to do. I’m working around this, I’m moving the needle on this.”

However, Naidu said she’s not sure it’s enough to redeem the African National Congress, which has steadily been losing support at the polls because of rampant corruption and failure to deliver basic services.

“I think if you want to talk about what ordinary South Africans want, they want to see the judicial system take its natural course,” she said. “But the question also is all the money that’s been taken from the country, how does that come back? Because if you think about it, that’s where part of the challenge lies.”

News of the red notices broke a day before the release of the third report from the Inquiry into State Capture. It called for the National Prosecuting Authority to investigate Zuma. The former president refused to appear before the inquiry and was jailed for 15 months after defying a court order to do so. However, he was let out on medical parole soon after.

Source: Voice of America

NAIROBI, The United Nations is to launch formal negotiations on Wednesday for a global treaty to address a plastic trash “epidemic” that supporters say is a historic moment for the planet.

The UN Environment Assembly (UNEA), convening in Nairobi, is poised to adopt a resolution creating an inter-governmental committee to negotiate and finalise a legally binding agreement by 2024.

The amount of plastic trash entering the oceans is forecast to triple by 2040, and governments have been under pressure to unite behind a global response to the crisis.

The framework for a comprehensive treaty has been approved by UN member states, including major plastic producers like the US and China, according to sources close to the negotiations.

Officials say it gives negotiators a broad and robust mandate to consider new rules that target plastic pollution from its birth as a raw material to its design, use and safe disposal.

This could include limits on making new plastic, which is derived from oil and gas, though policy specifics will only be determined during later talks.

The mandate provides for the negotiation of binding global targets with monitoring mechanisms, the development of national plans and financing for poorer countries.

Negotiators also have the scope to consider all aspects of pollution — not just plastic in the ocean but tiny particles in the air, soil and food chain — a key demand of many countries.

“We are 100-percent happy with the outcome,” said Ana Teresa Lecaros, director of environment in the foreign ministry of Peru, a country that co-signed one of the draft resolutions.

Inger Andersen, the head of the UN Environment Programme, said a plastics treaty would be “one for the history books” and the most important pact for the planet since the Paris climate agreement.

The rate of plastic production has grown faster than any other material and is expected to double within two decades, the UN says.

But less than 10 percent is recycled, with most winding up in landfill or oceans.

By some estimates, a garbage truck’s worth of plastic is dumped into the sea every minute.

“Plastic pollution has grown into an epidemic of its own,” said Norway’s climate and environment minister, Espen Barth Eide, who chairs UNEA.

He said he was “quite optimistic” about bringing down the gavel on a strong resolution in Nairobi.

Environment groups are also buoyed by the outcome of the talks but like officials and diplomats, caution that the strength of any treaty will only be determined by rigorous negotiations to come.

The first round of discussions is set for May, according to sources involved in the process

Big corporations have expressed support for a treaty that creates a common set of rules around plastic and a level playing field for competition.

Big plastic makers have underscored the importance of plastic in construction, medicine and other vital industries and warned that banning certain materials would cause supply chain disruptions.

Source: Nam News Network