Corruption has many faces - accounting fraud, influence peddling, insider trading, and even the role of lobbying and perks-for-favors. This section examines general questions of ethics, the role of money in politics, and white-collar crime.
The Federal National Mortgage Association (AKA Fannie Mae) is a public company operating under federal charter and is the US's primary source for mortgage funding, financing one of every five home loans. Fannie Mae buys mortgages from lenders and resells them, transferring risk from lenders and allowing them to offer mortgages to those who may not otherwise qualify. The company was hit hard by the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007 and had to be rescued by the Federal Reserve.
Burger King had hired Diplomatic Tactical Services to spy on the groups. After the story was picked up by Florida newspapers, the New York Times, and The Nation, Burger King released a statement saying it had fired vice president Steven Grover and spokesman Keva Silversmith for comments they had made about the activists online. They also claimed to have stopped using DTS because of violations to the Burger King Code of Conduct.
The Atlas Group established Atlas Investment Bank in 1990 as a joint venture between Atlas Group and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Japan. With an associated company, Atlas Lease Limited formed in 1989 as a joint venture between the Atlas Group, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Japan and the National Investment Trust, Pakistan was merged into the Bank in February, 2002. After the merger, the shares of the joint venture partners were taken over by the Group. The head office of the Bank is situated in Karachi with branch offices in Lahore, Islamabad and Faisalabad.
The company is the world leader in integrated power plant, in power production services and air quality control systems. Alstom works with all energy forms (coal, gas, nuclear, fuel-oil, hydropower, wind). Alstom will provide the conventional island for the future EPR nuclear power plant in France. The Group is also developing CO2 capture processes that could lead to commercial scale in the medium term.
Barrick Gold Corporation is the largest pure gold mining company in the world, with its headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and four regional business units (RBU's) located in Australia, Africa, North America and South America. Barrick is currently undertaking mining and exploration projects in Papua New Guinea, the United States, Canada, Australia, Peru, Chile, Russia, South Africa, Argentina and Tanzania. On January 20, 2006, Barrick acquired a majority share of Placer Dome.
Prudential Financial, Inc. is a financial services company. As of February, 2008, the Company had approximately $784 billion of assets under management. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, the Company offers an array of financial products and services, including life insurance, mutual funds, annuities, pension and retirement-related services and administration, asset management, banking and trust services, real estate brokerage and relocation services, and, through a joint venture, retail securities brokerage services.
Until recently, the European Aerospace, Defense and Space Company (EADS) was known mainly as the parent of the multinational aircraft company Airbus. When the U.S. Air Force announced in February 2008 that it would give a massive contract for new refueling tanker planes to a joint venture of Northrop Grumman and EADS, the European connection helped spark an uproar over the award, which many thought should have gone to the incumbent supplier, Boeing, which has made perennial complaints about the subsidies given to EADS and Airbus by European governments.
StatoilHydro is the leading integrated energy company of Norway and the largest off shore oil and gas corporation in the world. It has operations in nearly 40 countries worldwide and was the result of a recent merger between Statoil and the oil and gas division of Norsk Hydro. StatoilHydro has been cited on a number of cases regarding environmental issues and corruption.
Telefónica, S.A. is one of the largest telecommunications companies worldwide. Based in Spain Telefónica owns and operates neumerious fixed-line and mobile communications companies around the globe; of the five major telecommunications companies worldwide Telefónica is second in terms of clients and in 2007 ranked fourth behind China Mobile, AT&T, and Vodafone in market value.
