The New York Times: A Tribe’s Epidemic of Child Sex Abuse, Minimized for Years
Summary: Federal officials are now taking over the social service programs of the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation in North Dakota, after revelations this past summer from a federal employee whistleblower in the Bureau of Indian Affairs that the Tribe has failed to conduct proper investigations into dozens of cases of child sex abuse.
Key Quote: The man who plays Santa Claus here is a registered child sex offender and a convicted rapist. One of the brothers of the tribal chairman raped a child, and a second brother sexually abused a 12-year-old girl. They are among a number of men convicted of sex crimes against children on this remote home of the Spirit Lake Sioux tribe, which has among the highest proportion of sex offenders in the country.
GAP, Groups to USDA: Please Withdraw Flawed Poultry Inspection Proposal!
Summary: GAP and 22 other organizations sent a letter yesterday to the USDA, urging withdrawal of the agency's flawed poultry inspection proposal (known as HIMP) that would increase line speeds and remove hundreds of federal inspectors from poultry plants. The broad coalition of groups share many food safety concerns brought to GAP by whistleblowers with experience at plants already in the program.
Another Corrupt Privatization Deal in Egypt Annulled: Court Orders Assuit Cement Renationalized
Summary: Earlier this month, Egypt’s Administrative Court ruled that the selling of a nationalized company to a foreign investor was illegal, and that the company, Assuit Cement, must be renationalized. This is yet another development in the long saga of the privatization of Egyptian countries and the corruption of the country’s former Minister of Investment, Mahmoud Mohieldin. GAP International Officer Michael Termini, after visiting Egypt last week, provides an update in this recent blog post.
ABC 57 News (IN): South Bend Common Council Seeks to Change Whistleblower Rules
Summary: The city of South Bend, Indiana Common Council voted unanimously to include police and firefighters under the city's current whistleblower protection rules.
The New York Times: British Government Seeks to Suppress Dissident’s Alleged Spy Links
Summary: In preliminary hearings for an inquiry into the death of a Russian whistleblower, British authorities are insisting that contacts between the whistleblower and British secret intelligence should not be disclosed. The whistleblower, who was a major critic of the Russian government and had been granted asylum by Britain, was poisoned in 2006, allegedly by visiting Russian officials.
RT: Abuse of Inmates Happens in Every Georgian Jail, Says Torture Whistleblower
Summary: A former deputy warden in a Georgian jail is alleging that the entire penal system in the country is “rife with sadistic abuse of inmates.” The whistleblower also claims that top Georgian officials were aware of the abuse at at least one prison, which eventually became a major political scandal.
Reuters: Whistleblower Tips Trickle in to US Futures Regulator
Summary: Since the Dodd-Frank financial reform act was passed, both the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the SEC have set up whistleblower reward programs in order to uncover financial fraud. Unlike the SEC, which has been inundated with tips since the program’s inception, the CFTC has received just 46 tips in eight months.
Hannah Johnson is Communications Associate for the Government Accountability Project, the nation's leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.
