This month the Irish navy together with the Garda seized a yacht carrying more than €500m worth of cocaine which it is believed was destined for the British Isles. In a joint operation involving the UK Serious Organised Crime Agency and the Irish authorities in collaboration with the Operations Centre Against Narcotics in Portugal, the yacht's progress had been tracked from when it left the Caribbean over a month earlier. Authorities have stated that the three individuals arrested from the yacht are not known associates of organized crime figures. Investigations continue.

Earlier this month Rumen Petkov (UID 36394) the former Bulgarian interior minister was indicted. In April 2008 Petkov was forced to resign his post after allegations surfaced of corruption and mafia connections in his Ministry. According to reports Petkov has waived his immunity.

Late last month the trial started of the so called ‘Angolagate’ case. The trial features a number of prominent French political figures, and associates including the late former President's son Jean-Christophe Mitterrand (UID 10998) who has been charged with complicity in illegal trade and embezzlement.

Charles Taylor Jr. (UID 32829) the son of the former Liberian President is to go on trial in Miami Florida on charges of torture. This trial will be breaking new ground as it is the first time that such a trial will take place enacting the 1994 federal law allowing for individuals in US custody to be tried for acts of torture which were committed outside of the US. Taylor Jr. was arrested in 2006 for attempting to enter the US from the Caribbean on false documentation. In September 2006 he was sentenced to eleven months in jail after pleading guilty to the charge. Taylor Jr. is also known by a number of aliases.

Earlier this month the US Treasury of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated the Director of Venezuela's Military Intelligence Directorate Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios (UID 338081)) and the Director of Venezuela's Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services Henry de Jesus Rangel Silva (UID 337810) and also the former Minister of the Interior and Justice Ramon Emilio Rodriguez Chacin (UID 57171). The US alleges that these three individuals helped the narcotics trafficking activities of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which was in 1997 designated as a foreign Terrorist Organisation by the US.

The Swiss authorities have announced that they have now dropped the investigation against the late Benazir Bhutto's husband Asif Ali Zardari (UID 12523) who is now the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party. In addition they have released funds reported to be approximately $60 million which had been frozen in Swiss bank accounts. Pakistan has also dropped all charges that it had initiated against Zardari, stating that Zadari and Bhutto could not be accused of corruption.

Earlier this month the former President of Taiwan, Chen Shui-bien (UID 4032) resigned from the Democratic Progressive Part (DPP). Authorities have reportedly launched an investigation into alleged money laundering activities concerning Chen and his family. This follows on the heels of the Swiss authorities taking similar action. In a separate case Chen is reportedly already under investigation for alleged embezzlement and his wife Wu Shu-chen (UID81027) is currently charged with corruption and document forgery.

This month the former President of the Serb Republic Radovan Karadzic (UID 7502) who in 1995 was indicted by the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal, was captured inside Serbia. Karadzic was initially handed over to the War Crimes Panel of the Belgrade District Court. It has been reported that he has now been transferred to the Netherlands where he will appear before the Hague Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia. The UN war crimes tribunal has charged Karadzic with 15 counts of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and other atrocities committed between 1992 and 1996.

This month the International Criminal Court (ICC) filed charges of genocide against the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir (UID 5492). A formal request for an arrest warrant has also been made. Reportedly al-Bashir is accused of having masterminded and implemented a plan to eliminate a number of opposition ethnic groups. The statement from the ICC states “The Prosecution does not allege that AL BASHIR physically or directly carried out any of the crimes. He committed crimes through members of the state apparatus, the army and the Militia/Janjaweed in accordance with Article 25 (3)(a) of the Statute (indirect perpetration or perpetration by means).”

In April Burhanuddin Abdullah (UID 172081) was arrested by the Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) which launched a series of investigations targeting the Central Bank. This month Customs and the Attorney General's offices charged him with embezzling $11 million of the bank’s funds. He is reported to have taken the money to pay to lawmakers who were deliberating a bill governing the Central Bank. Two other officials, the legal affairs director Oey Hoeng Tiong (UID 80-5995) and the head of communications Rusli Simanjuntak (UID 805996), were detained earlier this year in connection with the same case.