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He who pays the piper
Mauritius sometimes typifies the ultimate Kafkaesque world. Petty bureaucrats, government officials, from the porter to the minister, contrive to make life difficult for anyone unfortunate enough to have to deal with public bodies. A simple inquiry is turned into a game of pinball between different government departments, enough to drive a perfectly sane person to the brink of madness. For others, those with the right contacts, the situation is different. At other times, a bribe will miraculously move a file from the bottom of the pile to the ‘urgent’ tray on the official’s desk. Bribery or pork-barrel politics seems to be the main fuel of government business on an average day. The population tags along, the number of sycophants multiply and Mauritius keeps plunging in the Corruption Perceptions Index of Transparency International (TI).
Actually, the country did gain three places in the corruption table, climbing from 54th in 2004 to 51st this year. However, in 1998, we were 33rd in the table with a score of 5.0 compared to a score 4.2 in 2005 (the score representing the corruption perception ranges from 0 for highly corrupt to 10 for highly clean). The worst performance yet was realised in 2004, with 4.1 and incidentally, 2005 is the only year when we have improved on our standing. The TI survey shows that there is declining confidence, albeit a reprieve this year, in the society’s ability to eradicate corrupt practices. Ironically, Icac, the body set up to fight these practices, is itself caught in internal squabbles or political interference, making it utterly pathetic and despairingly toothless.
Favouritism and brown envelopes</B>
Despite the ugly tableau painted by corrupt practices in Mauritius and the equally and, at times, worse situations in other developing nations, corruption is not the exclusivity of the Southern hemisphere. This year, both Canada and Ireland dropped points in the corruption table, refuting the lazy assumptions that only poor countries are corrupt. In fact, in some of these countries, contacts and bribery work the same wonders as in Mauritius. Thick bundles of cash change hands to grant planning applications or award a phone licence to the donor.
In the last decade, a rash of corrupt practices boiled to the surface in Ireland, giving rise to a series of tribunals of inquiry. One involved planning permission over land development, in which a former minister was alleged to have received money in brown envelopes. He finally ended up in jail, though not from these specific corrupt practices but for tax evasion. Another city councillor involved in the murky deal also did time for contempt of court. A second tribunal, set up to investigate the awarding of the second phone licence, is yet to reach its conclusion. There was also the small affair of non-resident bank accounts, where money was deposited for the wealthy, on which they evaded tax. Even an ex-prime minister held such accounts into which wealthy businessmen deposited their ‘gifts’. However, it was difficult to prove that the donors received any favours in return.
Naturally, the favourite sons and daughters of corruption investigations were not spared. The Irish police force is under heavy pressure, as a number of its members have been paraded in front of what is known as the Morris tribunal (named after the judge presiding over the proceedings). In the North-West of the country, the police have been found guilty of conspiring to frame a night-club owner for murder. Another famous murder case collapsed this week, after the key witness revealed that the police had forced her to testify wrongfully against the suspect. These cases could come directly from a badly written Western.
Corporate corruption</B>
All this is played to the background drone of the IMF, World Bank, poverty campaigners and G8 leaders demanding greater accountability from African leaders. However, amidst all this palaver, there is a general belief, even among NGOs, that corruption operates along a one-way street. This shallow analysis often goes unchallenged in the media. Lest we forget, corruption is a two-way process, involving the corruptor and the corrupted. And here, many Western countries have implicitly played a role in the corruption process. During the period of World Bank/IMF structural readjustment policy of the 80s, many countries were forced to privatise State assets. As Western companies rushed in to cash in on the loot, kickbacks were paid, deals were made with the elite of these countries to facilitate the transfer of national assets into multinational hands. To this day, the practice of large corporations paying bribes to obtain a share of the profits continues. And, all the while, the Western countries, where these companies are based, turn a blind eye to such unethical activities, contrary to their own legislation.
Furthermore, there is now rampant corporate corruption. Enron, is the best example, where the company cooked the books and even used bogus companies in Mauritius for money laundering. Another high profile case was the one of Italian food company Parmalat, where a massive fraud of billions of euros sent the company into administration. Only two weeks ago, financial trading giant Refco collapsed after it was discovered its chief executive hid up to $540 million of bad debts from shareholders. The fraud at the Mauritius Commercial Bank is another reminder that the private sector is not squeaky clean. As the corporate world slowly completes its takeover from the State in many sectors of the economy, corruption will also shift from the public to the private sector.
The funds buying swimming pools, lavish lifestyles or just fattening Swiss bank accounts could have been used to eradicate poverty. But, instead, they are embezzled by ruthlessly corrupt individuals. However, we should start switching our attention away from politicians and take a look at the corporate world. The scale of corruption involved there could make Abacha, Nigeria’s former president, look like a small time crook.
<B>Diren VALAYDEN</B> <I>Outlook Correspondent in Dublin</I>
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