Key staff at the Ikea furniture chain are alleged to have pocketed bribes worth millions of pounds, including luxury furnishings, in a scandal stretching back 20 years.
Gifts of sofas, marble floors and hand-finished kitchens – none requiring self assembly from a flatpack – were said to have been installed in the homes of German executives of the company by building companies anxious to secure contracts. Ikea has admitted that seven former staff are being questioned by German prosecutors over a trail of kickbacks to managers, accountants and project directors.Source: The Telegraph (online), September 17, 2006
Sweden to probe dark eugenics history
Sweden launched a probe on Wednesday to understand how eugenics, a theory on improving the human race used by Nazi Germany to justify the Holocaust, became broadly accepted in the Nordic state in the early 20th century.
Sweden is now known for its strong social welfare system and outspoken advocacy for human rights, but in the past it has experimented with social engineering. This led to abuses such as the forcible sterilization of around 60,000 women in 1936-76.
Source: Reuters, December 21, 2005
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