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Sep 11, 2015

BRIBES IN TRUCKING INDUSTRY * Thailand: LTFT Asked to get rid of corruption, especially "online bribes"

* Bangkok - PM asked to end 'online bribes' in trucking sector

-- The Land Transport Federation of Thailand on Tuesday requested Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to exercise his power under Section 44 of the interim constitution to get rid of corruption, especially "online... Truck operators submit their complaint at the government complaints centre near Government House... It has been reported the practice involves transfers of money to officials' bank accounts. Once informed of the money transfers online they then allegedly allow contraband to go through checkpoints to another country without being examined... Those who paid monthly bribes would receive tips through their smartphone apps about where and when overloaded trucks could travel without being caught...
 (Photo: A private cargo truck in Chiangmai, Thailand. June 4 2015)  --  Bangkok, Thailand - The Bangkok Post - 9 Sept 2015

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Oct 11, 2008

Indicted * USA - IRS after California trucking firm for taxes, attempted bribery

CAL,USA -Land Line Magazine, by Charlie Morasch -October 10, 2008: -- A federal grand jury recently indicted three brothers who ran a California trucking business for allegedly withholding $2.5 million in taxes, in addition to previous charges of trying to bribe an Internal Revenue Service officer... In October 2007, the Lasher brothers of Los Banos, CA-based Lasher Brothers Trucking Co. were charged with scheming to bribe an IRS revenue officer to avoid paying $2.5 million in taxes. It is being called the largest ever bribery case involving an IRS officer... The brothers allegedly offered to pay an undercover revenue officer $600,000 in cash to eliminate $2.5 million in delinquent employee withholding and FICA taxes and penalties. The brothers met the agent at a gas station and paid him $56,500 in cash, a quitclaim deed for Kulwant Lasher’s Los Banos residence, and a 2003 BMW 745L... On Oct. 2, U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott announced 19 new charges of tax violations against Kulwant Lasher, 51, Tarlochan Lasher, 53, and Jaswinder Lasher, 48... Conviction for bribery of a public official carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $1.8 million. Each of the 19 tax charges carries a possible maximum penalty of five years and a fine of up to $250,000...

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Jul 25, 2008

BRIBES * USA - Cop got up to $800 a week in tow truck bribes

Chicago,ILL,USA -The Chicago Sun-Times, by FRANK MAIN-July 24, 2008: -- A Chicago Police officer who also serves as an assistant athletic director at a west suburban high school was charged Wednesday with extorting up to $800 a week from a tow truck company... Michael J. Ciancio, 56, is the second cop busted by the feds in a widening investigation of the towing industry... Those who know the 21-year police veteran said they could not believe the allegations that he's a crook... Ciancio was arrested at his home Wednesday. The officer, who worked in the Jefferson Park police district, has been stripped of his patrol duties... (Photo: Michael J. Ciancio was the second cop busted for extorting a tow truck company)

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Jul 21, 2008

BRIBES * Philippines - Traders slam LTO extortion in weigh bridge in Butuan

San Francisco,Agusan del Sur,Philippines -Inquirer Mindanao, by Chris V. Panganiban/ The Philippines Daily Inquirer -21 July 2008: -- The weigh bridge along the national highway in Butuan City, a government facility intended to check overloaded cargo trucks, has allegedly became the favorite place of Land Transportation Office (LTO) personnel involved in extortion activities... Irate log traders and tree farmers here recently told Agusan del Sur Gov. Ma. Valentina Plaza that because of the extortion activities allegedly by LTO personnel, they renamed the weigh bridge “witik (bribe) bridge"... Ricardo Peyrera, who spoke in behalf of the tree farmers’ group, said the LTO men ask P300 per truck before the cargoes are allowed to pass... A record from the weigh bridge in Tabon-tabon showed that at least 30 trucks loaded with falcatta pass through it every day..
Plaza said she has formed a task force to look into these complaints and that an investigation was underway... “There are no sacred cows in my administration,” Plaza said in a statement sent to the Inquirer on Thursday... She said illegal checkpoints would also be torn down to prevent corrupt personnel from preying on hapless farmers and traders...

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Jul 11, 2008

BRIBES * India - World of Tapan Mitra or something’s rotten in the state of the traffic guard

A sergeant’s diary against his boss suggests something’s rotten in the state of the traffic guard. What’s the world it directs one way or another like

Calcutta,India -The Calcutta Telegraph -11 Aug 2008: -- Metro ventured on Thursday into the empire of the Shyambazar Traffic Guard for a taste of how it’s being ruled by Tapan Mitra, the officer-in-charge lately in the news for being accused by a sergeant of trying to stop him from performing his duty... Sudip Maity, the 26-year-old sergeant, was shunted out of the traffic guard on Wednesday, a day after he made the allegation, but Mitra was keeping an eye on his backyard from a Tata Sumo parked at the Shyambazar five-point crossing when Metro caught up with him around 12.30pm... More about what was happening around the OC later but first the point close to where Maity had on Monday booked a lorry driver for violating a signal and allegedly received a mouthful from his boss, Mitra, for his action... Cossipore crossing, noon: Trucks are allowed to ply in the city between 10pm and 8am (only Posta-bound vehicles coming from Second Hooghly bridge are permitted between 12 and 4pm) and the fine for flouting this rule is Rs 2,000... A signboard, “No entry for goods vehicles”, is planted smack in the middle of the intersection. But lorries loaded with cement and other goods (in picture No. 1 two such vehicles are seen passing the sign) travel both ways — towards and away from the city...The drivers were dropping folded currency notes into the extended hands of the two constables deployed at the crossing. At times, it seems they are shaking hands. Not a single driver passed without paying respect to the policemen until they noticed our camera...From them on, the sight turned funny: the drivers are putting their hands out with the money but the constables waved them on with their batons... It’s not that the constables themselves are pocketing the money. So where does the day’s collection go? Your guess is as good as ours... Chitpore police station, noon: Around 10 cement-laden lorries are parked illegally on Cossipore Road close to the police station. The road space is squeezed by the parked vehicles, which obviously cannot remain there unless they are allowed to... A driver, ferrying cement and on his way to deliver at Cossipore, says: “We enter the city only to unload goods and drive back. The entry fee (read bribe) for a lorry is Rs 150 for a day.”... Shyambazar Traffic Guard, 11.30am: Lorries have a free run in the restricted zone on Bidhan Sarani right under the nose of the traffic guard which has its office there. The driver of a fruit-loaded vehicle, which is passing through, says: “The owner pays the traffic guard, so there is no hassle. We take this route every day.”... Another lorry driver says most truck owners pay a fixed amount to the traffic guard. In the picture No. 3 , a goods vehicle is caught passing by the traffic guard office with the signboard in the background...Shyambazar 5-point crossing, 12.30pm: This is where Mitra (in picture No. 4), the OC, is camping... Asked why heavy vehicles are being allowed into a restricted a zone, Mitra said: “All the lorries are carrying gas and fuel, which are essential commodities and there is no curb on their movement"... He refuses comment when it is pointed out that lorries carrying other goods are also running... While we were on our way to Cossipore and passing by Shyambazar, which was before 12 noon, light goods vehicles were plying, though they are not supposed to till midday...

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Jul 3, 2008

BRIBES * Vietnam - Seaport staff demand they

Money makes the mare go!... For many enterprises, sending cargo through a seaport in northern Hai Phong City requires “black money” for timely delivery

Ho Chi Minh City,Vietnam -Thanh Nien Daily -2 July 2008: -- Staff at Chua Ve Port – one of three congested ports at the Hai Phong Port Complex – are notorious for demanding money from cargo truck drivers at all stages to let a container pass through... When the seaport staff unload boats, the containers may be held up indefinitely unless the owner of the cargo pays the illegal fee to staff... “We have to pay the bribe at almost every stage,” said the director of a land transport service in the city who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It’s like an unwritten law in the port, we know by heart how much to pay at each step,” he said... “Fees for a container to get through can range from VND60,000-100,000 (US$3.50-6)... My company transports around 300 containers a month so we have to pay over VND20 million ($1,200) for them every month.”... The busiest area where bribing takes place is around the crane, said an experienced driver known as T... When the seaport staff unload boats, the containers may be held up indefinitely unless the owner of the cargo pays the illegal fee to staff... T. said he could get his load and leave the port in just a few minutes after making such a payment while those who didn’t pay had to wait... The company’s trade union admitted bribing existed, but also blamed the cargo owners and drivers... (Photo: A truck driver accepts bribe money from a cargo owner at Chua Ve Port in northern Hai Phong City. Officials at the seaport blame cargo owners and not staff for the pay off system)

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Feb 19, 2008

BRIBING * Vietnam - Copping fines

Bribe-taking on major highways remains a persistent bugbear staining authority figures and festering public discontent

Ho Chi Minh City,Vietnam -Thanh Nien Daily -19 Feb 2008: -- Around the period of the Tet (Lunar New Year), newspaper correspondents staked out at major highways that have drawn notoriety for the cowboy methods of traffic police and discovered that transgressions have reached a zenith... Officials took bribes and permitted passage to vehicles crammed with an inordinate number of passengers or overloaded trucks goods... Such clandestine activities, in fact, have become routine for both drivers and traffic police, especially during the holiday time when inflated kickbacks reap a “bountiful harvest” for these scheming perpetrators... (Photo: A routine bribe-taking conducted between a truck driver and a policeman in Binh Phuoc Province)

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May 18, 2007

Bribes * USA - Feds allege Alaska legislators accepted they from oil producer

Alaska,USA -Land Line Magazine -May 16, 2007: -- An Alaska state representative and two former legislators have been arrested and indicted for bribery and conspiracy charges after the men allegedly traded votes for money and jobs from a major energy-producing company... According to a Department of Justice news release, the three men corruptly solicited and accepted cash payments and loans in exchange for support of certain legislation and a natural gas pipeline... The news release said Alaska Rep. Victor Kohring and former state House members Bruce Weyrauch and Peter Kott were arrested May 4 in Juneau, AK... Reported on May 7 that Bill Allen, former CEO of VECO Corp., and Rich Smith, vice president and chief lobbyist, both pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy and one count of bribery. Each faces up to five years in prison for each conspiracy charge and 10 years for bribery, and $250,000 fines...

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