Anti-bribery panel urges deeper national oil-for-food investigations News
Anti-bribery panel urges deeper national oil-for-food investigations

[JURIST] An anti-bribery panel for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) [official website] urged governments on Friday to dig deeper into evidence of kickbacks and corruption reported by an independent UN commission investigating the UN's now-defunct Iraq oil-for-food program [official website; JURIST news archive]. Only 11 of the 40 countries whose citizens have been implicated by the inquiry have requested to see the evidence to conduct their own criminal investigations, with the United States and France leading the way. The OECD's anti-bribery convention [OECD materials] requires corruption by foreign public officials be treated as a criminal offense. The independent inquiry into the oil-for-food program released its final report [JURIST report] in October, identifying kickbacks and other illicit payments totaling $1.8 billion with approximately 4,500 companies involved worldwide. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.