corruption - search results

February 22, 2013  |  

But GEO Group has a history of human rights abuses that it would rather keep secret, especially once 30,000 screaming football fans begin seeing the company's corporate sponsorship. So, in all the excitement surrounding the announcement, GEO took to quietly covering up parts of its shady past--by scrubbing its Wikipedia page.

As Brave New Foundation’s Jesse Lava  reported, a GEO Group employee deleted the entire “controversies” section of the company’s Wikipedia page and replaced it with some glowing propaganda. Before GEO’s lackey doctored the article, it  outlined a slew of horrific abuses in the company’s prisons, including reports of squalid conditions and the deaths of dozens of prisoners.

But the Wikipedia cover-up is just the beginning of this story's deceit. Details are emerging on how the GEO’s stadium buyout is only part of a university-prison circle jerk of unprecedented proportions. As the  New York Times notes, GEO Chairman George Zoley, and several other employees in the ranks, are all alumni of Florida Atlantic University. And GEO Group’s headquarters sits only  four miles away from campus. GEO and university officials laughably claim that the deal is strictly philanthropic, and in no way, shape or form a corporate sponsorship, or, worse, a way to recruit new employees and desensitize people to the horrible private of for-profit prisons.

HuffPost’s Chris Kirkham reports a potential ulterior motive for GEO’s $6 million dollar deal with FAU. Private prison critics say the public university donation is part of a grand plan to “gain influence with state and local public officials who decide whether to hand out contracts.” Kirkham notes that GEO has a rich history of shelling out for favors:

Submitted by Martin Sibileau of A View From The Trenches,

“…The two pillars of the current global financial system are therefore (a) the illusion of the existence of a risk-free asset and (b) the repression of that market which demonstrates that the risk-free asset and its derivatives (stocks, bonds, the Euro, all bred in the repo market) are an illusion….”

During the past weeks I have been on the sidelines, waiting for a relevant event to take place but fully aware that I was wrong. I just wanted to hope. Sometimes, it feels good to hope. But since last September, nothing has really changed. At least not fundamentally and that which seems new, is simply the result of the tectonic shift we had back at the end of the summer (of 2012).

It is vox populi that the rise of Spanish and Italian sovereign yields was triggered by corruption scandals that may be of political consequence. They were not alone, as the Libor affair is still making news. I don’t think scandals by themselves bring consequences, but before I go further, let me discuss the topic of corruption itself, for as I will explain, the ongoing policies will bring nothing else but more corruption.

Corruption in government is simple arbitrage. Whenever governments intervene in a market either by restricting supply or demand, capping or flooring prices, the affected goods will have two prices: The government fixed price and the market price. And because prices are nothing else but critical signals for the process of social cooperation (also known as “market”) to work, markets get confused by two different signals from the same good.

If there is restricted supply of a good, or if the price of a good is capped, the market will be willing to bid more than the current price for that good. That bid will be noticeable and the only economic agent capable of acting on the signalled gap will be someone in power: a government official or a politician. This person’s responsibility will be to allocate scarce resources where they are most needed. The public will call him corrupt, but he will just be an arbitrageur. He will offer an additional quantity of that good which is restricted at a higher price, including his fees (also called “bribes”), of course. He will be simply taking over a function that a repressed market cannot perform at that time.

Government corruption is nothing else but the reflection of a repressed market. The immorality lies not in the act of corruption (i.e. arbitrage), but in the market repression that enables it. And as we all know by now, the repression in the financial markets has only grown exponentially in the past years. This may only mean that more corruption is underway. Above all, the two repressed markets we should all be very familiar with are the ones for US Treasuries and gold.

The US Treasuries market is not really a market. As I understand, about 75% of the issuance expected for February will be purchased by the Fed, whose SOMA account already represents about a third of the stock of Treasuries outstanding, across the curve. How an asset that requires that 3/4ths of its flow be purchased by a central bank to maintain its price can be deemed to have 0% risk and be used as collateral is beyond me! As well, I am completely amazed that we still have analysts from the main banks publishing research notes where they try to assess implied future rates…Implied??? By whom?

This brings me to the gold market. As I mentioned in past letters, Keynesians give a lot of weight to the role of expectations. If they manage expectations to make the public believe that the purchasing power of their salaries has not decreased in real terms, they believe they may get an economic system from recession back to growth. In the same fashion, if they already have a benchmark for real value, say gold, all they need is to suppress the price of this benchmark, to control their expectations. They need not lower the value of the benchmark. Making it volatile enough to discourage any inclination to have that asset used as a store of value is enough. Hence, the endless take down in the price of gold triggered by leveraged sales during thin trading. It has coincidentally taken place ever since the rating on the US Treasuries was challenged by those martyrs at S&P. Below, I show the interventions during the last month (source: Bloomberg).

The two pillars of the current global financial system are therefore (a) the illusion of the existence of a risk-free asset and (b) the repression of that market which demonstrates that the risk-free asset and its derivatives (stocks, bonds, the Euro, all bred in the repo market) are an illusion.

On the subject of a risk-free asset, back on September 16^th, I suggested that  “… for all practical purposes (…) the European Central Bank would set the value of the world’s risk-free rate…”. The assumption behind this conclusion was that, thanks to Draghi’s offer to establish Open Monetary Transactions, “…the market (would) arbitrage between the rates of core Europe and its periphery, converging into a single Euro zone target yield…”. The two charts below (source: Bloomberg) help us visualize the status of the predicted convergence, as well as the relative stability in the long-term German sovereign debt vis-à-vis that of the United States.

With obvious “noise”, the underlying convergence (shown above left) is clear. On the right, we can appreciate how the yield in the 30-yr Treasuries is on the rise, thanks to in spite of billions being bought by the Federal Reserve, while the yield on the German bunds remains within range. We also still have the usual flags I have been calling collective attention to for the past year, and they are all related to repressed markets. The zero-interest rate policies were going to encourage share buybacks, dividend payments and any method to allow the extraction of whatever real value is still available to extract from corporations/businesses by their owners. This meant leverage was going to increase, unemployment would remain high, capital expenditures were going to decrease and the risk of defaults was to going to rise.

A year later, all these symptoms are starting to surface. One more reason to avoid stocks and be long gold. But in my view, it will take longer than many believe, for these imbalances to burst. This is the point I made at the start of 2013, when I wrote that “…during 2013, I expect imbalances to grow…”. Those who hold a view more bearish than mine point to inconsistencies, gaps between valuations expressed by different asset classes. But how can we point to such dislocations and at the same time sustain that markets are being repressed? We must be consistent: If the signals prices send to us are detached from fundamentals, we cannot at the same time call upon them to make our case! That would only be appropriate in a world where markets are not repressed.  So… If I am not that bearish but still believe that imbalances in the long term will burst, what will make them burst? On this point, I stick to what I said at the start of 2012:

“…As long as the people of the EU put up with this situation and the EU Council (…) effectively kills democracy at the national level AND as long as the Fed continues to extend US dollar swaps, this status quo will remain…(…)…Whenever the political sustainability of the EU is challenged, we will see a run for liquidity…(…)…The trend is for asset inflation, and will last as long as the people of the EU and the US do not challenge the political status quo…” . Unemployment and the tolerance of those unemployed will tell us when the time has come. If it is not that, it will be the wave of defaults the same unemployment produces. There will still be corrections in between, but they will be just that: corrections. That tolerance, of course, is always tested by corruption cases made public. And as I explained above, the more repressed markets become, the higher the number of corruption cases we will learn from.

One of the primary focal points of our research is the corruption that has become endemic to the political and financial elites of the world. When we refer to corruption we are referring to insider deals, cronyism, lies and fraud. Since the Great Crisis began in 2008, these have become the four pillars of the financial system replacing the pillars of trust, transparency, truth and reality that are the true foundation of capitalism and wealth generation.

As we regularly note, corruption only works as long as the benefits of being “on the take” outweigh the consequences of getting caught. As soon as the consequences become real (namely someone gets in major trouble), then everyone starts to talk.

This process has now begun in Spain.

MADRID — Spain’s governing Popular Party was drawn deeper into a web of corruption scandals this past week, after the Swiss authorities informed the Spanish judiciary that the party’s former treasurer had amassed as much as 22 million euros, or $29 million, in Swiss bank accounts.

The treasurer, Luis Bárcenas, resigned from his job in 2009, after being indicted in the early stages of an investigation, which is still ongoing, into a scheme of kickbacks and illegal payments allegedly involving other conservative party politicians…

Nonetheless, the revelations have brought a fast-growing list of corruption investigations, which have unspooled across Spain, to the doorstep of the conservative government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who has so far remained silent. About 300 Spanish politicians from across the party spectrum have been indicted or charged in corruption investigations since the start of the financial crisis. Few have been sentenced so far.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/19/world/europe/corruption-scandals-widen-in-spain.html?_r=0

The above story illustrates some key elements that all investors need to be aware of:

1. EU politicians are so corrupt they make their US counterparts look clean by comparison.
2. Having been put off for years, investigations into corruption are now reaching the point at which the rich and powerful are actually at risk of serious consequences.

Note in the above story that former Spanish Treasurer Luis Bárcenas has been under investigation since before 2009. The fact that the real smoking gun (his hidden Swiss bank account containing over $29 million) is only just coming to light should give you an idea of how corrupt the system in Europe has become (there is no way on earth it would take four years to find this information).

That this information is coming out now also tells us that things are getting so bad in Spain that heads are going to start to role. As we stated earlier, corruption only works until the consequences outweigh the benefits of being “on the take.” The above story tells us that we have finally reached that point in Spain. It’s taken five years for this to happen (the Crisis begin in 2008). But the system has finally reached the inflection point at which key players will face real consequences for their corruption.

With that in mind we can expect more and more such cases to begin to emerge in Europe. The fallout from this will be major both for the political class and for the financial markets.

Indeed, later in the same story we find the following tidbit:

On Wednesday, amid another property investigation, the president of Madrid’s regional government, Ignacio González, revealed that he and his wife purchased a penthouse last month in the holiday resort of Marbella for 770,000 euros, or more than $1 million. Mr. González, who earns 4,800 euros a month, about $6,380, is denying any wrongdoing, as well as any link between his acquisition and the property investigation undertaken by a local judge.

A regional President, earning less than $80K a year just bought a $1 million penthouse in a country where youth unemployment is above 50%, workers have gone over six months without being paid, and pharmacies are running out of medicine due to having not been paid some €500 million by the government.

The reason this is so important is because politics, not economics, drives everything in Europe. Please note that the entire EU banking system was pulled back from the brink of collapse last summer by Mario Draghi and other EU officials promising to do whatever it takes to end the crisis.

Since that time, the economy has actually worsened in Europe. Unemployment has hit a new record and the vast majority of the EU has re-entered recessionary territory. Thus, it has been the credibility of various EU officials, not any fundamental improvement in things that has made the whole system work

Now that major corruption scandals are breaking out regarding key EU figures, it’s going to be increasingly difficult for the EU political class to continue to convince the markets that the “everything is OK.”

With that in mind, it’s only a matter of time until the EU Crisis begins anew.  We’ve already scandals roil the markets in Italy and Spain. Sooner rather than later, this situation will spread to the point that the ECB’s backstopping of the system is called into question. When that happens, things could get very ugly.

We have produced a FREE Special Report available to all investors titled What Europe’s Collapse Means For You and Your Savings.

This report features ten pages of material outlining our independent analysis real debt situation in Europe (numbers far worse than is publicly admitted), the true nature of the EU banking system, and the systemic risks Europe poses to investors around the world.

It also outlines a number of investments to profit from this; investments that anyone can use to take advantage of the European Debt Crisis.

Best of all, this report is 100% FREE. You can pick up a copy today at:

http://gainspainscapital.com/eu-report/

Best Regards,

Phoenix Capital Research

PS. We also offer several other FREE reports outlining the impact of Obama’s policies on the US economy, how and why every investor should buy some bullion, and the ongoing threat of inflation to the financial system.

All of these are available at:

www.gainspainscapital.com

The head of an anti-corruption organization in Italy has set himself on fire in a show of protest against illegal loans.

Frediano Manzi torched himself in front of the Milan headquarters of Italian media company RAI on Tuesday night.

Manzi had written a letter to the company earlier, explaining why he was setting himself on fire.

I am “doing it for the victims of usury that no one helps,” Manzi wrote in his letter.

The activist is in a serious but non-life threatening condition after suffering third-degree burns all over his body.

Many Italians can no longer obtain bank loans due to the economic crisis, causing them to turn to unlawful entities who offer loans in return for exorbitant interest rates.

MRS/HMV

The following is a excerpt from a recent client letter.

The house of cards that is Europe is close to collapsing as those widely held responsible for solving the Crisis (Prime Ministers, Treasurers and ECB head Mario Draghi) have all been recently implicated in corruption scandals.

Those EU leaders who have yet to be implicated in scandals are not faring much better than their more corrupt counterparts. In France, socialist Prime Minister Francois Hollande, has proven yet again that socialism doesn’t work by chasing after the wealthy and trying to grow France’s public sector… when the public sector already accounts for 56% of French employment.

France was already suffering from a lack of competitiveness. Now that wealthy businesspeople are fleeing the country (meaning investment will dry up), the economy has begun to positively implode.

The first sign of this came actually came from Germany. As we noted a few months ago, Germany had prepared a working group to examine the impact of an economic collapse in France.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has asked a panel of advisers to look into reform proposals for France, concerned that weakness in the euro zone's second largest economy could come back to haunt Germany and the broader currency bloc.

Two officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters this week that Schaeuble asked the council of economic advisers to the German government, known as the "wise men", to consider drafting a report on what France should do…

"The biggest problem at the moment in the euro zone is no longer Greece, Spain or Italy, instead it is France, because it has not undertaken anything in order to truly re-establish its competitiveness, and is even heading in the opposite direction," Feld said on Wednesday.

"France needs labour market reforms, it is the country among euro zone countries that works the least each year, so how do you expect any results from that? Things won't work unless more efforts are made."

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/11/09/uk-germany-france-economy-idUKBRE8A80MN20121109

This German concern has proven to be well founded, as the recent spate of French economic data has been truly horrific.

Auto sales for 2012 fell 13% from those of 2011. Sales of existing homes outside of Paris fell 20% year over year for the third quarter of 2012. New home sales fell 25%. Even the high-end real estate markets are collapsing with sales for apartments in Paris that cost over €2 million collapsing an incredible 42% in 2012.

Since the EU Crisis began in 2008, France and Germany have been the two key countries backstopping the implosion. The fact that France is now facing an economic implosion does not bode well for the future of the Euro or the EU.

The other sovereign backdrop for the EU, Germany, is also experiencing an economic slowdown.

The German economy was hit hard by the euro zone crisis in the final quarter of last year, shrinking more than at any point in nearly three years as traditionally strong exports and investment slowed, the Statistics Office said on Tuesday…

Gross domestic product shrank by 0.5 percent in the final three months of 2012, the worst quarterly performance since Germany fell into a recession during the global financial crisis in 2008/2009 and only the second contraction since it ended.

The parlous fourth quarter pushed overall growth for the year down to 0.7 percent, a sharp slowdown from the 3.0 percent registered in 2011 and a post-reunification record of 4.2 percent in 2010. The 2012 figure was a tad below a Reuters consensus forecast for growth of 0.8 percent.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/15/us-germany-gdp-idUSBRE90E09Q20130115

Thus, we find that Europe’s primary political market props (EU leaders including ECB head Mario Draghi) are coming unraveled at the precise time that EU banks are showing warning signs and the most important EU economies are heading sharply south.

2013 is going to be a very interesting year for Europe.

We have produced a FREE Special Report available to all investors titled What Europe’s Collapse Means For You and Your Savings.

This report features ten pages of material outlining our independent analysis real debt situation in Europe (numbers far worse than is publicly admitted), the true nature of the EU banking system, and the systemic risks Europe poses to investors around the world.

It also outlines a number of investments to profit from this; investments that anyone can use to take advantage of the European Debt Crisis.

Best of all, this report is 100% FREE. You can pick up a copy today at:

http://gainspainscapital.com/eu-report/

Best

Phoenix Capital Research

The single most difficult aspect about analyzing market moves in Europe is the impact of the political class on just about everything.

Worldwide, politicians are not exactly famous for honesty. However, Europe is a very special case… where just about everyone is lying on just about everything involving the economy and banking system.

This notion is illustrated wonderfully by Spain’s Prime Minister Rajoy, who was recently embroiled in a scandal in which he and many of the politicians in his party were receiving illegal payments for decades via a slush fund.

Rajoy himself allegedly received roughly $34,000 per year… from 1997-2008. This doesn’t bode well in any country, least of all one that has broken down to the point that pharmacies are running out of medicine and over 50% of youth are unemployed.

Rajoy first denied all of the allegations… then this morning stated that, "I repeat what I said Saturday: everything that has been said about me and my colleagues in the party is untrue, except for some things that have been published by some media outlets."

At this point, why would anyone listen to what Rajoy had to say about anything?

Those investors who can remember back to last May, before Europe was fixed (by another massive lie, this one from Mario Draghi), Spain’s banking system was on the verge of collapse. What’s striking is that as late as May 28, Rajoy continued to maintain that Spain would not need a outside funding, stating, "there will be no rescue of the Spanish banking sector."

At this point, Bankia had already requested its bailout and Spanish banks’ shares were in a free-fall. Moreover, Spain itself was just days away from requesting outside aid from the EU.

The timeline says it all:

• May 9^th: Bankia requests €4.5 billion loan, Spanish Government states that the bank is “solvent.”
• May 21^st: Spain meets Bankia’s request for loan and takes a 45% stake in the bank thereby instigating a partial nationalization.
• May 23^rd:  Bankia’s bailout needs grows to €11 billion/ Rajoy retorts to France’s Hollande, "Hollande does not know the state of Spanish banks."
• May 24^th: Bankia’s bailout needs grow to €15 billion
• May 25^th: Bankia’s bailout needs are now €19 billion (2011 profits revised to €4 billion loss)… the Spanish Bailout Fund has just €5 billion in cash.
• May 28^th: Rajoy comments, "there will be no rescue of the Spanish banking sector."
• Weekend of June 8-10^th: Rajoy texts to his finance minister: “Aguanta, we are the fourth European power. Spain is not Uganda… If they want to force the rescue of Spain, they need to start getting ready €500 billion and another €750 billion for Italy, which will have to be rescued afterwards.”/ Spain informally asks for €100 billion bailout/ EU Finance Ministers OK the bailout.
• Sunday June 10^th: Rajoy states that the bailout is a “victory” before commenting, "This year is going to be a bad one: Growth is going to be negative by 1.7 percent, and also unemployment is going to increase."

Thus, in just one month’s time, Spain implements the largest bank nationalization in its history and requests €100 billion from the EU to recapitalize its banks. And yet, throughout this time, Spanish politicians maintain that Spain’s banking system is “solvent” or in great shape… right up until they get the €100 billion at which point the truth comes out: “This year is going to be a bad one.”

Also note that Rajoy sealed the deal and which he proclaimed a “triumph”  (along with the above statement about 2012 being a bad year) before hopping a plane to watch Spain’s soccer team play Poland.

So… Spain’s economy is lead by a man who denies that its banks are in trouble (despite one of the largest already being nationalized), then demands €100 billion for a bailout, calls said bailout a “triumph” before flying to watch a soccer match… all the while sitting on over €300,000 in illegal payments that he received in the decade leading up to the crisis.

There can be absolutely no trust in a system like this, nor can there be any transparency. The EU Crisis will not end until this sort of corruption and fraud is cleared from both the political class and the banking system (Spain itself recently admitted that several of its biggest banks have negative value).

We have produced a FREE Special Report available to all investors titled What Europe’s Collapse Means For You and Your Savings.

This report features ten pages of material outlining our independent analysis real debt situation in Europe (numbers far worse than is publicly admitted), the true nature of the EU banking system, and the systemic risks Europe poses to investors around the world.

It also outlines a number of investments to profit from this; investments that anyone can use to take advantage of the European Debt Crisis.

Best of all, this report is 100% FREE. You can pick up a copy today at:

http://gainspainscapital.com/eu-report/

Best Regards,

Phoenix Capital Research

PS. We also offer a FREE Special Report detailing the threat of inflation as well as two investments that will explode higher as it seeps throughout the financial system. You can pick up a copy of this report at:

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy denies media claims that he and other leaders of the ruling Popular Party received secret payments for years.

Rajoy said Saturday that the allegations were “false,” vowing not to resign despite the publication of documents showing secret payments to him.

"I have never received nor distributed undeclared money," the PM said, adding he would publish on the Internet "statements of income, patrimony and any information necessary" to prove the claims false.

Center-left newspaper El Pais on Thursday published account ledgers showing donations were channeled into secret payments to Rajoy and other party leaders.

The newspaper claimed the premier received 25,200 euros a year between 1997 and 2008. It also said that the fund was collected mostly from construction firms, adding that such payments would be legal if they were fully declared to the taxman.

The allegations sparked anger among people who have been asked to accept harsh austerity measures as the government tried to prevent an international bailout.

Protesters blamed the politicians for the country’s economic crisis, and yelled “thieves” while demonstrating outside the building.

"My sister is on the verge of being evicted and I didn't get my Christmas bonus, while those ladies and gentlemen not only got their Christmas bonuses but have also been robbing our money," said Maxi Sanchez Pizarro, who was among the protesters.

"They are shameless crooks and thieves. I hope they have the honor to resign and call an election," he added.

Battered by the global financial downturn, the Spanish economy collapsed into recession in the second half of 2008, taking millions of jobs with it.

SAB/HGH/SL

Pakistani supporters of Canadian-Pakistani cleric Tahir-ul Qadri look on during a protest march in Islamabad on January 15, 2013.(AFP Photo / Farooq Naeem)

Pakistani officers scuffled with followers of a cleric at a mass anti-government protest, firing shots in the air to disperse the demonstrators. Thousands gathered in Pakistan’s capital to call for revolution and the resignation of the government.

Followers of Canadian-Pakistani Sufi cleric Muhammad Tahirul Qadri marched through Islamabad as part of a two-day mass protest again government corruption. Qadri demanded that the Pakistani parliament dissolve itself by 11:00am local time (06:00 GMT) on Tuesday.

"Morally, your government and your assemblies have ended tonight," he said in a public address on Monday. "I will give [the government] a deadline until tomorrow to dissolve the federal parliament and provincial assemblies. After that, the people's assembly here will take their own decision."

The situation spiraled out of control when the deadline passed, as scuffles broke out between protesters and the police. Officers fired tear gas shells at the ground and shots into the air to disperse the crowd.

Muhammad Tahirul Qadri, leader of Minhaj-ul-Quran movement speaks before a protest march from Lahore to Islamabad January 13, 2013.(Reuters / Mohsin Raza)

Pakistani supporters of Canadian-Pakistani cleric Tahir-ul Qadri rest during a protest march in Islamabad on January 15, 2013.(AFP Photo / Farooq Naeem)

Pakistani supporters of Canadian-Pakistani cleric Tahir-ul Qadri shout slogans during a protest march in Islamabad on January 15, 2013.(AFP Photo / Farooq Naeem)

Qadri’s supports pelted police with stones and beat them with sticks. Six activists were allegedly injured in the altercation. In an email to AP, Qadri blamed the security forces for the violence, claiming that they attempted to arrest him.

Thousands continued to rally in central Islamabad in support of the cleric after the spate of violence. A city official told Reuters that there were around 30,000 people remaining the streets.

Barricades were set up around government buildings in the center of Islamabad, and additional security personnel have been deployed. Mobile phone networks have also been shut down in the area, as authorities fear cellphones could be used to detonate bombs.

Qadri has demanded that the Pakistani governmental elections scheduled for this spring should be delayed until corruption is stamped out in the current regime.

The Pakistani government warned that they will not concede the cleric’s demands following the outbreak of violence. "We will not accept Qadri's pressure because his demands are unconstitutional," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told local television channels

Pakistani supporters of Canadian-Pakistani cleric Tahir-ul Qadri hold placards during a protest march in Islamabad on January 15, 2013.(AFP Photo / Farooq Naeem)

­

Military puppet?

Although Qadri enjoys significant support among Pakistan’s lower- and middle-class, some suspect that he is being backed by the Pakistani military.

The cleric has denied any involvement with the military, although he said that the army could form a transitional government while new rulers are elected, giving rise to speculation over his connections to the military.

"I have no link with military institutions," he told Reuters earlier. "I am one of the biggest staunch believers… of democracy in the whole world."

If the Pakistani elections proceed as planned this year, it will be the first time a civilian government has conducted democratic elections in the country’s history.

Pakistani supporters of Canadian-Pakistani cleric Tahir-ul Qadri chant slogans during a protest march in Islamabad on January 15, 2013.(AFP Photo / Farooq Naeem)

Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa has offered to resign as party chief over allegations of fraud from the country’s anti-corruption watchdog.

The premier offered a conditional resignation on Wednesday based on the opinion of his center-right wing party, who will cast a vote of confidence over the accusations and the leader’s defense.

“I will offer my resignation from the SDS (Slovenian Democratic Party) leadership to the party's council on Wednesday,” Jansa said on Tuesday.

"If my arguments do not satisfy them that will also mean my resignation as prime minister," he added.

Mayor of Slovenia’s capital city, Ljubljana, Zoran Jankovic had also apparently concealed 2.4 million euros in assets and bank accounts, which the watchdog revealed on Tuesday.

Jankovic, also leader of the center-left opposition group Positive Slovenia, came under fire after the watchdog opened an investigation in 2011 on all parliamentary leaders to clear out corruption in Slovenia.

The commission's findings come as thousands of Slovenians have protested over corruption in political parties and the government’s austerity measures.

On Monday, protesters demanded the resignation of all City of Maribor council members because of their association to former Ljubljana Mayor Franc Kangler, who resigned over corruption allegations on December 6, 2012.

A similar protest was held in the city on December 3, 2012. Police forces arrested some 40 people during the demonstration.

The recession-hit eurozone state has seen a wave of protests in recent months over public sector spending cuts and tough austerity measures.

GVN/SZH