Bribery, corruption are thorn in flesh of every country

Since the advent of mankind, bribery and corruption have existed everywhere on the Earth and in many different forms, but they inflict the worst damage on poorer countries like Pakistan by exacerbating poverty.
And in the words of the African Commission, good governance holds the key, because unless there are improvements in capacity, accountability and reducing corruption, other reforms would only have a limited impact.
Although a decade or so ago, virtually no internationally comparable measures for promoting good governance or for combating corruption existed, yet in recent years, institutions like the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have mulled over the issue. IMF
In-depth research conducted by the Jang Group and Geo Television reveals that the biggest difference between the undeveloped countries and the developed nations is the prompt accountability of the corrupt elements, irrespective of their stature in the society.
History shows that while accountability of the affluent and the mighty in poor countries is a rarity, it is a continuous feature in the developed nations, where political scams too occur but are not as rampant as in poor nations.
Continuous accountability in developed nations hence prevents the menace from adversely affecting the under-privileged classes of the society.
Now, let us examine the incidence of corruption---and hence bad governance:
United States: According to a September 19, 2015 World Poll conducted by Gallup, which has conducted studies in more than 160 countries (from Australia to Pakistan that include 99 per cent of the world's adult population since 2005), every three in four Americans (75 per cent) had perceived corruption as widespread in the country's government in 2014.
A December 2013 "Voice of America" (VOA) report titled "Top 10 ways the US is the most corrupt country in the world" had stated:
"When French President Nicolas Sarkozy was defeated in 2012, soon thereafter French police actually went into his private residence searching for an alleged $50,000 in illicit campaign contributions from the L’Oreale heiress. Our presidential campaigns cost a billion dollars each! $50,000 is a rounding error, not a basis for police action. Why, George W. Bush took millions from arms manufacturers and then ginned up a war for them, and the police haven’t been anywhere near his house. American politicians don’t represent "the people." With a few honorable exceptions, they represent the one per cent only. American democracy is being corrupted out of existence."
The VOA report had viewed that the rich Americans were well placed to bribe their compatriot politicians to reduce taxes levied on them. It had observed that the US government policies had produced a situation where 400 American billionaires were worth $2 trillion, as much as the bottom 150 million Americans--which thus means alarming wealth inequality.
The Voice of America had noted:
"That kind of wealth inequality hasn't been seen in the US since the age of robber barons in the 19th century."
India: In neighbouring India, where political scandals have kept rocking the nation since 1948, some 53 sitting Lok Sabha MPs face criminal charges. They could be disqualified, if convicted.
These legislators include Union minister Uma Bharti and senior leaders L K Advani and M M Joshi, who face charges like rioting, promoting enmity between groups on grounds of religion in Babri Masjid demolition-related cases.
Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Pappu Yadav has the highest number (13) of criminal cases, followed by National Congress Party's Pratapsinha Bhonsale, Communist Party’s Karunakaran and Biju Janata Dal’s Tathagata Satpathy with six cases each.
(Reference: A June 23, 2014 report of the Times of India)
The April 10, 2015 edition of "The Hindu" had stated:
"Out of 133 countries rated on indicators of well-being such as health, water and sanitation, personal safety, access to opportunity, tolerance, inclusion, personal freedom and choice India has secured the 101th place. This is lower than India’s rank, of 93, for GDP per capita income. Even Nepal and Bangladesh rank higher than India on the Social Progress Index (SPI) ratings."
A November 2015 report of the "Transparency International" has noted:
"Defence procurement corruption in India has been accessed to be "high", with a large mass of its procurements shrouded in secrecy with low levels of accountability. Corruption in defence procurement in three of its neighbours - China, Sri Lanka and Pakistan has been found to be "very high."
The September 15, 2015 edition of the "Indian Express" has written:
"The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report ranks India at 93rd among 144 countries on irregular payments and bribes, 59th on burden of government regulation, and 57th on the efficiency of the legal framework in settling disputes. In 2015, India was ranked 85th out of 175 countries in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index."
According to the May 2012 estimates of the Swiss National Bank, the total amount of deposits in all Swiss banks, at the end of 2010, by the citizens of India was US$1.4 billion. The Swiss Ministry of External Affairs had confirmed these figures.
A November 2010 report of the "Global Financial Integrity" had estimated that over a 60-year period, India had lost US$213 billion in illicit financial flows beginning in 1948; adjusted for inflation was estimated to be 462 billion in 2010 dollars, or about $8 billion per year!
The report had also estimated that the size of India's underground economy was approximately $640 billion at the end of 2008 or roughly 50 per cent of the nation's GDP.
The March15, 2014 edition of the "Economist" had asserted:
"Graft in India is damaging the economy. The country needs to get serious about dealing with it."
In India, many of the biggest scandals since 2010 have involved very high level government officials, including cabinet ministers and chief ministers. A few of these mega scams include the US$ 27 billion 2G Spectrum Scam in which Congress politicians had undercharged mobile phone companies for frequency allocation licences.
In February 2012, the Indian Supreme Court had declared the allotment of spectrum "unconstitutional and arbitrary," canceling the 122 licences issued in 2008 under A. Raja (Minister of Communications from 2007 to 2009).
In 2011, the "Time" magazine had ranked the 2G Spectrum Scam second on their "Top 10 abuses of power" list, behind the Watergate Scandal.
India was also rocked by the US$ 11 billion 2010 Commonwealth Games Scam, which had received widespread media coverage both in India and across the world. The US$28 billion coal allocation scam, pertaining to the Indian government's allocation of the nation's coal deposits to public sector entities, is also being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Currently, the Rs35,000--Rs40,000 crore "Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act" is being criticised for the leakages and corrupt implementation.
Following the allegations of corruption in the scheme, the Modi government had ordered a re-evaluation of the scheme.
These events within Europe had finally led the European Commission to issue a Green Paper in 2004 on Defence Procurement to improve the transparency levels.
In India, during the early eighties, an arms purchase called the HDW German Submarine deal had erupted into a scandal and Premier Indira Gandhi’s younger son Sanjay was implicated for accepting graft to the tune of Rs200 million.
In 1986, Indira Gandhi’s elder son Rajiv Gandhi and his aides were also accused of taking more than Rs640 million in bribes for awarding a contract to the Swedish company Messrs Bofors. The Bofors arms procurement affair had contributed to the Congress party’s defeat in an election in 1989.
Noted Indian politician R.K. Jain was arrested for his role in the Barak affair, while a former Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sushil Kumar was also implicated in the con game. The Barak Scandal involved the purchase of missiles by India from Israel.
In 2000, contracts had been signed by India to procure seven Barak systems at a total cost $199.50 million and 200 missiles at a cost of $ 69.13 million.
In recent years, various high-ranking Indian military officers like Chief of Army Staff, General V K Singh, Lt Gen Surendra Kumar Sahni, Lt Gen S K Dahiya, Maj Gen Anand Swaroop, Maj-Gen SP Sinha, Maj Gen Anand Kapoor, Maj Gen Gur Iqbal Singh Multani and Brigadier Guredeep Singh etc have been found involved in corruption of various forms.
UK: In United Kingdom, most governing and opposition parties have had their share of political scandals through the years. The lurid details of financial and sex scandals have been splashed across the British tabloids, resulting in many high profile resignations and public apologies.
Many British politicians have misused their powers over the years and were responsible for bringing shame upon them by getting involved in shady financial deals and sexual exploits.
While most British politicians have ended up admitting their mistakes and apologizing to the public, there might be many cases that have simply gone undetected.
A November 11, 2015 report of the "Reuters" had dubbed Britain a safe haven for laundering illicit wealth. The report had said:
"Low taxes and high secrecy make many British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, such as the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands, attractive places for businesses to register, and vast sums of money flow through them.”
A May 10, 2013 story of "The Independent" had shed enough light on UK corruption: "British scandals can compete with the best Europe can offer."
The "1963 Profumo Scandal" is one of Britain’s most shocking sex scandals involving John Profumo, the then Secretary of State for War, who had got involved with a call girl, who was also in a relationship with a senior Soviet Russian officer.
The political ramifications of such an affair during the time of Cold War were serious and Profumo had to confess everything and had to step down from his cabinet post. The scandal had almost brought Premier Harold Macmillan’s government down.
The "Lavender List of 1976" had involved the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson. He was accused of giving knighthoods and peerages to wealthy businessmen who were at that time opposed to the ruling party’s policies.
The 1990 "Sale of arms to Iraq Scam" during John Major’s reign had contributed to the landslide win for Tony Blair’s Labour party in the 1997 elections. After the 1991 Gulf war, it was alleged that the UK government had sold arms to Iraq, under the rule of Saddam Hussain.
Here are a few more scandals:
The "Tobacco Advertising Scandal" of 1997 had involved exemptions given to all major Formula 1 teams, which were sponsored by leading tobacco brands such as Rothmans and Marlboro. The Labour Party had promised to ban tobacco advertising in its election manifesto during the 1997 general elections, but it transpired during probe that the Formula 1 owner Ecclestone had donated £1 million to the Labour party to seek exemptions. Tony Blair later publicly apologized for not handling the issue properly and said that the money would be returned.
In the 2006 "Tessa Jowell Financial Scandal," the then UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell’s husband had given false evidence in Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s court case, for which he was paid £340,000 pounds. Jowell had then converted the money into a hedge fund. She claimed that she had no involvement in the scandal and made a statement that she would separate from her husband.
In the 1998 "Ron Davies ‘Moment of Madness’ Scandal," the Welsh Secretary of State and Member of Parliament, Ron Davies, had to resign after being embroiled in a humiliating gay sex scandal. He was spotted chatting with a man in a well-known gay meeting place and was later mugged in the same area at knife point.
The 2006-2007 "Cash for Honours Scam" had revolved around political donations and award of life peerages. In March 2006, many men who were recommended for life peerages by Prime Minister Tony Blair were rejected by the House of Lords Appointments Commission.
It was discovered that the men had loaned substantial sums of money to the Labour Party, which had to repay the money after the scam had caught public attention. The 2009 "Parliamentary Expenses Scandal" had revolved around the expenses claimed by Members of Parliament over many years. The list revealed the misuse of taxpayer money by MPs and after the incident came to light, they promised to repay the money. The scandal had resulted in a number of resignations, sackings and public apologies.
In November 2014, the British police had probed members of the House of Lords after one peer, Lord Hanningfield, was found to have abused his Parliamentary expenses.
Hanningfield, consequently jailed for expenses fraud, was exposed for regularly ‘clocking in’ to the House of Lords to claim a £300 daily attendance allowance despite spending minutes inside. He was also ordered to pay back £3,300.
(Reference: The November 25, 2014 edition of the "Telegraph")
Another British House of Lords member Jeffrey Howard Archer was convicted and subsequently imprisoned between 2001 and 2003 for perjury and perverting the course of justice, which followed his resignation.
Archer was accused of buying a fake diploma from a US institution to get admission at the Oxford University.
He was also facing allegations that millions of pounds had disappeared from his Kurdish charity. In July 2003, Archer was released on licence, after serving half of his sentence.
Bangladesh: In Bangladesh, according to the March 16, 2015 edition of the "Japan Times," a few international donors under the leadership of the World Bank had canceled a large loan to finance construction of the country’s longest bridge in 2012--citing concerns about corruption.
Corruption in Bangladesh has been a continuing problem with the country being ranked as the most corrupt country for the year 2005 in the list published by Transparency International.
Political parties in Bangladesh are governed by hereditary bloodline and every major entity elects party-chairman from the pool of family members of the founder or previous major leader of the party, like, wife, or, daughter, or, son.
According to a June 2015 report of the UN Conference on Trade and Development, the country attracted $1.53 billion in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2014 as against $1.6 billion in just 12 months.
The Foreign Investors’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Rupali Chowdhury said weaknesses in infrastructure, bureaucratic bottlenecks and corruption were the reasons behind the drop in FDI.
World Bank data shows that due to political turmoil and uncertainty, Bangladesh attracts far less tourists than some war-torn countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
Malaysia: In Malaysia, according to the Transparency International, corruption has damaged the economic growth of the country.
Even the country’s incumbent Premier Najib Razak is responding to allegations surrounding how $700 million state funds had landed into his personal accounts, after the "Wall Street Journal" and the "Guardian" had flashed the news.
On October 22, 2015, Malaysia’s opposition leader had filed a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Najib Razak in parliament amid accusations of major corruption and financial mismanagement of a state investment fund.
Here follow just a few more examples in this context:
Canada: In Canada, a few Senators had claimed travel and housing expenses in 2012 from the Senate for which they were not eligible. As a result, the Auditor General of Canada began investigating the expense claims of the entire Senate. The guilty Senators were suspended from the Senate and had to repay the due amount eventually.
Some other countries
Coming to notorious arms deals and the characters involved, although a former Navy chief Admiral Mansurul Haq and former Inspector General Police Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Malik Naveed were also arrested in Pakistan for minting money in shady weapons purchase transactions, an Italian President (Giovanni Leone), two Japanese Prime ministers (Admiral Yamamoto Gonnohyoe and Kakuei Tanaka) and an Indian Defence Minister (George Fernandes) were handcuffed and ousted from their offices for accepting bribes in these suspicious armament contracts.
In Netherlands, the then Prime Minister Joop had ordered inquiry against Queen Juliana’s husband Prince Berhard for receiving $1.1 million kickbacks to ensure that Messrs Lockheed planes would win the contract, though the Royalty had kept on denying these accusations.
Now, let’s see how the world has treated some globally-renowned financial institutions and powerful people found guilty of laundering dirty money.
In 1931, the most powerful American mafia don Al-Capone was indicted for tax evasion and was sentenced to a then-record-breaking 11 years in prison. Al-Capone is believed to have laundered at least $1 billion through various businesses.
He was so affluent that President Franklin D Roosevelt had to use his armoured 1928 model Cadillac car equipped with bullet-proof windows on December 7, 1941 or just hours after Pearl Harbour attack because the US spy agents were worried about his security.
During the past few decades, numerous globally-famous rulers like Nigeria’s dictator Sani Abacha, former Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos, Panama’s Manuel Noriega, Taiwan’s Chen Shui-bian, former Ukrainian Premier Pavlo Lazarenko, former Guatemala President Alfonso Portillo, Congo’s former head of state Mobutu Sese Seko and Indonesia’s ex-President Suharto etc have been convicted in money-laundering cases.
The Bank of Credit and Commerce International was locked down in July 1991 after it had come under the scrutiny of numerous financial regulators and intelligence agencies in the 1980s due to concerns that it was poorly regulated. This bank was created with capital from a Middle Eastern ruler and Bank of America.
The Bank of New York was accused in 2005 of being involved in laundering the Russian capital flight to the tune of $7 billion. It was blamed of having laundered this amount through accounts controlled by bank executives in the late 1990s.
(Reference: The November 9, 2005 edition of the New York Times)
The Standard Chartered Bank of Britain had once paid $330 million in fines for money-laundering hundreds of billions of dollars for Iran.
In December 2012, the HSBC bank had paid a record $1.9 billion fines for laundering hundreds of millions of dollars for drug traffickers, terrorists and nations facing sanctions such as Iran.
(References: The December 6, 2012 and December 11, 2012 editions of the New York Times)
The London branch of South Africa’s Standard Bank was fined £7,640,400 by the British Financial Conduct Authority for failings relating to its anti-money laundering policies and procedures over corporate and private bank customers connected to politically exposed persons.
A French bank BNP Paribas was found guilty of falsifying business records and conspiracy. This Paris-based financial institution had allegedly violated US sanctions against Cuba, Iran, and Sudan. It agreed to pay an $8.9 billion fine, the largest ever for violating American sanctions.
(Reference: The June 30, 2014 edition of the New York Times)
Similarly, an uncountable number of high-ranking world personalities including Presidents, Premiers, politicians, ministers, sportsmen and showbiz celebrities have often been found guilty of having ‘spicy relationships.’
We all know that US President Bill Clinton was once found guilty of having an affair with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky.
It was the investigation in this case that had eventually led to the impeachment of Clinton on December 19, 1998 by the US House of Representatives and his subsequent acquittal on all impeachment charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in a 21-day Senate trial that had started on January 7, 1999.
After his trial, Clinton said he was "profoundly sorry" for the burden his behaviour imposed on Congress and the American people.
Other highly placed global personalities who had to lose respect, pride and even jobs (in most cases) due to sex-related scams include:
Israel’s former President Moshe Katsav, former Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega,
former Zimbabwean President Canaan Banana, French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, ex- Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, former US Vice President Al Gore, former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, ex-US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, US President Obama’s half brother Samson Obama, Britain’s Secretary of State for War John Profumo, the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, singer Michael Jackson, actor-turned-Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, Boxing Champion Mike Tyson, Governor of Andhra Pradesh state (India) Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Prince Victor Emmanuel (son of Italy’s last king), CIA chief General David Petraeus, Chinese Finance Minister Jin Renqing, European Commission Vice President Gunter Verheugen and many US Senators like Bob Packwood, Barney Frank, James Mc Greevey, Jesse Jackson, Gary Condit, Eliot Spitzer, Jay Reynolds, Gerry Eastman Studds, Frederick Richmond, Neil Goldschmidt, Neil Goldschmidt, Joseph Waggonner and Jerry Springer etc.
Some of the names listed above may well have fallen victims to "honey traps" though.
Then, we have seen, heard and read about many world rulers arrested in relatively recent history on treason charges, though some of these trials were surely politically motivated.
These include: The four-time French Prime Minister Pierre Laval; another French ruler General Philippe Petain; Greek Prime Minister Dimitrios Gounaris, another Greek military dictator Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos; a former Mexican President Miguel Tarelo, a former Hungarian Communist ruler Imre Nagy; former Dutch ruler Anton Mussert, former Norwegian Minister-President Vidkun Abraham Quisling and a Turkish Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, and President of Congo Pascal Lissouba etc.
By the way, famous Nazi leader and German Chancellor Adolf Hitler was also sentenced to five years in April 1924 for treason, but was released after serving just nine months of his jail term on account of good behaviour.
Those aware of the intricacies of the world of espionage would know that even the best spymasters, heading the planet’s most-dreaded intelligence agencies, were either sent packing for intelligence failures, spying on politicians, misuse of funds, illegal surveillance of public and mishandling of unscripted escapades, or they had relinquished charge voluntarily.
These include: A Mossad chief Isser Harel, the chief of the CIA Counter-intelligence Staff James Jesus Angleton, the first chief of the Indian intelligence agency RAW Rameshwar Nath Kao, the Swiss spymaster Albert Bachmann, the chief of the Israeli Mossad Danny Yatom, CIA Director George Tenet, another key American intelligence player Porter Goss, head of Hungary’s National Security Office Sandor Laborc, Obama’s National Intelligence Director Admiral (R) Dennis Blair and Afghanistan’s Interior Minister and Secret Service Chief Hanif Atmar etc.
But despite all deterrents, checks and balances all over the world, men calling shots in the upper echelons of power have continued to find ways to earn filthy money without taking the consequences into account.