Nobel Prize jurors accept Chinese junket, under probe

ALL THAT GLITTERS: Three Nobel Prize jurors under investigation for accepting free trips.

ibnlive.com is on mobile now. Read news, watch videos
be a Citizen Journalist. Log on to m.ibnlive.com NOW!

Top Headlines

Top Videos

Most Popular

• I took calculated risks for higher growth: Pranab  

• Udayan's View: Budget 2009, a game of patience 

• A study in comparison: Education budget up Rs 7K cr 

• Face The Budget: Political response to Budget 09-10 

• The verdict: CNN-IBN panelists rate Pranab's Budget  

• Reform hopes dashed, market watchers feel let down  

• I-T exemption limit raised | FBT rolled back | Taxes and you 

• Pranab skips two paras of Budget speech, apologises 

• Bengal benefits, Mamata and Pranab budget for their state 

• Income tax limits raised; farmers, exporters get sops 

• Watch: Dalal Street reacts to the Budget 

• Budget: Pranab's chance to create his own legacy 

• FM has done a fairly good job: Narayana Murthy 

• Budget to focus on social spend, growth 

• Education reform will be for all Indians: Sibal 

• The Budget That Isn't: Cyrus gears up for Budget 

• EVMs are tamper proof, says Election Commission 

• Watch: Railway exams disrupted in Mysore, Banglaore 

• Watch: Maneka writes to PM over threat to Varun's life 

• One-upmanship: Sonia, Pawar in foodgrain politics 

• Life saving drugs, LCDs cheaper; Set-top-box costlier 

• Buy that big car: SUVs, petrol trucks to cost less 

• Defence budget unchanged; Army gets lion's share 

• Minimum Rs 30 lakh needed to be called wealthy 

• TAX BREAKS, WELFARE SCHEMES IN COMMON MAN'S BUDGET 

• Common man gets a treat, over 15 schemes 

• Health budget up by Rs 4,000 cr, 6 new AIIMS in cities 

• Bengal benefits, Mamata and Pranab budget for their state 

• Full text: Union Budget 2009 

• Software industry gets tax benefits for one more yr 

Photogallery

Find us on Facebook | Join IBNLive community

Stay ahead with G-Talk Buddy | Click now!

Stockholm: Nobel Prize jurors who accepted all-expenses-paid trips to China to discuss the coveted awards are being investigated on suspicion of bribery, a Swedish prosecutor said on Thursday.

Anti-corruption prosecutor Nils-Erik Schultz said he opened the probe to determine whether the trips in 2006 and 2008 were meant to influence the decisions of the Nobel committees. He declined to name the jurors or say how many were being investigated.

The probe was prompted by a Swedish Radio report that said three jurors from the medicine, chemistry and physics committees were invited to China to explain the selection process and what it takes to win a Nobel Prize. Chinese authorities paid for their plane tickets, hotels and meals, the report said.

If charged and convicted, the jurors would face fines or up to two years in prison. However, Swedish prosecutors often drop preliminary investigations without pressing charges.

Gunnar Oquist, the permanent secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the Nobels in chemistry, physics and economics, acknowledged that the trips were inappropriate.

"We should be very careful not to put ourselves in a situation where the Nobel committee's work can be called into question," he told The Associated Press by phone. "I think we should have thought about that here."

Oquist said he hoped the case would not affect the reputation of the annual Nobel Prizes, which honour groundbreaking achievements in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, economics and peace. Five Europeans, four Americans and three Japanese received the 2008 awards last week.

"I think that if we had known that the Nobel Prize would be at the centre of this trip, we probably would have discouraged our members from going," he added.

The last time China claimed a science price was in 1957, when two Chinese researchers won the physics award, according to the Nobel Web site.

In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters on Thursday he had no information about the case. "I'm not aware of this," Liu said.

The 10 million kronor ($1.2 million) awards are handed out every year on Dec. 10 to mark the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel's death in 1896.