Below are four articles about corruption:

INTRODUCTION

The Bible condemns bribery, graft and extortion.

A "World War On Bribery" began in 1977 when the USA criminalized bribing public servants abroad. Germany joined the "war" by an attack on bribery in Frankfurt. Other countries followed.


CORRUPTION

In the legal and moral sense corruption refers to:


In the Bible the word "corruption" embraces the above but includes other immoral and criminal behaviour.

Payne (1975) observes that: "Corrupt men are always liars. Lies are their instruments, their pleasure, their solace. In time they come to believe their lies or rather to half-believe them."


TIME MAGAZINE

James Walsh (1998) for Time magazine reported "A World War On Bribery". Dictator Mobutu Sese Seko had plundered Zaire's treasury of $1000 million during 32 years and "bankrupted his country". In Italy prosecutions against top politicians convicted 460 including a former two-time Prime Minister. In China 500,000 government or party officials were reportedly, "punished for involvement in kickbacks and favouritism…" 

In 1977 the U.S. enacted the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Walsh (1998) writes:


GERMANY

In 1991 Die Welt (Bonn) reported:



DEMOCRACY AGAINST CORRUPTION

Church (1996) reported that Columbia, India, France, South Korea, Japan, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Ecuador and Kenya, among other countries, "have been shaken by corruption scandals reaching into the top levels of government." In Italy a probe of politicians and businessmen led to 1000 people being jailed; in India 25 top politicians were forced to resign.

The exposure of corruption was: "powered by … the spread of democracy to scores of once authoritarian countries, with its concomitants: an independent-minded judiciary, a free and nosy press, and unrigged elections in which opposition parties have found charges of kickbacks and bribery powerful vote getters." (ibid)


COST OF CORRUPTION

Wide-scale corruption reduces national productivity, thereby increases poverty and misery. Church (1996) writes: "Also, corruption-ridden countries are lousy competitors in the global economy; bribes and kickbacks kite their costs of doing business too high."

Walsh (1998) cited the lead economist of the World Bank: "Now we have a plethora of literature showing that corruption has a negative impact on all those indicators we care about in development—economic growth, domestic and foreign investment, poverty."

The Weekend Australian in 2011 reported:


With their tremendous oil reserves Venezuelans should be prosperous, happy, and secure. Instead Gallup has ranked Venezuela "the most insecure nation in the world", and Transparency International its judicial system as the world's most corrupt.

The murder rate is among the world's highest; very few crimes result in prosecution; looting of trucks and shops is common; sex trafficking is rife; officials and police commonly cooperate with drug-traffickers and other criminals; kidnappings for ransom number about 16,000 yearly; people put enormous time and effort into self protection; and foreign travelers stay away.

In Sicily the Mafia is in decline. But in 2008 80% of businesses still paid protection money: "The Mafia's annual rake-off was calculated at almost €1billion, equivalent to 1.3% of Sicily's gross domestic product." (Jacobson 2011)

In Solomon Islands a gold-mining company failed to reopen its goldmine because: "police corruption, political collusion, and the fact that unless you pay bribes nothing gets done, rendered the mine too lawless to operate."  (Higgins 2014) With corruption so rampant: "kids can't get an education, hospitals are a disgrace, roads are full of holes, public safety is an issue…"

Regarding Papua New Guinea, Callick (2010) writes: "an extraordinary proportion of public funds have been purloined by members of the elite, while 40 per cent of Papua New Guineans live on less than $US1 … a day."  The consequences included declining government services, outbreaks of disease, hospitals unable to buy equipment and life-expectancy in decline.


CHINA

China has joined the war on corruption — President Xi launched a crackdown in 2013:



CORRUPTION ONGOING

Corruption is common for the same reason that crime in general is common, because people don't know right from wrong and easy money is tempting.

In the case of bribery, clever men often find ways to disguise it. A bank, for example, gave jobs to relatives of government officials in Asia to win business. Viswanatha (2016) reports: "JPMorgan agreed to pay $US264m and admitted it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act — which bars US firms from paying bribes to officials of foreign government to win business…"


THE BIBLE AGAINST CORRUPTION

The Bible commends anyone who: "walks righteously and speaks what is right, who rejects gain from extortion and keeps his hand from accepting bribes…" (Isaiah 33:15)

Bribery, graft and extortion along with attendant conduct such as deceit, lies and violence are all condemned in the Bible. Regarding bribery see Exodus 23:8; Deuteronomy 10:17; I Samuel 8:1-3; Psalm 26:9-11; Proverbs 17:23; Isaiah 1:23; 5:22-23; Amos 5:12; Micah 3:11; Titus 1:7.


CONCLUSION

Bribery and corruption, in government, business and courts as well as by common people, has been standard practice for thousands of years to the economic detriment and impoverishment of all nations. This demonstrates the truth of the biblical teaching that everyone is deceived, and no-one, not even the most intelligent, knows right from wrong and does only what is right.

The modern "world war" on corruption benefits the world economically. But the Bible, the "Word of God", got there first and taught life-improving ethics thousands of years ago!



Callick, R. Grand larceny robs PNG of millions, The Weekend Australian, June 12-13, 2010, Inquirer p. 4

Church, G.J. War Against Sleaze, Time, May 6, 1996, 50-56

Higgins, E. Aussies fail to eradicate graft… The Weekend Australian, November 15-16, 2014, p. 13

Jacobson, P. Sicily Fights Back, Reader's Digest, October 2011, 103-108

Murdoch, S. Xi vows no mercy in China graft fight, The Weekend Australian, January 16, 2014, p.7

Payne, R. 1975 The Corrupt Society, Praeger, p. 249

Scherer, P. (translator) Stop bribery and corruption says public prosecutor, The German Tribune, 6 October 1991 - No. 1487, p. 8. Translated from Die Welt, Bonn, 23 September, 1991

Viswanatha, A. Bank's 'corrupt' $47m scheme, The Weekend Australian, November 19-20, 2016, p. 30

Walsh, J. A World War On Bribery, Time, July 13, 1998, 37-43

Wraith, R. and Simpkins, E. Corruption in Developing Countries, In: Kebschull, H.G. (editor) 1968 Politics in Transitional Societies, Appleton-Century-Crofts, 246-254

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Venezuela.htm

 

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A noteworthy case illustrating my article "The Bible Versus Corruption" (#173) is the British engineering giant, Rolls-Royce Holdings plc.

A Google search on "Rolls Royce Bribery Settlement" brings up a long list of reports. Top of the list when I searched was: 


People in management with the power to allocate money to pay bribes, would be among the most intelligent on Earth.

And if the brightest people are misguided and fail to distinguish right from wrong, what about the majority of lower education?

This is actually a theme of the Bible — that everyone thinks himself blameless but is deceived and often does not know right from wrong.

A history of Rolls-Royce Holdings is at:
https://en-wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Holdings

Anonymous

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"Corruption" in politics and ethics refers to bribery, graft and extortion.  In #173 I showed that authorities throughout history favored corruption and that the practice contributed to keeping all nations in poverty, whereas the Bible all along opposed it.  In 1977 US lawmakers commenced a "world war" on corruption.

The extent of the problem, even after 40 years into the "world war", is indicated in The Weekend Australian which reported: "Brazilian meat giant JBS is facing a backlash from its business partners after admitting to bribing nearly 2000 politicians in exchange for subsidized financing..." (June 10-11, 2017, p. 34)

The report says that "JBS's holding company, J&F Investimentos" has agreed to pay Brazilian prosecutors $US3.14 billion in penalties.

If the world's smartest people — which would include politicians and heads of companies — don't know right from wrong, what about the common people who also, in many ways, reject biblical guidance? This is actually a biblical doctrine — that everyone feels himself to be blameless and good but is deceived.

Anonymous

 

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"Corruption" in politics and commerce refers to bribery, graft and extortion. In #173 I showed that authorities throughout history allowed or ignored corruption and that the practice contributed to keeping the world in poverty, whereas the Bible all along opposed it.

Recently a Chinese billionaire was found guilty of bribing two UN ambassadors. (The Weekend Australian, July 29-30, 2017, 13) In #175 I cited a news report about a Brazilian company that bribed nearly 2000 politicians!

Australia is not immune. The Weekend Australian (June 3-4, 2017, p. 5) reported the ten-year sentence for corruption of a former NSW Labor minister, and the six-year sentence of the former head of a Union who was found an accessory. A second article on the same page lists other Australian politicians recently sentenced to prison for corruption:


Type the phrase "Guilty of Bribery" into Google Search and the guilty include doctors, senior officials, a "top prosecutor", businessmen, judges, a former senator, and the former president of Brazil. In China a pharmaceutical subsidiary was found guilty of bribery and fined $500 million!

The world's smartest people with the highest IQ's would include politicians, doctors, judges, and heads of companies.

If the smartest people with the highest IQs often do not know right from wrong what about ordinary people when they ignore the Bible?

It is actually a biblical theme that everyone needs God's guidance because no one knows right from wrong and does only what is right.

Anonymous