Big Pharma exec turned Whistleblower

The Story-Bottled Life

Source:bottledlifefilm.com

While the world's population continues to grow at an alarming rate, water is becoming an increasingly scarce commodity. The Swiss film "Bottled Life" documents the booming business with bottled water, by focusing on the global leader in this lucrative multi-billion dollar market – namely, the Nestlé corporation in Switzerland. Nestlé currently controls more than 70 of the world's bottled water brands, among them Perrier, San Pellegrino and Vittel.

Nestlé's annual sales of bottled water alone total some CHF 10 billion. And yet the company prefers not to discuss its water business – as Swiss journalist Res Gehriger discovered when researching this documentary film. The Nestlé management refused to give any interviews or assistance or to provide information. But Gehriger persisted, and discovered just how controversial and conflict-laden the company's international operations are.

Water war in the USA

To be able to sell and make money from water, you first have to own it. In the case of Nestlé this applies to many parts of the United States, by far the biggest market for its booming bottled water business. Whoever owns land or has acquired leasing rights is permitted to pump as much water as he likes. In the rural state of Maine, Nestlé has purchased many such water rights and resources. Every year the company pumps out millions of cubic metres of water, for transportation in road tankers to huge bottling factories. In the small towns of Fryeburg, Newfield and Shapleigh, journalist Res Gehriger witnessed how Nestlé tries to stifle and suppress local opposition to its operations with an army of powerful PR consultants, lawyers and lobbyists.

Nestlé's expansion strategy

"Bottled Life" focuses a critical spotlight on Nestlé's global expansion strategy in the business of bottled water. In the United States and Europe, the company sells mainly spring water with a designation of origin. In developing countries, however, the corporation pursues another concept – namely Nestlé Pure Life. This product is purified groundwater, enriched with a Nestlé mixture of minerals. Nestlé Pure Life was the brainchild of Peter Brabeck, a Nestlé man almost all his life, a former CEO and currently Chairman of the Board. Today Nestlé Pure Life is the world's top-selling brand of bottled water.

Test market Pakistan

Res Gehriger's research took him to Pakistan, Nestlé's test market for its Pure Life product. The company refused him access to its production plant in Pakistan – but Gehriger did get to see something of life outside the factory fence. In the nearby village groundwater levels have fallen dramatically, and the village fountain water is nothing more than foul-smelling sludge.
Nestlé Pure Life is a clever business concept. And particularly so in the developing world. In countries such as Pakistan where the public water supply has failed or is close to collapse, the company proudly presents its bottled water as a safe health-enhancing alternative. But for the overwhelming majority of consumers, it is an expensive out-of-reach alternative. In Lagos, for example, the mega metropolis of Nigeria/Africa with its population of millions, water always comes at a price. The scenario of a city in which everyone has to pay for life-giving water, is already a sad reality in Lagos. Families eking out an existence in the slums spend half their meagre budget on canisters of water. The upper class?  They purchase Nestlé Pure Life.

Whitewashing the water business

Nestlé places great priority on promoting its image. And when it comes to water, it's Peter Brabeck in particular who does the promoting. As CEO – and even more so after becoming Chairman of the Board in 2005 – he developed a communications strategy which operates under such noble pretences as "Corporate Social Responsibility" and "Creating Shared Value." A preached philosophy – but a practised one?
In researching this film, journalist Res Gehriger comes to a sad and sobering conclusion. It is that of a company intent on amassing resource rights worldwide. With the aim of dominating the global water market of the future.

Link: .bottledlifefilm.com/index.php/the-story.html?ak_proof=1.

EU voices concern over Turkey as graft scandal deepens

January 8, 2014
By Burak Akinci
Source: Yahoo News

Ankara (AFP) - The European Union voiced its concern Wednesday over the political turmoil convulsing Turkey as the government conducted a new mass purge of senior police officers.

In its strongest comments yet on the widening corruption scandal engulfing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the EU called for Turkish authorities to ensure they acted impartially. 

The turmoil has rocked Erdogan's government to its very core just weeks before crucial local elections in March and has sent Turkish financial markets tumbling.

In the latest development, 16 police chiefs in several major cities including Ankara, Izmir, Antalya and Diyarbakir as well as the deputy head of national security, were fired Wednesday under a decree signed by Interior Minister Efkan Ala.

 

The latest purge came just a day after the government fired 350 police officers in the capital Ankara -- bringing the total number sacked to over 700 since mid-December when the graft scandal broke, according to local media tallies.

News reports said Tuesday that another 25 people had been detained on suspicion of bribery and fraud in the widening corruption probe that has targeted several key Erdogan allies.

One of the main prosecutors in the probe, Zekeriya Oz, has also been reassigned following media reports of a Dubai holiday paid for by a Turkish construction company.

"If allegations (of wrongdoing) are proven, I will resign. But if they are proven to be baseless, I expect this honourable act from those who make these accusations against me," Oz said in a statement.

Oz also said he met with two legal officials sent by the prime minister who urged him to end the corruption probe.

"They told me that the prime minister is very angry at me. They asked me to halt the probe and to write a letter to apologise to the prime minister," Oz said about the meeting in a hotel in the western province of Bursa

Erdogan, currently in Japan on an official visit, denied Oz's allegation.

"The statements made by Zekeriya Oz are lies and slander. It is out of the question that I sent him members of the high judiciary," Erdogan said in a written statement.

Mehmet Tezkan, a columnist with the liberal Milliyet newspaper, wrote that Turkey was going through "one of the deepest crisis in its history. If the allegations are true, it means that the government is rotten to the core."

The EU -- which Turkey has long aspired to join -- said the crisis was a "cause of concern".

EU urges transparent probes.

"We urge Turkey, as a candidate country committed to the political criteria of accession, including the application of the rule of law, to take all the necessary measures to ensure that allegations of wrongdoing are addressed without discrimination or preference in a transparent and impartial manner," the bloc said in a statement.

The government vowed to overcome the crisis.

"The government is in charge. We will never let the political and economic stability of Turkey be disturbed," Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said.

Battling to contain the biggest threat to his 11 years in power, Erdogan has branded the investigation a "dirty" plot to try to topple his Islamic-rooted government.

He and his allies have blamed supporters of a powerful Muslim cleric who lives in exile in the United States but wields considerable influence in Turkey's judiciary and police.

The crisis erupted in December when dozens of leading businessmen and political figures -- including the sons of three ministers -- were detained.

Erdogan was forced into a major cabinet reshuffle after the three ministers concerned resigned and the government has since gone on the offensive to root out foes in the police and judiciary.

Erdogan's critics accuse him of desperately trying to protect cronies caught up in the investigation which has focused on alleged bribery in construction projects and illicit money transfers by a state-owned bank to sanctions-hit Iran.

Media reports have said Erdogan's son was also set to be rounded up last month but the prosecutor involved was subsequently removed.

"There are some allegations about the sons of ministers. The court is dealing with this. If there are unlawful actions, corruption or bribery, this will eventually be revealed. But we cannot take allegations as fact," Huseyin Celik, spokesman for the ruling AKP party, told reporters.

In a new twist to the increasingly complex powerplay, the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) -- Turkey's top judicial body -- said Tuesday it would investigate allegations that the new Istanbul police chief was blocking prosecutors from carrying out further arrests, as well as alleged misconduct by prosecutors.

Turkey's financial markets remain jittery, with the Istanbul stock market down slightly while the dollar rebounded fractionally from an all-time low hit on Monday.

Erdogan's son ready to testify over graft probe

January 24, 2014
Source: Yahoo News

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday hit back at critics who have alleged that he has been stalling a corruption investigation reaching his family, while a lawyer says the leader's son was ready to give testimony to prosecutors.

Erdogan last month dismissed four government ministers implicated in a vast corruption and bribery scandal surrounding alleged illicit money transfers to Iran and bribery for construction projects. He then quickly moved to replace police officials involved in the investigation, an action which news reports said thwarted a second corruption probe that sought to question his son, Bilal Erdogan, among others. Police allegedly refused to bring Erdogan's son for questioning on prosecutors' orders.

Erdogan insists the corruption investigation targeting people close to him has been orchestrated by an Islamic movement led by U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. Erdogan says Gulen's followers have risen to key positions in Turkey's judiciary and police, and that they want to harm the government ahead of local elections in March.

Gulen has denied any involvement in the probe but hundreds of police officials, prosecutors and judges — either directly involved in the investigations or believed to sympathize with the religious movement — have been removed from posts and reassigned to other positions.
 
"If you are honest and honorable, you'll come and show the evidence," Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara on Friday, responding to opposition party accusations that the government was trying to cover up a corruption inquiry focusing on his son.

He then threatened to reveal a corruption file on the opposition party's strong candidate for the mayor of Istanbul in the March local elections, unless the opposition party releases the file by Sunday.

In a more conciliatory gesture, Erdogan said that some articles of much-criticized draft legislation — which critics say aims to tighten government control over the judiciary — could be put on hold. Opposition parties say the measure would allow the government to block corruption investigations, and the European Union expressed concerns, calling on Turkey to respect the principles of rule of law and the separation of powers.

The state-run Anadolu Agency quoted lawyer Ahmet Ozel as saying late Thursday that 33-year old Bilal Erdogan was prepared to give testimony but he had not received any papers summoning him to testify.

"My client is ready to go and testify to prosecutors upon reception of an official notification," Anadolu quoted Ozel as saying.

The statement came following a brawl in parliament where opposition legislators accused the prime minister of obstructing the investigation and of "harboring" a man wanted for questioning. An opposition deputy was briefly hospitalized after being punched by a legislator from Erdogan's party.

Erdogan on Friday refused to apologize to the opposition legislator who was hurt in the scuffles in Parliament, saying opposition deputies had provoked the fight by insulting him and his family.

"Whoever insulted me and my family to such an extent should apologize first," Erdogan said.

Turkish newspapers last month published details of an allegedly leaked prosecutors' summons calling Bilal Erdogan to give testimony as a "suspect" in an investigation into an alleged organized crime syndicate. 

Newspaper reports said the investigation allegedly surrounds irregularities in the operations of an educational foundation whose board members include Bilal Erdogan.

The prosecutor who issued the summons complained that police officers had not carried out his orders for arrests and accused the Istanbul chief prosecutor and police of hampering the probe. He was later removed from the case.

The corruption scandal and Erdogan's response has eroded investor confidence, causing the Turkish lira to plummet to almost daily record lows. Turkey's central bank announced Thursday that it was intervening in the foreign exchange markets but failed to stop the lira's slide.