SEC settles tobacco charges

WASHINGTON - Two American tobacco companies are paying almost $30 million to settle charges that they bribed foreign officials to get lucrative overseas tobacco sales contracts.

The companies, Universal Corp. of Richmond, Va., and Alliance One International of Morrisville, N.C., faced civil and criminal charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department, the government said Friday.
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New efforts under way to restart stalled Moz–Malawi power interconnector

 The World Bank, the lead financier of the $93- million Mozambique–Malawi power interconnector project, has initiated negotiations with the Malawi government to kick-start the project, which has stalled because Malawi is unhappy with aspects of the power sharing agreement between the two neighbouring countries and the Bretton Woods institution.
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US charges tobacco companies for bribery in Malawi

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged two global tobacco companies with violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for paying more bribes to government officials in in Malawi and other countries to illicitly obtain tobacco sales contracts.  Between 2002 and 2003, Universal subsidiaries paid a total of $850,000 to high-ranking Malawian government officials that were not accurately recorded in Universal's books and records. TO READ MORE CLICK HERE

China locks in Paladin Energy's uranium

URANIUM miner Paladin Energy will explore long-term sales and growth opportunities with one of China's biggest nuclear power companies

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