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The ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) welcomes the recent UN Security Council Resolution calling upon naval units in the Horn of Africa to provide assistance to vessels attacked by pirates and forced into Somali territorial waters.
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The 2008 Commercial Crime Services (CCS) Annual Economic Crime Lecture, held 19 June in London, addressed the complex issue of corporate corruption.
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Despite a surge of activity that sought to curb business corruption in the 1990s, there is little evidence of a real fall in incidents of bribery in international business transactions, or in the wider forms of corruption in which companies have been implicated.
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There were 49 attacks reported to the Piracy Reporting Centre in the first three months of 2008 as compared to 41 for the corresponding period in 2007, states the ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) in its latest quarterly piracy report.
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The French sailing cruise vessel LE PONANT, hijacked near the approaches to the Gulf of Aden on 4 April 2008, was released by its hijackers on 12 April 2008.
Around ten pirates armed with automatic weapons stormed the luxury vessel whilst she was under way in the Gulf of Aden. The vessel and her 30 crew were taken to the Somali coast where they were held hostage. The vessel was monitored by a French naval vessel whilst at anchorage.
Reports indicate that once the safety of the 30 crew was guaranteed, an elite force attacked and captured six pirates. The hijackers are currently being held by the French authorities. It is understood that there have been five fatalities during the attack.
The turnaround period between the time that the vessel was hijacked, negotiations completed, ransom paid and crew released was markedly quicker than recent examples of hijacked vessels. It is possible that the rapid French military presence was a key factor in this.