By Xinghui Kok SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The highly anticipated corruption trial of Singapore’s former transport minister is due to start on Tuesday, in a rare graft case involving a state official in an Asian financial hub that prides itself on a clean governance. S. Iswaran faces 35 charges in a case that has gripped Singapore, a wealthy city-state where allegations of graft and political scandal are almost unheard of. Iswaran, 62, has rejected the allegations. […]
Tag: Trial
Russia jails US reporter Gershkovich for 16 years
YEKATERINBURG, Russia, July 20, 2024 (AFP) – US reporter Evan Gershkovich was sentenced by a Russian court on Friday to 16 years in prison for “espionage”, a verdict slammed as “despicable”, “disgraceful” and a “sham” by Western governments and his employer. Gershkovich was sentenced after just three court sessions in a secretive closed-door trial in the Urals City of Yekaterinburg, the city where he was arrested while on a reporting trip in March 2023. After […]
With calm and candor, Michael Cohen torches Trump
By Maggy DONALDSON NEW YORK, May 14, 2024 (AFP) – For more than a decade Michael Cohen worked his way into Donald Trump’s inner circle, a loyal attack dog who fought vehemently on behalf of his boss. In return he wanted what any hound desires — a treat, a pat on the head, or at least a moment in the sun. On Monday the latter was his, though perhaps not as he’d originally envisioned. Cohen […]
Vietnam tycoon appeals against $27 bn fraud death sentence
HANOI, April 26, 2024 (AFP) – A top Vietnamese property tycoon sentenced to death in a $27 billion fraud case has launched an appeal against her conviction, state media said Friday. Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, was found guilty this month of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. The 68-year-old was found to have embezzled $12.5 billion, but prosecutors said the total damages caused by the […]
Vietnam property tycoon sentenced to death in multi-billion dollar fraud case
HO CHI MINH CITY, April 11, 2024 (AFP) – A top Vietnamese property tycoon was sentenced to death on Thursday in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated $27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defence arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. […]
Russian court orders journalist in Navalny case detained
MOSCOW, March 29, 2024 (AFP) – A Moscow court on Friday ordered a journalist who covered the trials of late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to be held in pre-trial detention on “extremism” charges. Prosecutors say Antonina Kravtsova, a correspondent for the independent SotaVision outlet, participated in an “extremist organisation”, charges which carry up to six years in prison. The Kremlin outlawed Navalny’s organisations as “extremist” before his death and has carried out a crackdown against […]
Vietnam property tycoon on trial in $12.5 billion fraud case
HO CHI MINH CITY, March 5, 2024 (AFP) – A top Vietnamese property tycoon went on trial Tuesday along with dozens of others, accused of embezzling $12.5 billion in the country’s biggest ever fraud case. Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, is said to have swindled the cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over the course of a decade, leaving unsuspecting investors out of pocket. Eighty-five others are also on trial […]
Trump fined $355 mn, banned from NY business in fraud trial
By Gregory WALTON NEW YORK, Feb 16, 2024 (AFP) – A New York judge ordered Donald Trump to pay $355 million over fraud allegations and banned him from running companies in the state for three years Friday in a major blow to his business empire and financial standing. Trump — almost certain to be the Republican presidential nominee this November — was found liable for unlawfully inflating his wealth and manipulating the value of properties […]
Jury orders Trump to pay $83 mn for sex assault defamation
By Gregory WALTON NEW YORK, Jan 26, 2024 (AFP) – A jury in New York ordered former US president and 2024 candidate Donald Trump on Friday to pay $83.3 million to compensate the writer E. Jean Carroll whom he was found to have sexually assaulted and defamed. The civil order, which prompted an audible gasp in the federal court, far exceeds the more than $10 million in damages for defamation that Carroll had sought. Trump […]
Vietnam sentences nine to death for drug trafficking
HANOI, Jan 22, 2024 (AFP) – Vietnam sentenced nine people to death and two others to life in prison on Monday for their involvement in a cross-border drug trafficking ring, state media reported. The Southeast Asian country has some of the world’s toughest drug laws, and is notoriously secretive about its executions. At the end of a three-day trial, a court in central Nghe An province sentenced ringleader Tran Thi Mau, 56, and eight accomplices […]
Russia charges four after protests spark police clash: monitor
MOSCOW, Jan 22, 2024 (AFP) – Four people have been charged over rare demonstrations in the isolated Russian region of Bashkortostan, a monitoring group said Monday, after police and protesters clashed over a local activist’s jailing. Thousands took to the streets of the small town of Baymak in freezing temperatures last week week, and were met by riot police in a rare display of public outrage in Russia. They were supporting Fail Alsynov, a local […]
Sexual assault accuser confronts Trump in NY trial
NEW YORK, Jan 17, 2024 (AFP) – The woman whom Donald Trump was found liable of sexually assaulting faced off with the former president Wednesday in a New York courtroom to say he subsequently ruined her reputation. E. Jean Carroll, 80, is seeking more than $10 million alleging that Trump defamed her in 2019, when she first made her assault allegations public, by saying she “is not my type.” “It means I’m too ugly to […]





