Barclays Whistleblower

The whistleblowing bankers who were sent to jail

Two traders jailed for rigging interest rates were the original whistleblowers of the scandal, and not the bosses that directed them to carry out the illegal actions. Leaked audio recordings reveal Peter Johnson and Colin Bermingham alerted the US central bank to a fraud that the tapes suggest was directed from the top of the financial system.

Ericsson risked workers lives by Islamic State

The telecoms company Ericsson put contractors’ lives at risk by insisting they continued working in territory controlled by the Islamic State [IS] group in Iraq. This resulted in them being kidnapped by IS militants.

Post Office scandal: Public inquiry to examine wrongful convictions

Between 2000 and 2014, more than 700 sub-postmasters were wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting due to a flaw in a computer system Horizon.

Dell sued over ‘false’ ads claims

Dell, the world’s largest computer maker, is facing legal action in China over allegations of false advertising.

The group has been sued over charges its laptops contained a different, cheaper chip than those advertised.

According to state media reports at least 20 lawsuits have been filed against the Texas-based firm

Glaxo pays $70m to end price row

GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to pay out $70m (£36.9m) to settle numerous civil claims of price-fixing in the US.

Several states, health plans and numerous consumers had launched legal action against the group claiming it had inflated the price of some drugs

iSoft accounting irregularities found

Troubled software firm iSoft has found evidence of irregularities affecting its accounts for 2004 and 2005.

Isoft said the problems mainly related to stating revenues earlier than they should have been.

An independent probe into its accounting problems also concluded there were grounds for a more formal investigation, iSoft added

AOL apology for search data error

Internet giant AOL has apologised for releasing the search queries of more than 650,000 of its US subscribers.

The company admitted the release to researchers was “a screw up” and had breached the privacy of its users.

AOL said it was an “innocent attempt to reach out to the academic community with research tools”

Scandal-hit Faurecia boss quits

The boss of French car parts firm Faurecia, Pierre Levi, has resigned following the start of a criminal investigation into alleged bribery.

Mr Levi’s departure comes as German prosecutors claim Faurecia paid bribes to carmakers such as VW and BMW in order to win their business.

Frankfurt-based prosecutor Sibylle Gottwald said Mr Levi was aware of the bribes but denied direct involvement

Pepsi and Coke under fire again

An Indian non-governmental organisation says samples of Coca-Cola and Pepsi products are showing even worse levels of pesticides than in a previous study.

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said their investigations revealed that the drinks contain harmful residues, posing a health risk.

A CSE report in 2003 resulted in Pepsi and Coca-Cola strenuously rejecting claims that their drinks were unsafe

Bullied City worker wins $1.5m

A City worker employed in a “department from hell” has won about $1.5m damages for bullying.

Helen Green, 36, sued Deutsche Bank Group Services (UK) Ltd claiming harassment by colleagues and a lack of support from bosses

Google click-fraud deal approved

Search-engine firm Google’s $90m (£48m) settlement in a “click fraud” case has been approved by a US state judge.

The legal action was initially brought by Lane’s Gifts and Collectibles in February of 2005, but was later changed to a class-action, or group, case.

Advertisers had complained that Google was falsely charging the firms for channelling clients to their websites

Worldcom’s ex-boss loses appeal

Former Worldcom boss Bernard Ebbers has lost his appeal against his conviction and 25-year prison sentence for fraud and conspiracy.

A federal appeals court in New York on Friday upheld the guilty verdict passed by the jury in Mr Ebbers’ original trial back in March 2005.

The convictions against Mr Ebbers relate to his part in an $11bn (£6bn) accounting fraud at the telecoms firm

Bank pledges to install free ATMs

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has announced that it is to install 300 free-to-use cash machines in some of the UK’s poorest locations.

The bank said it wanted to make cash easily available to poorer consumers.

Citizens Advice recently warned that many poorer parts of the UK were becoming cash machine “deserts” as banks closed branches

Serious Fraud Office to probe Southern Water

LONDON (Reuters) – The Serious Fraud Office is to investigate Southern Water for misleading regulators over its customer service standards, the company said on Wednesday.

Privately held Southern Water, whose biggest shareholders include Royal Bank of Scotland, already faces a fine from water regulator Ofwat for supplying incorrect figures.

Southern Water told Ofwat and the SFO last year that it had uncovered discrepancies during the installation of a new customer billing system

Microsoft hit with 280m euro fine

Microsoft has been fined 280.5m euros ($357m; £194m) by the European Commission for failing to comply with an anti-competition ruling.

The software giant will appeal against the fine which follows a long-running dispute between it and EU regulators

US Army to end Halliburton deal

Halliburton’s lucrative logistics contract with the US Army is to come to an end, the military has said.

The army said it would seek new bidders for the multi-billion dollar deal to provide support services to US troops around the globe.

Halliburton, once led by US vice president Dick Cheney, has recently come under fire for landing expensive, non-competitive government contracts

AWB faces $1bn US farms lawsuit

North American wheat farmers are seeking $1bn (£540m) in damages from Australian wheat exporter AWB, claiming it has used corruption to win business.

They have filed a class action in Washington, using US anti-racketeering laws designed to fight organised crime.

AWB is accused of using bribery and corrupt means to win grain sales in Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan and Indonesia, at the expense of US and Canadian farmers

BBC bosses enjoy big payouts as jobs are cut

BBC executives have been awarded significant pay increases, the corporation’s annual report has said.

The revelations come amid job cuts at the corporation, with unions warning that staff could strike as a result.

Director general Mark Thompson’s salary rose to £609,000 in 2005-6, with his deputy Mark Byford receiving £403,000

Bribes used to hide $A200m bank fraud

The list is itemised – cash, mobile phones, cars, holidays, golf club memberships – breaking down the millions spent by corrupt businessmen and officials from Indonesia’s state bank on police, judges and officials.

For nearly two years, a scandal surrounding inquiries into a $A200 million fraud within Bank Negara Indonesia has threatened to spread to the top of the nation’s police and judiciary.

Although several senior police are facing charges over the affair, the discovery of a detailed list of nearly $4 million worth of bribes will put pressure for tough action on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who has initiated an anti-corruption campaign

Yahoo settles click fraud lawsuit

Yahoo has settled a lawsuit filed by Checkmate Strategic Group which alleged that the search firm provided insufficient protection against click fraud.

Under the terms of the settlement Yahoo will pay roughly $5m to offset Checkmate’s legal fees, and has promised to look at its advertising terms and conditions.

Click fraud involves individuals using scripts or manually clicking on pay-per-click advertisements for financial gain

S Korea raids KEB over sale worry

South Korean prosecutors have raided the offices of Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) as part of a probe dating back to its 2003 sale to a US investment fund.

The probe is looking into allegations that KEB figures were manipulated so it could be sold quickly and cheaply.

Lone Star Funds bought KEB for 1

Bankrupt Adelphia sues Motorola

Bankrupt cable TV operator Adelphia Communications Corp. sued Motorola Inc. this week for more than $1 billion, alleging that the Schaumburg-based company assisted in the fraud that led to Adelphia’s collapse in 2002

Top Japanese fund manager charged

One of Japan’s leading financiers has been charged with insider trading in relation to share deals involving internet business Livedoor.

Prosecutors have indicted Yoshiaki Murakami, who is currently under arrest, after pursuing a criminal complaint from stock market regulators.

Mr Murakami has admitted he was guilty of insider trading when buying shares in Nippon Broadcasting System in 2005

Carrefour suing PWC, alleging fraud

BUENOS AIRES (MarketWatch) — In what could be one of the biggest fraud cases in Argentine history, French retailer Carrefour SA (12017.FR) has alleged in a series of lawsuits that accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers and one of its most high-profile Argentine clients conspired to defraud it in the sale of a local supermarket chain.

Carrefour has claimed in four separate criminal and civil suits that the directors of Norte Supermarkets former owner, Argentine investment firm Exxel Group, instructed their accountants at the chain to inflate the company’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization

KFC sued in US over cooking fats

The fast food chain KFC is being sued in the US in a bid to stop it cooking fried chicken in partially hydrogenated oil containing trans fatty acids.

The fats have been linked to raised cholesterol and a subsequent increased risk of heart disease.

The case is being brought by the consumer group Centre for Science in the Public Interest, which says KFC could use healthier cooking products

Hyundai chief admits fraud

The chairman of Hyundai admitted to his role in setting up slush funds allegedly used to bribe politicians as the scandal surrounding the South Korean car maker claimed more victims.

“I admit my guilt, to a certain extent,” said Chung Mong-koo during his second appearance at his embezzlement trial.

However he was unable to help prosecutors further, replying to several detailed questions about the fund by claiming, “I don’t remember

ING bank faces charges in the US

US officials have accused ING Groep of failing to properly disclose fees it earned running a $180m (£98m) New Hampshire state retirement fund.

Regulators say the Dutch bank did not disclose conflicts of interest that may have affected investment choices.

The company denies the charges and said it was cooperating with authorities

BP faces Alaska oil spill probe

British oil company BP could face a criminal investigation in the US over a massive oil spill in Alaska in March.

The Financial Times newspaper has obtained internal emails which show it is under investigation by a grand jury.

The emails reveal BP has been ordered to hand over a number of documents and other data relating to the leak thought to be caused by a corroded pipe