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Nordic trust tarnished by money laundering scandal

Danske Bank sign is seen at the bank's Estonian branch in Tallinn
Danske Bank sign is seen at the bank's Estonian branch in Tallinn, Estonia March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

April 3, 2019

By Johan Ahlander, Esha Vaish and John O’Donnell

STOCKHOLM/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Money laundering allegations involving Sweden and Denmark have shattered faith in the open Nordic business culture, prompting demands for tighter controls on the banks held responsible.

Ranked among the least corrupt countries by anti-graft campaign group Transparency International, Sweden and Denmark have been rocked by investigations into Danske Bank and Swedbank, knocking billions off their value.

Politicians, regulators and investors now want closer policing and more stringent penalties, unwinding a system where the state largely trusted banks to keep themselves in check.

“Openness is key in our society. This is a system built on trust and that trust has decreased quite substantially,” Swedish financial markets minister Per Bolund told Reuters.

“It’s not enough to fire one person,” Bolund said of Swedbank’s dismissal last week of Birgitte Bonnesen as chief executive, adding that an overhaul of its controls was needed, in a clear signal of future government action.

“That has to go all the way from the top to the bottom.”

Sweden has yet to announce substantial reforms following the emergence of money laundering allegations against Swedbank which originated in Europe’s Baltic states of Latvia and Estonia.

Latvia, a former Soviet state with a large Russian-speaking minority, had modeled itself as a financial bridge for Russians moving money to Europe. Similar profitable activity took place in Estonia, but has now become a reputational liability.

Danske Bank has been ejected from Estonia after admitting 200 billion euros ($225 billion) of suspicious money movements flowed through its branch there between 2007 and 2015. And it is also pulling out of neighboring Baltic states.

Danish academic Gert Svendsen, author of ‘Trust’, says the scandals risk undermining a central tenet of Nordic culture.

“People become happier if you can do things based on trust. That explains why Swedes and Danes are quite happy,” he said.

WIDER WAVES

The money laundering scandals, which have been growing week by week, are shaking politics as well as the boardroom.

In Denmark, which was first to be hit by Danske Bank, the scandal bolstered support for a left-wing opposition bloc that some polls suggest could oust the right-wing coalition in elections expected by June.

In response, the Danish government plans to create what one minister dubbed a “more aggressive financial regulator”, doubling the officials fighting money laundering to 24, allowing it to fine banks for breaches or insert an observer on a board.

“In the case of Danske Bank, we’ve seen how authorities send letters back and forth for seven or eight years before it was stopped,” Danish business minister Rasmus Jarlov said, announcing the shift toward U.S.-style controls.

Sweden may follow suit, with prime minister Stefan Lofven last week saying he could “strengthen legislation” following criticism that regulators have been too lax.

Last year the management of Sweden’s financial watchdog went against its own experts’ recommendations that it should sanction several of the major bank for insufficient money-laundering controls, opting instead to send warning letters.

The FSA also had to tighten rules requiring banks to set aside more funds for home loan losses after the central bank said it was being too generous.

And Joacim Olsson, head of the Swedish Shareholders’ Association has criticized it for being tough on smaller banks but softer on large ones.

“We in Sweden as a whole, and other regulators, have done too little. That is the conclusion from Danske Bank,” Swedish FSA head Erik Thedeen told reporters last month.

Louise Brown of Transparency International said Sweden needed to reform, adding: “We need to upgrade both regulatory execution and corporate governance”.

REGULATORY RELATIONS

The Danske Bank and Swedbank scandals have also raised questions about often close relationships between regulators and the banks the oversee.

Former Danish FSA chairman Henrik Ramlau-Hansen, who had served as finance chief at Danske Bank for five years before joining the FSA in 2016, stepped down in May last year.

Denmark now prohibits the chairman and deputy chairman to have worked at financial institutions for five years prior.

Sweden’s FSA boss Thedeen had in previous roles worked with Swedbank’s board member Peter Norman, although there is no suggestion of wrongdoing by either.

The FSA has said that Thedeen earlier recused himself from the Swedbank investigation due to the conflict of interest, and that money laundering supervision, including the probe, were being handled by his deputy.

For some, such closeness is inevitable. “Sweden is quite a small country,” said Torbjorn Hallo, an economist at the Swedish Trade Union Confederation. “Most people know each other.”

And some investors say it is time for change.

“We have had some concerns about the Nordic model … for some time. Often boards lack industry experience, and are instead pulled from a local pool,” the head of corporate governance at one London fund manager said, adding that the management often goes unchallenged as a result.

(Additional reporting by Teis Jensen in Copenhagen and Simon Jessop in London; Writing by John O’Donnell; Editing by Alexander Smith)

Source: OANN

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Bill Maher Rips Into 2020 Democrats: ‘They Look Weak’

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US wholesale prices ticked up 0.1 percent in February

U.S. wholesale prices barely increased last month after falling for three straight months, a sign there is little inflation pressure in the economy.

The Labor Department says the producer price index — which measures price changes before they reach the consumer — rose 0.1 percent in February. It slipped 0.1 percent in January. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, core producer prices also rose 0.1 percent. Wholesale prices increased 1.9 percent from a year earlier, and core prices rose 2.5 percent.

Despite an unemployment rate near a five-decade low and faster wage growth, inflation is tame. The consumer price index, released Tuesday, increased just 1.5 percent in February from a year ago. Mild inflation is a major reason the Federal Reserve has paused its interest rate hikes.

Source: Fox News National

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Britain to take over Birmingham prison permanently from G4S

FILE PHOTO: Prison workers enter HMP Birmingham after the British government took over its running from G4S, in Birmingham
FILE PHOTO: Prison workers enter HMP Birmingham after the British government took over its running from G4S, in Birmingham, Britain August 20, 2018. REUTERS/Darren Staples/File Photo

April 1, 2019

EDINBURGH (Reuters) – Britain’s government will from July 1 permanently take over the running of Birmingham Prison from private operator G4S after inmate violence made the prison unmanageable.

The government took control from G4S, the world’s largest security company, last summer. The central England prison for 1,200 inmates, built in the 19th century, was deemed then by the chief inspector of prisons Peter Clarke to be operating in “squalid” conditions.

The transfer on a permanent basis is in the best interests of the company and its staff, G4S prison services manager Jerry Petherick said.

“Birmingham is an inner-city remand prison which faces exceptional challenges including high levels of prisoner violence towards staff and fellow prisoners,” Petherick said in a statement.

The crisis is the latest challenge in Britain’s outsourcing sector after the collapse of contractor Carillion increased scrutiny of the government’s long practice of tendering public services to private sector operators.

G4S operates another four major British prisons.

The company said it had already made full provisions for future operating losses as a result of the contract in its 2018 accounts, without providing a figure.

In August, Clarke said Birmingham had deteriorated dramatically in the previous 18 months, with filthy conditions, staff locking themselves in offices and prisoners openly using drugs.

(Reporting by Elisabeth O’Leary; Editing by Mark Potter)

Source: OANN

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Trump says he will not release his tax returns

U.S. President Trump departs on travel to the Texas from the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs for travel to Texas from the White House in Washington, U.S., April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

April 10, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday held steady in his refusal to publicly release his tax returns despite mounting pressure in Congress for their disclosure that is likely to spur a legal battle.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said Americans did not care about the issue and maintained that his returns were being audited by the Internal Revenue Service, which tax and legal experts have said does not prevent their release.

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Tim Ahmann; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Barr feels backlash after saying Trump campaign was spied on; Pence-Buttigieg feud heats up

Welcome to Fox News First. Not signed up yet? Click here.
 
Developing now, Thursday, April 11, 2019

SPY GAMES: Attorney General William Barr is feeling backlash from both Democrats and the mainstream media for testifying Wednesday that federal authorities spied on the Trump campaign in 2016 ... Despite mounting evidence that the FBI pursued an array of efforts to gather intelligence from within the Trump campaign -- and the fact that the FBI successfully pursued warrants to surveil a former Trump aide in 2016 -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told the Associated Press, "I don't trust Barr, I trust Mueller." House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told Fox News that Barr's loyalties were compromised. Various members of the media accused Barr of peddling right-wing "conspiracy theories" and being part of a White House cover-up.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP.

STANDOFF OVER TRUMP'S TAXES: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the department hasn't decided if it'll comply with a demand by a key House Democrat to deliver President Trump's tax returns as a Wednesday deadline to turn over the records came and went ... In a letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., who asked for Trump's returns a week ago, Mnuchin said Treasury would consult with the Justice Department and further review the request. The news came a day after Mnuchin faced off in a contentious exchange with California Rep. Maxine Waters, the chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee.

PENCE-BUTTIGIEG FEUD HEATS UP: The war of words between Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg over homosexuality is slowly escalating ... On Wednesday, Pence fired back after the openly gay South Bend, Ind., mayor criticized the vice president for his belief that homosexuality is a choice. "He said some things that are critical of my Christian faith and about me personally. And he knows better. He knows me," Pence told CNBC in an interview scheduled to air Thursday morning. "But I get it. You know, it’s – look, again, 19 people running for president on that side in a party that’s sliding off to the left. And they’re all competing with one another for how much more liberal they are."

EX-OBAMA WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL TARGETED IN MUELLER PROBE: Greg Craig, who formerly served as counsel to the Obama White House, is expected to be charged with foreign lobbying violations, his lawyers reportedly said Wednesday ... The case against Craig stemmed from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, centering around the lobbying work he performed in 2012 for the Russian-backed president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, while Craig was a partner at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Craig allegedly never registered as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, which requires lobbyists to declare publicly if they represent foreign leaders, governments or their political parties.

British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks during a media conference at the conclusion of an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, April 11, 2019. European Union leaders on Thursday offered Britain an extension to Brexit that would allow the country to delay its EU departure date until Oct. 31. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks during a media conference at the conclusion of an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, April 11, 2019. European Union leaders on Thursday offered Britain an extension to Brexit that would allow the country to delay its EU departure date until Oct. 31. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

FINAL BREXIT DEADLINE EXTENDED UNTIL HALLOWEEN: European leaders and British Prime Minister Theresa May agreed Wednesday to push the final deadline for the U.K. to depart the bloc until Halloween, with European Council President Donald Tusk warning British politicians to "not waste this time" without ratifying a formal withdrawal agreement ... Britain had been due to leave the EU on Friday, but May rushed to an emergency summit in Brussels to plead with her European counterparts to hold off on saying goodbye for a couple more months. The prime minister had asked for a delay only until June 30, but Tusk said in a tweet that she had agreed to a longer "flexible" extension, which provides for Britain to leave any time before Oct. 31 provided Parliament ratifies a divorce deal and passes accompanying legislation to ensure a smooth transition out of the EU.

THE SOUNDBITE

CANDACE OWENS VS. LEO TERRELL: "That’s a personal attack ... That was an ad hominem attack and it was childish and I’m not going to play these playground tactics with you. I’m going to keep the focus on black America and the things actually impacting us. This is an adult conversation that needs to be had."–Candace Owens, conservative commentator and communications director for Turning Point USA, facing off against civil rights attorney Leo Terrell on "The Ingraham Angle." Terrell accused Owens of promoting herself and getting "15 minutes of fame" during a controversial appearance before the House Judiciary Committee hearing on online hate speech. (Click the image above to watch the full video.)

TODAY'S MUST-READS
Tammy Bruce: The fraying edges of universal health care.
Elizabeth Warren releases tax returns showing million-dollar income, moments after pitching wealth tax.
Howard Kurtz: Black hole politics - Why no progress escapes DC's gravity.
Meet Katie Bouman, the 29-year-old scientist behind first image of black hole.

MINDING YOUR BUSINESS
IRS chief grilled over tax credit for low-income working families.
Chase CEO Jamie Dimon defends bank's firearm policy.
Retirement realities: What's in, and what's out.

STAY TUNED

On Fox News:

Fox & Friends, 6 a.m. ET: Special guests include: Jeh Johnson, former Secretary of Homeland Security; Corey Lewandowski, former Trump campaign manager; Judge Andrew Napolitano, Fox News senior judicial analyst.

On Fox Business:

Mornings with Maria, 6 a.m. ET: Special guests include: U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., House Minority Whip; Steve Forbes, chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes Media; Tom Bevan, president and co-founder of RealClearPolitics.

Varney & Co., 9 a.m. ET: Kimberley Strassel, Wall Street Journal columnist.

After the Bell, 4 p.m. ET: Connell McShane will report live from Washington, D.C. with an interview with IMF Director Christine Lagarde.

On Fox News Radio:

The Fox News Rundown podcast: "Redacted or Unredacted Mueller Report" - Harvard Law Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz weighs in on Democrats' threats to subpoena an unredacted version of the Mueller report. For the first time an Israeli spacecraft will be landing on the moon. Morris Kahn, the South African born Israeli billionaire behind the mission, talks about what this means for Israel. Plus, commentary by Leslie Marshall, Democratic strategist and Fox News contributor.

Want the Fox News Rundown sent straight to your mobile device? Subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher.

The Brian Kilmeade Show, 9 a.m. ET: The Mueller report, Attorney General Barr's testimony about spying on the Trump campaign and the latest in the 2020 presidential race will be among the topics discussed by the following guests: Andrew McCarthy, Fox News contributor and contributing editor at the National Review; Chris Wallace, "Fox News Sunday" host; Steve Doocy, "Fox & Friends' co-host. Author Charles Lane discusses his new book, "Freedom's Detective: The Secret Service, the Ku Klux Klan and the Man Who Masterminded America’s First War on Terror."

The Todd Starnes Show, Noon ET: Todd speaks with U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., about Yale Law School allegedly discriminating against students of faith, and retired former police Lt. Randy Sutton discusses an outrageous display of anti-police vandalism.

#TheFlashback
2009: Susan Boyle, a middle-aged volunteer church worker, wows judges and audiences alike with her rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical "Les Miserables" on the British TV show "Britain's Got Talent."
1968: President Lyndon B. Johnson signs into law the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which includes the Fair Housing Act, a week after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
1945: During World War II, American soldiers liberate the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald in Germany.

Fox News First is compiled by Fox News' Bryan Robinson. Thank you for joining us! Have a good day! We'll see you in your inbox first thing Friday morning.

Source: Fox News National

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Second defendant sentenced in case that led to motorcycle cop's death

A Texas man was sentenced to 25 years in prison Friday for the death of a Houston-area motorcycle police officer who died while chasing shoplifting suspects in 2016, according to reports.

Dante Moore, 30, of Houston, had been convicted earlier of evading arrest on July 12, 2016, and causing the death of Bellaire police officer Marco Antonio Zarate.

“I have to be thankful for the jurors, that they found him guilty,” said Maria Cecilia Zarate, the officer’s widow. “But I am disappointed, extremely disappointed. One of the reasons is because of my girls … He can have the possibility of being free in a few years, and that’s not fair for them. That’s not fair for my family.”

PROSECUTORS TO SEEK DEATH PENALTY FOR ACCUSED COP KILLER IN OHIO

"He can have the possibility of being free in a few years. ... That’s not fair for my family."

— Maria Cecilia Zarate, widow of a police officer who was killed in a 2016 crash
Bellaire police Officer Anthony Marco Zarate

Bellaire police Officer Anthony Marco Zarate (Bellaire Police Department)

The chase began when Zarate, 52, heard there where shoplifters at a Target store and went after Moore, the Houston Chronicle reported. The officer crashed his motorcycle into a parked trailer and was taken to a hospital where he died.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Moore's twin brother, Dominique Moore, is serving eight years for tampering with evidence in the case, FOX affiliate KRIV-TV reported.

Source: Fox News National

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Members of The Cranberries, bassist Mike Hogan, drummer Fergal Lawler and guitarist Noel Hogan speak to Reuters during an interview in London
Members of The Cranberries, bassist Mike Hogan, drummer Fergal Lawler and guitarist Noel Hogan speak to Reuters during an interview in London, Britain, April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Gerhard Mey

April 26, 2019

By Hanna Rantala

LONDON (Reuters) – Irish rockers The Cranberries are saying goodbye with their final album released on Friday, a poignant tribute to lead singer Dolores O’Riordan who died last year.

“In the End” is the eighth studio album from the band that rose to fame in the early 1990s with hits likes “Zombie” and “Linger”, and includes the final recordings by O’Riordan, who drowned in a London hotel bath in January 2018 due to alcohol intoxication.

Work on the album began during a 2017 tour and by that winter, O’Riordan and guitarist Neil Hogan had penned and demoed 11 tracks.

With O’Riordan’s vocals recorded, Hogan, bassist Mike Hogan and drummer Fergal Lawler completed the album in tribute to her.

“When we realized how strong the songs were, that was the deciding factor really… There was no point… trying to ruin the legacy of the band,” Noel Hogan said in an interview.

“It was obvious that Dolores wanted this album done because when you hear the album, you hear the songs and how strong they are, and she was very, very excited to get in and record this.”

The Cranberries formed in Limerick in 1989 with another singer. O’Riordan replaced him a year later and the group went on to become Ireland’s best-selling rock band after U2, selling more than 40 million records.

O’Riordan, known for her strong distinctive voice singing about relationships or political violence, was 46 when she died.

“She was actually in quite a good place mentally. She was feeling quite content and strong and looking forward to a new phase of her life,” Lawler said.

“A lot of the lyrics in this album are about things ending… people might read into it differently but it was a phase of her personal life that she was talking about.”

The group previously announced their intention to split after the release of “In The End”.

“We are absolutely gutted we can’t play (the songs) live because that’s something that’s been a massive part of this band from day one,” Noel Hogan said.

“A few people have said to us about maybe even doing a one off where you have different vocalists… as kind of guests of ours. A year ago that’s definitely something we weren’t going to entertain but I don’t know, I think it’s something we need to go away and take time off for the summer and have a think about.”

Critics have generally given positive reviews of the album; NME described it as “(seeing) the band’s career go full-circle” while the Irish Times called it “an unexpected late career high and a remarkable swan song for O’Riordan”.

Their early songs still play on the radio. This week, “Dreams” was performed at the funeral of journalist Lyra McKee, who was shot dead in Londonderry last week as she watched Irish nationalist youths attack police following a raid.

“We wrote them as kids, as a hobby and 30 years later they are on radio and on TV, like all the time… That’s far more than any of us ever thought we would have,” Noel Hogan said.

“That would make Dolores really happy because she was very precious about those songs. Her babies, she called them and to have that hopefully long after we’re gone… that’s all any band can wish for.”

(Reporting by Hanna Rantala; additoinal reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Susan Fenton)

Source: OANN

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2020 Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren participates in the She the People Presidential Forum in Houston
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren participates in the She the People Presidential Forum in Houston, Texas, U.S. April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

April 26, 2019

By Joshua Schneyer and M.B. Pell

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Senator Elizabeth Warren will introduce a bill Friday that offers new protections for U.S. military families facing unsafe housing, following a series of Reuters reports revealing squalid conditions in privately managed base homes.

The Reuters reports and later Congressional hearings detailed widespread hazards including lead paint exposure, vermin infestations, collapsing ceilings, mold and maintenance lapses in privatized base housing communities that serve some 700,000 U.S. military family members.

(View Warren’s military housing bill here. https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dy5aht)

(Read Reuters’ Ambushed at Home series on military housing here. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/section/usa-military)

The Massachusetts Democrat’s bill would mandate both regular and unannounced spot inspections of base homes by certified, independent inspectors, holding landlords accountable for quickly fixing hazards. The military’s privatization program for years allowed real estate firms to operate base housing with scant oversight, Reuters found, leaving some tenants in unsafe homes with little recourse against landlords.

The bill would also require the Department of Defense and its private housing operators to publish reports annually detailing housing conditions, tenant complaints, maintenance response times and the financial incentives companies receive at each base. The provisions aim to enhance transparency of housing deals whose finances and operations the military had allowed to remain largely confidential under a privatization program since the late 1990s.

The measure would also require private landlords to cover moving costs for at-risk families, and healthcare costs for people with medical conditions resulting from unsafe base housing, ensuring they receive continuing coverage even after they leave the homes or the military.

“This bill will eliminate the kind of corner-cutting and neglect the Defense Department should never have let these private housing partners get away with in the first place,” Warren said in a statement Friday.

The proposed legislation comes after February Senate hearings where Warren, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 2020 U.S. presidential election, slammed private real estate firms for endangering service families, and sought answers about why military branches weren’t providing more oversight.

Her legislation would direct the Defense Department to allow local housing code enforcers onto federal bases, following concerns they were sometimes denied access. Warren’s office said a companion bill in the House of Representatives would be introduced by Rep. Deb Haaland, Democrat of New Mexico.

In response to the housing crisis, military branches are developing a tenant bill of rights and hiring hundreds of new housing staff. The branches recently dispatched commanders to survey base housing worldwide for safety hazards, resulting in thousands of work orders and hundreds of tenants being moved. The Defense Department has pledged to renegotiate its 50-year contracts with private real estate firms.

Congress has been quick to take its own measures. Earlier legislation proposed by senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris of California, along with Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia, would compel base commanders to withhold rent payments and incentive fees from the private ventures if they allow home hazards to persist.

(Editing by Ronnie Greene)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Offices of Deloitte are seen in London
FILE PHOTO: Offices of Deloitte are seen in London, Britain, September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Noor Zainab Hussain and Tanishaa Nadkar

(Reuters) – Deloitte quit as Ferrexpo’s auditor on Friday, knocking its shares by more than 20 percent, days after saying it was unable to conclude whether the iron ore miner’s CEO controlled a charity being investigated over its use of company donations.

Blooming Land, which coordinates Ferrexpo’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program, came under scrutiny after auditors found holes in the charity’s statements.

Ferrexpo on Tuesday said findings of an ongoing independent investigation launched in February indicated some Blooming Land funds could have been “misappropriated”. It did not provide any details or publish its findings.

Shares in Ferrexpo, the third largest exporter of pellets to the global steel industry, were 23.4 percent lower at 206.1 pence at 1022 GMT following news of Deloitte’s resignation.

“Ferrexpo’s shares are deeply discounted vs peers … following the resignation of Deloitte, we expect downside risks to dominate Ferrexpo’s shares near term.” JP Morgan analyst Dominic O’Kane said in a note on Friday.

Swiss-headquartered Ferrexpo did not provide a reason for the resignation of Deloitte, which declined to comment, while Blooming Land did not respond to a request for comment.

Funding for Blooming Land’s CSR activities is provided by one of Ferrexpo’s units in Ukraine and Khimreaktiv LLC, an entity ultimately controlled by Ferrexpo’s CEO and majority owner Kostyantin Zhevago, Ferrexpo said on Tuesday.

Ferrexpo’s board has found that Zhevago did not have significant influence or control over the charity, but Deloitte said it was unable reach a conclusion on this.

Reuters was not immediately able to contact Zhevago.

In a qualified opinion, a statement addressing an incomplete audit, Deloitte said it had been unable to conclude whether $33.5 million of CSR donations to Blooming Land between 2017 and 2018 was used for “legitimate business payments for charitable purposes”.

Deloitte said on Tuesday that total CSR payments made to Blooming Land by Ferrexpo since 2013 total about $110 million.

Ferrexpo, whose major mines are in Ukraine, has said that the investigation was ongoing and new evidence pointed to potential discrepancies.

Zhevago, 45, who ranked 1,511 on Forbes magazine’s list of billionaires for 2019 with a net worth of $1.4 billion, owns the FC Vorskla soccer club and has been a member of Ukraine’s parliament since 1998.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain and Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru and additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk in Kiev; editing by Gopakumar Warrier, Bernard Orr)

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Children walk past a damaged building in the aftermath of the Cyclone Kenneth in Pemba
Children walk past a damaged building in the aftermath of the Cyclone Kenneth in Pemba, Mozambique April 26, 2019 in this still image obtained from social media. SolidarMed via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

April 26, 2019

By Emma Rumney and Stephen Eisenhammer

JOHANNESBURG/LUANDA (Reuters) – Cyclone Kenneth killed at least one person and left a trail of destruction in northern Mozambique, destroying houses, ripping up trees and knocking out power, authorities said on Friday.

The cyclone brought storm surges and wind gusts of up to 280 km per hour (174 mph) when it made landfall on Thursday evening, after killing three people in the island nation of Comoros.

It was the most powerful storm on record to hit Mozambique’s northern coast and came just six weeks after Cyclone Idai battered the impoverished nation, causing devastating floods and killing more than 1,000 people across a swathe of southern Africa.

The World Food Programme warned that Kenneth could dump as much as 600 millimeters of rain on the region over the next 10 days – twice that brought by Cyclone Idai.

One woman in the port town of Pemba died after being hit by a falling tree, the Emergency Operations Committee for Cabo Delgado (COE) said in a statement, while another person was injured.

In rural areas outside Pemba, many homes are made of mud. In the main town on the island of Ibo, 90 percent of the houses were destroyed, officials said. Around 15,000 people were out in the open or in “overcrowded” shelters and there was a need for tents, food and water, they said.

There were also reports of a large number of homes and some infrastructure destroyed in Macomia district, a mainland district adjacent to Ibo.

A local group, the Friends of Pemba Association, had earlier reported that they could not reach people in Muidumbe, a district further inland.

Mark Lowcock, United Nations under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, warned the storm could require another major humanitarian operation in Mozambique.

“Cyclone Kenneth marks the first time two cyclones have made landfall in Mozambique during the same season, further stressing the government’s limited resources,” he said in a statement.

FLOOD WARNINGS

Shaquila Alberto, owner of the beach-front Messano Flower Lodge in Macomia, said there were many fallen trees there, and in rural areas people’s homes had been damaged. Some areas of nearby Pemba had no power.

“Even my workers, they said the roof and all the things fell down,” she said by phone.

Further south, in Pemba, Elton Ernesto, a receptionist at Raphael’s Hotel, said there were fallen trees but not too much damage. The hotel had power and water, he said, while phones rang in the background. “The rain has stopped,” he added.

However Michael Charles, an official for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said heavy rains over the next few days were likely to bring a “second wave of destruction” in the form of flooding.

“The houses are not all solid, and the topography is very sandy,” Charles said.

In the days after Cyclone Idai, heavy inland rains prompted rivers to burst their banks, submerging entire villages, cutting areas off from aid and ruining crops. There were concerns the same could happen again in northern Mozambique.

Before Kenneth hit, the government and aid workers moved around 30,000 people to safer buildings such as schools, however authorities said that around 680,000 people were in the path of the storm.

(Reporting by Emma Rumney and Stephen Eisenhammer; Writing by Emma Rumney; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Alexandra Zavis)

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A worker holds a nozzle to pump petrol into a vehicle at a fuel station in Mumbai
FILE PHOTO: A worker holds a nozzle to pump petrol into a vehicle at a fuel station in Mumbai, India, May 21, 2018. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas

April 26, 2019

By Manoj Kumar and Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Surging global oil prices will pose a first big challenge to India’s new government, whoever wins an election now under way, especially as domestic prices have been allowed to lag, meaning consumers are in for a painful surge as they catch up.

For oil-import dependent India, higher global prices could lead to a weaker rupee, higher inflation, the ruling out of interest rate cuts and could further weigh on twin current account and budget deficits, economists warned.

But compounding the future pain, state-run fuel suppliers and retailers have held off passing on to consumers the higher prices during a staggered general election, which began on April 11 and ends on May 23, according to sources familiar with the situation.

That delay is expected to be unwound once the election is over. And there could be additional price increases to make up for losses or profits missed during the period of delayed increases, the sources said.

In some major Asian countries, such as Japan and South Korea, pump prices are adjusted periodically so they move largely in tandem with international crude prices.

That was what was supposed to happen in India but the election means there have been many days when pump prices have been unchanged.

In New Delhi, for example, while crude oil prices have gone up by nearly $9 a barrel, or about 12 percent, in the past six weeks, gasoline prices have only risen by 0.47 rupees a liter, or 0.6 percent.

State-controlled fuel suppliers and retailers declined to say why they had delayed price increases, or discuss whether there has been any pressure from the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A government spokesman declined to comment.

The opposition Congress party said Modi’s government was violating its own policy of daily price revision by advising the state oil companies to hold prices steady.

“The government should cut fuel taxes otherwise consumers will have to pay much higher oil prices once the elections are over,” said Akhilesh Pratap Singh, a senior leader of the Congress party.

(GRAPHIC: India Polls: Fuel price hike lags crude surge – https://tmsnrt.rs/2XLlxik)

Nitin Goyal, treasurer at the All India Petroleum Dealers Association, representing fuel stations in 25 states, said prices were similarly held down for 19 days in the southern state of Karnataka last year, when it held state assembly elections.

Only for them to surge after the vote.

“Consumers should be ready for a rude shock of a massive jump in retail prices, similar to the level we have seen in the Karnataka state election,” Goyal said.

‘CREDIT NEGATIVE’

Sri Paravaikkarasu, director for Asia oil at Singapore-based consultancy FGE, said retail prices of gasoline and gasoil prices would have been up to 6 percent, or about 4 rupee, higher if they had been allowed to rise in line with global prices.

“Indian pump prices have failed to keep up with the recent uptrend in crude prices,” Paravaikkarasu said.

“With the country’s general elections underway, the incumbent government has been keeping pump prices relatively unchanged.”

India had switched to a daily price revision in June 2017 from a revision every two weeks, as the government allowed retailers to set prices.

But the government faced protests last October when retailers raised prices by up to 10 rupees a liter after the crude oil price went above $80 a barrel, forcing it to cut fuel taxes.

Global prices rose to their highest level in 2019 on Thursday, days after the United States announced all Iran sanction waivers would end by May, pressuring importers including India to stop buying Tehran’s oil. [O/R]

Higher oil prices will mean Asia’s third largest economy is likely to see growth of less than 7 percent rate this fiscal year, economists said. Growth slowed to 6.6 percent in the October-December quarter, the slowest in five quarters.

Rating agency CARE has warned that a 10 percent rise in global oil prices could increase demand for dollars, putting pressure on the rupee and widening the current account deficit.

India’s oil import bill rose by nearly one-third in the fiscal year ending March 31 to $140.5 billion, against $108 billion the previous year.

“The increase in international oil prices is a credit negative for the Indian economy,” ICRA, the Indian arm of the Fitch rating agency, said in a note.

“Every $10/ bbl increase in crude oil prices increases the fiscal deficit by about 0.1 percent of GDP.”

Any big price rise would also build a case for the central bank to keep rates steady, or even raise them.

The Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee, which cut the benchmark policy repo rate by 25 basis points this month, warned that rising oil and food prices could push up inflation.

Policymakers are worried that a sustained increase in the oil price in the range of $70-75/barrel or higher can move the rupee down by 3-4 percent on an annual basis.

The rupee has depreciated by 1.24 percent against the dollar since a year high in mid-March.

($1 = 70.1800 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar and Nidhi Verma; Editing by Martin Howell and Rob Birsel)

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