By Bryan Li

News of these contracts created uproar in Nigeria’s Parliament and solicited calls from the opposition for the Speaker’s dismissal, the Telegraph reports.

Last month, a panel of Members of Parliament (MPs) found that standard procedures were not followed and that the tenders were not advertised. "There was no basis for arriving at the approved contract sums," the Telegraph quotes from a report released by the nine-member panel. "I think Etteh will have to step down in the end," a senior PDP official told Reuters Africa, asking not to be named. "The moral platform is weak and public opinion is strongly against her," he added.

After weeks of pressure, Patricia Etteh did resign on 30 October. Despite her eventual resignation, the affair was seen to be a major embarrassment for President Umaru Yar'Adua who did not intervene in the situation, despite his promise of zero tolerance on corruption, reports BBC News.

By Nadja Kostka

The Times reports that “four years after suspicions were first raised; the game’s authorities” – the men’s Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and the Grand Slam Committee – “have finally been persuaded to take action against corruption [globally].” The Independent notes that they met on 12 October to discuss recent accusations.

The Times furthermore notes that “there are grave suspicions that money is being exchanged for tournament passes; that former players are being granted access to events and acting as insiders for gambling conglomerates; that whispers about injuries and arguments with girlfriends are being passed down the line, encouraging sudden surges of money on players who ought not to win but do.”

The article continues with an observation that some matches dating back to 2003 have been surrounded by unusual betting activity and that the issue was far more complex than players simply being offered money to lose matches.

The Independent states that tennis “must remain vigilant against the threat of match-fixing and betting scams”. In particular the recent game on the ATP’s match list between 4th-ranked Nikolay Davyenko and 87th-ranked Martin Vassallo Arguello at the Poland Open in August 2007 invoked suspicion.

Allegations of corruption arose as “the Internet betting agency Betfair voided $10 million worth of wagers after Davydenko’s injury retirement in the third set”, recalls the Sydney Morning Herald (Australia). Official investigations to investigate these irregular betting patterns are underway.

Bloomberg reports that the global governing bodies of tennis decided to hire an outside firm to assess the danger that gambling poses to the sport. “We have not found evidence of corruption in the sport,” Kris Dent, the spokesman of ATP, said. “But we recognise there is a threat to all sports posed by gambling.”

By Mike Sidwell

The International Herald Tribune (IHT) reports that Peter Loscher, the new chief executive of Siemens, views the decision as playing an important part in helping the company come to terms with the corruption revelations. So far the scandal has prompted Siemens’ chief executive and chairman to step down, although neither has been implicated. The IHT adds that it could potentially also result in a major shake up of the company’s structure.

The IHT notes that this development is part of an ongoing scandal – German prosecutors are currently looking into other bribery charges concerning Siemens, and authorities in other countries have reacted to the debacle by launching anti-trust probes.

Siemens’ own internal investigations have, AFP writes, “uncovered 420 million euros ([US] 606 million dollars) in “questionable payments” dating back to 1999, although press reports say the sum involved exceeded 1.5 billion euros [US $2.1 billion].” The same article reports that Siemens is offering to spare senior managers from any harsh actions in return for whistleblowing for any violations that they are aware of.

According to the Financial Times, “several analysts believe Siemens could be looking at a fine of more than € 1bn [US $1.4 billion]” from the legal proceedings in America alone. Siemens is currently being scrutinised by the American Department of Justice and the Securities & Exchange Commission.

In spite of this, The Economist reports that many analysts are optimistic that “Siemens will not only survive but benefit from all the upheaval.”

To read TI Germany's press release on this topic, please go to: www.transparency.de/2007-10-05-Geldbusse-Siemens.1091.0.html?&contUid=2159