Report shows weak disclosure on corporate holdings and country-by-country reporting, disclosure of programmes to prevent corruption scores better

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak must be super proud of his family, for the wrong reason. Najib himself is easily the most controversial prime minister the country has ever produced.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev named his eldest daughter Dariga deputy prime minister as officials jostle to position themselves for a potential battle to succeed the longest serving ex-Soviet leader.

Former Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov is at the center of Kazakhstan’s still-expanding Karaganda corruption scandal.

Astana has big economic dreams and hopes to follow China’s example in combating corruption. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev is in China until September 3, meeting with Chinese leaders, settling deals and joining the more than 30 heads of state attending China’s military parade commemorating the end of World War II in Asia.

The opening of Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet finds Afghanistan veteran Dr John Watson pondering his future. Inevitably, he finds himself in London, “that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drawn”.

An investigation by money-trail watchdog Global Witness has concluded that Rakhat Aliyev and his son Nurali are closely linked to shady real estate deals in London. According to the report Mystery on Baker Street, out on July 22, the deals involved properties worth £147 million ($229 million).

An event meant to showcase Kazakhstan’s progress shows its dark side. One sunny afternoon in early June in Astana a bureaucrat is fired. When a bureaucrat is not transferred to another position, he must have done something wrong. In what seemed an emergency move, the chairman of the National Company Astana EXPO 2017 Talgat Yermegiyayev was removed, replaced on June 11 by the current mayor of Astana, Adilbek Dzhaksybekov.

On January 26, 2009, Tony Blair arrived in the Gulf state of Kuwait in his capacity as representative of the "Quartet", for talks with the Emir, Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, on the Palestine question.