Leaders of third-world countries are often suspect of being corrupt. Zambia has long-suffered from corrupt dictators. Rupiah Banda was no exception.

Zambia’s Minster of Home Affairs Kennedy Sakeni says the corruption of Frederick Chiluba's 10-year-rule is a joke when compared with the theft of public resources in just three years of Rupiah Banda's government.

Sakeni said everything in Banda's administration stinks and Banda was free for now because of his immunity from prosecution.

In a comic twist, Sakeni advised Banda against seeking public sympathy.

In response to former ministers in the Banda administration that ruled between 2008 and 2011 who are accusing the PF government of witch-hunting over the probes being carried out on officials suspected to have abused their offices or stolen public resources, Sakeni said there was no witch-hunt and urged all suspects and witnesses to cooperate with investigators.

"The Chiluba years of plunder is just a joke when you compare with Banda's three-year plunder. The period of three years and the period of 10 years, the difference is just massive and big," Sakeni said. "Mr Banda presided over a massive plunder of resources; it was actually a free for all - you know some of the deals they were entering into like the sale of Zamtel, the award of tenders; everything is stinking about our former colleagues."

Like most Zambian Presidents (aka dictators) President Banda had promised take a robust anti-corruption stance when he came into power but many see him as having faltered in that regard.

Several former leaders in Banda's regime are being investigated for various corruption related offences.

The Drug Enforcement Commission is also investigating to establish the source of the US $1 million (about K5 billion) held in a commercial bank account by Mpundu Trust, which is linked to Banda.

There are also investigations involving Banda's acquisition of luxury villas located on Leopards Hill Road, his role in the acquisition of scanners for the Zambia Revenue Authority, Zambia's selling of gold among others

Is this surprising? Sad, but definitely not surprising. In fact it might be expected behavior from an African head of state.

Nobody will deny that scrap metal theft has reached epidemic proportions both in the United States and Europe. It seems like it gets worse every day. With all the theft of scrap metal it begs to ask what is being done to curb these thefts.

State Legislature

While the state Legislature has passed laws and regulations to help with the problem, there is no clear-cut enforcement or punishment for noncompliance.

When a private citizen sells scrap metal, the buyer is supposed to copy their driver’s license and provide them with a voucher to redeem for cash after the item is held for 48 hours. Only licensed scrap dealers are to be paid at the time of the sale.

Also, buyers are required to list specific items they buy, and the lists is supposed to be available for law enforcement to review upon request.

I remember hearing about an old piece of farm equipment that had been stolen and the owner called around to scrap dealers describing it in detail, but none had knowledge of the antique hay rake.

The problem is with the nefarious scrap metal dealers. If the owner of stolen metal goes to one scrap yard and sees it sitting next to a dumpster and calls the police, they will show up, start an investigation and ask to see all of their tickets, which should list something this specific. But all the tickets just listed 'scrap metal.'

The problem is many scrap dealers are nothing more than legal fencing operations. I encourage any of you to help me come up with innovative ideas about curbing this very costly problem.

It always gets in my craw when people steal from charities, especially this time of year. Here is a sad story of a man who enjoyed the local library and wanted them to benefit when he passed away earlier this year.

After Henry Merrifield died of a heart attack last February, his family asked that memorial donations be made to the Saugus Public Library in Saugus, MA, which had long suffered funding shortfalls.

The library was his cause. He was constantly down there, checking out books or ordering them from other libraries.

The $500 in donations made in Merrifield’s name was likely lost in an $800,000 theft, allegedly at the hands of a part-time library worker, over the last seven years.

Linda E. Duffy, a former administrative assistant at the library, was indicted and charged with four counts of mail fraud, 10 counts of money-laundering, and one count of aggravated identity theft. She is due to be arraigned in US District Court in Boston.

Duffy, 65, is alleged to have diverted fees for overdue books and videos, and charitable donations, including more than $450,000 from the GE Foundation, into an account she controlled at Eastern Bank. She used the money to pay the mortgage on her Saugus home, dental bills, car repairs, jewelry, hotel stays, and other personal expenses.

The alleged theft stunned Saugus, a town often in fiscal trouble. In 2007, the library was closed temporarily after residents rejected a trash fee to generate more revenue. After town funding slipped below state standards, the library lost its certification, as well as the chance to apply for state matching funds in 2008. Certification was restored a year later, after money was trimmed from other town departments for funding.

Merrifield, an elected Town Meeting member, was among those who led a public charge to restore library funding.

“There was no question in our minds as to how to commemorate his life but to have donations made in his name to the library,’’ said Abber, who held a reception after Merrifield’s funeral in the library’s meeting room.

What Penalty Should Duffy Pay?

If convicted, Duffy could be forced to sell her home and other personal possessions to pay back missing money.

The indictment also alleges that Duffy faked donations as large as $50,000 to get matching funds from the GE Foundation, a charitable arm of General Electric Co., which has an aircraft engine plant in Lynn. Between 2004 and July of this year, the GE Foundation sent the library more than $450,000 in matching funds, most of which were sent in response to “bogus library donations.’’

A History of Financial Wrongdoings?

The library theft is the second time Duffy has been charged with financial wrongdoing. In 1992, she was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for defrauding an insurance company.

Duffy was hired as a part-time clerk and became a full-time employee in 2004. As budget cuts forced the library to cut staff, Duffy assumed more responsibilities, including processing charitable donations, the indictment states. Since 2007, Duffy had again been a part-time employee, earning $18.54 per hour until she resigned in July amid a financial investigation by Saugus officials, according to the town’s personnel department.

Stories like this sicken me. I hope, if she is found guilty, that she is forced to sell off her house to pay restitution. She is the epitome of a disease society is suffering from where people do not want to earn their money! 

Source: Boston Globe

College athletes, pro athletes and even high school athletes run afoul of the law at times. Back in the 1980s, University of Virginia center Olden Polynice, a 7-0 sophomore, was caught stealing a headset for his Sony Walkman at a Rose’s department store. Many others have been busted for shoplifting since then. Most recently it is a defensive back on Florida State’s football team.

Florida State cornerback Avis Commack was arrested by Florida State University police in the theft of an iPad that he told investigators that he had found.

Commack, who graduated Friday, is a redshirt junior defensive back who played in all 12 games this season, making nine tackles. He signed with FSU as a wide receiver and was switched to defense last year.

According to the FSU police report, the victim was working in a computer lab Dec. 6 at University Center D, in the Coyle Moore Athletic Center where the football facilities are located. The victim told police she left to get a drink and when she gathered her belongings to leave about 11 p.m., she notice her backpack, with the iPad inside, was missing.

Thieves Not the Sharpest Tools in the Shed

FSU police investigators then began tracking the times when the iPad was logged onto the university network, and in the next three days, the device was logged in with Commack's log-in information. When university police called Commack to meet with them, he gave them the iPad and said he found it.

Commack was arrested Friday after turning himself in. He was charged with a third-degree felony for theft of an item between $300 and $5,000.

Although FSU coach Jimbo Fisher did not immediately suspend Commack, it is school policy that athletes charged with felonies cannot compete in events. The Seminoles will play Notre Dame Dec. 30 in the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando.

A Trend?

Commack is the third First Coast High School graduate to have gone to FSU to be arrested in the last two years. Linebacker Nigel Carr was dismissed from the team after being arrested for car burglary in July of 2010 and running back Jermaine Thomas was charged twice with driving for suspended license last winter that stemmed from unpaid parking tickets.

Perhaps FSU should implement mandatory stop theft and alcohol awareness classes for its student athletes.

For the second time in as many weeks I am hearing about how the long arm of metal moving into cemeteries. As morbid as it sounds, cemeteries have become a “hot spot” for metal thieves. What’s next – digging up corpses for the gold in their teeth?

Tennessee natives Allen McCampbell and Bennetta James fear that metal thieves will return to take the remainder of an old wrought iron fence that surrounds historic Dickson Cemetery on the farm they co-own in eastern Houston County near the Dickson County line.

The obvious conclusion is that someone took it to sell as scrap metal, which has increased in value to the point that people almost have to treat it as a precious metal.

How Bad is the Problem? Bad!

In Houston County alone, at least eight people charged since September are in jail awaiting trial for scrap metal-related thefts.

As of Dec. 1, scrap iron is priced at $11.50 per 100 pounds, according to an online market resource. Scrap metal from old cars is generally priced at $12 per 100 pounds.

In the case of the missing fence section, the piece is beyond unique, it is irreplaceable, having been made by Birmingham Iron Works sometime between 1915 and 1920.

He and James are considering offering a reward to help recover the missing fence piece, which enclosed a cemetery that holds four generations of James' family, dating back to 1803. It includes a Revolutionary War veteran.

Hooper recalled an example of an old piece of farm equipment that had been stolen and the owner called around to scrap dealers describing it in detail, but none had knowledge of the antique hay rake.

People all around the globe are looking at a possible solution to this problem. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Music calms the savage beast, or so it has been written. Could that explain the recent rash of tuba thefts from Southern California high schools. I mean who steals a person’s tuba for crying out loud?

As Southern California awoke to the wreckage from a recent massive windstorm, music teacher Ruben Gonzalez Jr. was assessing a different sort of devastation in his band room at South Gate High School.

Thieves had pried open a door and torn the room apart while hunting for a specific instrument. “All they took were tubas,” Gonzalez said. Losses included an upright concert tuba and a silver sousaphone — or marching-band tuba — worth a combined $13,000.

Several weeks earlier, band members at Centennial High School in Compton experienced a similar shock when they found that eight sousaphones were missing.

And last week, burglars broke into Huntington Park High School and spirited away the school’s last tuba, according to band instructor Fernando Almader. A silver Jupiter tuba had been stolen earlier in the school year.

Why the Tubas?

Those are just the latest in what police and music instructors are describing as a rash of unsolved tuba thefts at high schools in southeast Los Angeles County. The thefts, according to band leaders, were probably spurred by Southern California’s banda music craze, as well as the high prices the brass instruments fetch on the black market. A high-quality tuba can cost well more than $5,000, but even an old, dented tuba can sell for as much as $2,000.

Strapped for cash and running low on school spirit, victimized bands were scrambling to replace their instruments before attending Saturday’s 38th-annual Marching Band and Drill Team Championships at East Los Angeles College.

The targeted schools fall within various city and school police jurisdictions, so the total number of missing tubas remains unknown. However, music instructors have reported the theft of scores of instruments over the last year.

One pundit claimed the thefts are part of metal theft. It is theft pure and simple and not only is it costing our schools precious instruments and dollars, but also heartache and grieving. I sure they catch those responsible and get them to an online stop theft class while they spend a few days in jail.

With the rash of scrap metal theft, basically anything that is not bolted down, and many things that are, it begs to wonder if all of these thieves could benefit from a stop theft class before wreaking havoc on society by stealing?

The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) is one of the most entrusted and well-respected news organizations in the world. In their view, metal theft is a serious issue that goes far beyond simple theft.

Scrap metal is a world of cash payments, where no questions are asked and the risks are high. This is the world of dodgy scrap dealers who will happily pay for stolen metal.

It's a problem that's been with us for decades, but seems to be getting worse by the day. Will the days come where the military gets involved to stop the theft of railroad tracks?

Unfortunately, metal theft has soared and it affects many people - not least you, the commuter. Some call it a "recession crime", and economic conditions do play a part in it.

But it is also fuelled by high metal prices and an unregulated cowboy scrap metal trade, parts of which operate by a "no questions asked" code.

There's no shortage of scrap dealers willing to take it. It's now become similar to the drug scene, people grow drugs and take drugs and sell drugs, and there's a lot of money involved. Well, scrap metal has come up to that level, there's that amount of money involved that people take the risk for it. It's not just kids off the street, its middle-aged men with families that make a very, very good living out of it.

Here are some BBC figures about how metal theft has affected commuters in London.

How many hours of delays have been caused by metal theft?

• 2011 - 949 hours (40 days)
• 2010 - 237 hours (10 days)
• 2009 - 148 hours (six days)

That shows nearly a 700% increase in delays.

How much compensation has been paid out (to train companies) due to metal theft?

• 2011 - £3,608,892
• 2010 - £1,175,252
• 2009 - £373,799

That's nearly a 1,000% increase.

How many incidents of metal theft have there been?

• 2011 - 104
• 2010 - 71
• 2009 - 40

That's a 260% increase in incidents.

So what is the answer? Do governments need to start regulating this industry with government employees at every scrap yard, going over every delivery? Would a stop theft class help? It is hard to say. Basically, this is a much more serious problem that really needs to be addressed on a global level.

Last week it was thefts from a cemetery, the week before parking meters, now comes the story about cow thieves. This is not a story from a third-world country, this happened right here in the USA.

Moo – How Much is a Cow Worth?

The cows have come home.

Six stolen cows, valued at $17,700, were returned to their Wellington, Florida owners after Palm Beach County sheriff's detectives tracked down two men who are accused of stealing them in October.

Michael Englert and Eric M. Popper, both 20, were booked into jail and charged with grand theft of livestock and trespassing. Popper, of Wellington, also faces criminal mischief charges. A third man, who has not been identified, is being sought.

Don’t Do It Cows!

Detectives learned from witnesses that shortly before 8 a.m. on Oct. 2, two men were seen trying to lure the cows with hay.

There are always two sides to a story, right? Here’s Englert’s side of the story? Englert, of suburban Lake Worth, told police that he had been asked on Oct. 1 to help move some cows in Wellington for $600. The effort was thwarted when the cows refused to cooperate, he said.

He and the unidentified man returned the next day, took the cows and drove them to Loxahatchee. Englert said he was never paid for the job.

Popper told police on Nov. 28 that the unidentified man had asked him for help repossessing cows on Oct. 1. Popper said that he and the man used bolt cutters to cut the locks of the property where the cows were being kept, according to the report. Their intent, he said, was to use the livestock trailer attached to Englert's truck to transport the cows. Popper said he did not return to collect the cows on Oct. 2, after the failed initial attempt.

Englert and Popper are being held at the jail in lieu of $3,000 bail. Sounds like a bunch of manure to me!

Paying to park is something nobody likes to do. But the fact remains, at times it is necessary. If you live in New York City “fahget aboud it!”

This story comes to us from upstate New York, where theft from parking meters was driving local officials batty. But how much could someone steal from parking meters?

City of Buffalo officials have learned an important lesson about how loose change can add up, in this case to more than$210,000 pilfered over a period of eight years.

How could the theft from parking meters have gone on so long?

No Loyalty from Long-time Employees

An FBI investigation led to the arrests Monday of two parking meter mechanics, James V. Bagarozzo, 56, and Lawrence Charles, 39. Both men, longtime city employees, were charged with theft of government property.

The termination process has begun for both Bagarozzo, who began working for the city in 1973, and Charles, who has worked for the city since 1994. They are currently suspended without pay.

As for the huge amount of loose change they are accused of stealing — Bagarozzo, according to court papers, $210,000 since 2003 and Charles at least $3,363 during a 32-day period this fall—the question isn’t so much the details of the operation but how it could have gone unnoticed.

This was not an example of large-scale corruption involving major sums of money, which may help explain why it went on for so long. Apparently it involved just two people.

But there is something to be said for the persistence of Buffalo Parking Commissioner Kevin J. Helfer, appointed in June 2010 by Mayor Byron W. Brown. The investigation began in October 2010 when Helfer, a few months into the job, noticed a shortfall in revenue from the city’s roughly 1,200 single-head parking meters, versus the newer pay-and-display stations.

The meters were averaging out to 75 cents per day, far below the possible maximum of $4 to$9 per day.

The investigation utilized GPS devices and surveillance cameras. In pre-digital days, investigators might have had to laboriously mark individual coins and then see if they showed up in the employees’ possession. Whatever the method, the key is to notice the discrepancy in the first place. That shouldn’t have taken years, but better late than never. 

As a longtime fan of the long-running CBS television show “M.A.S.H” I was saddened to learn of the death of Harry Morgan. Of course you remember Morgan who played one of the most colorful character names of all time – Colonel Sherman Tecumseh Potter, MD.

Now comes another sad story with ties to the show.

The grandson of the founder of a hot dog diner in Ohio made famous on TV’s “M.A.S.H.” was charged Wednesday with stealing more than $100,000 from the family business.

Family Feud

The charges stem from a yearlong family battle over control of Tony Packo’s, a restaurant chain whose hot dog sauce and pickles are sold in stores across the nation.

Tony Packo III, who is executive vice president of Tony Packo’s Inc., and company controller Cathleen Dooley were both charged with aggravated theft and face up to three years in prison if convicted.

Descendants of the restaurant’s namesake this summer began accusing each other of financial misdeeds and mismanagement and made their own bids to buy the company. A private restaurant group backed by Tony Packo III and his father, Tony Packo Jr., won the bidding in October for the restaurant chain.

Robin Horvath, who acquired half the company when his mother, Nancy Packo Horvath, daughter of the founders, died in 2003, made a separate bid for the company after suing Packo Jr. and his son in July.

He accused them of blocking him from looking at company financial records after he began questioning them about company spending.

Actor Jamie Farr, a Toledo native, put Packo’s on the map in “M.A.S.H.” when he portrayed a homesick U.S. soldier in the Korean War who longed for the hot dogs and wore dresses in hopes of convincing the Army he was crazy and should be discharged.

“If you’re ever in Toledo, Ohio, on the Hungarian side of town, Tony Packo’s got the greatest Hungarian hot dogs,” Farr’s character, Cpl. Max Klinger, said on an episode in 1976.

The original Packo’s remains a destination and is decorated with “M.A.S.H.” memorabilia, including glass-encased hot dog buns autographed by celebrities.