(Note: a correction was added on August 4th).IT started with this article in Le Monde: "En Russie, la lutte anticorruption sourit aux bakchichs" ("In Russia, the fight against corruption smiles on baksheesh").
In Latvia the prime minister tried to fire the head of his country's anticorruption agency until a public outcry stayed his hand.
For example, with accession safely accomplished, the Slovene parliament voted to close down an EU-inspired anticorruption commission, which had to be saved by the country's constitutional court.
Critics said the orders from Mr. Maliki appeared to be his latest effort to crack down on dissenting voices behind demonstrations that have called for anticorruption reforms, better public services and more accountability from leaders.
The anticorruption campaign that began with the sacking of Anatoly Serdyukov, the defence minister, in November will continue.
The price of bribes must be factored into some international transactions, and corporations often find themselves in the difficult position of having to violate anticorruption laws in their own countries as the price of doing business in other parts of the world.
Meanwhile, the EPRDF remained in power into the 2000s, although it was weakened by internal dissent in 2001 when the EPRDF's TPLF faction split over the government's anticorruption policies and Meles's embrace of more-liberal economic policies.
By the following year, however, several key suspects had been arrested or tried for war crimes, and the government had adopted a strong anticorruption strategy.
Although the CCM party had promised to implement anticorruption measures in the previous year, no significant action took place until May 4 after the controller and auditor general published the annual report on public finances, which identified officials in at least seven ministries as involved in "rampant misuse of funds".
Another provision, for the establishment of a new anticorruption agency, was implemented in August.
In June an anticorruption commission was set up to recover embezzled moneys, but no senior officials were prosecuted.
