Corruption

[Sergius]

Please vote.

[Theobald]

He was our last President :



I let you guess my vote...

[Marulus]

Both politicians and government officials.

[Menydh]

I voted for options #1, #2 & #4. Option #3, bribery to private businessmen, while still a major issue, it is one of ethics and of morality.

[Marulus]

The major problems are officials who, instead of serving the State, what they should do, somehow make the state serve them.

[Gnist]

Originally Posted by Mynydd

I voted for options #1, #2 & #4. Option #3, bribery to private businessmen, while still a major issue, it is one of ethics and of morality.

Yes yes, I see what you mean. But when government and labour unions are bribing big corporations, and when all this is done to achieve means financial, social and political that are no good for the ordinary man, it does become a major problem.

[Menydh]

I was assuming bribery between businesses.

In any case, whichever direction it takes, it is a major issue because it is a sign of a sick system and society.

[Susi]

Bribery/corruption is a nonissue here. But it is talked about occasionally.

[Blood Axis]

Everybody that's in power lives on bribery, corruption and theft, around here

The latest one:

What is the Scandal About?

In March 2007 it was revealed that the Treasury secretly and, allegedly, illegally, issued structured bonds to the value of 280€ million, which were bought exclusively by national insurance funds (*i.e. tax payers' money); however, not quite directly. The bonds followed a murky route from Athens, to London, to Cayman Islands, back to London, and then back to Athens, adding several commissions to the price of the product, to an amount estimated at 40 € million. Thus the price of a financial product with doubtful returns was considerably inflated.

The government pointed to the independence of the insurance funds and the incompetence of their directing boards; the opposition claimed both the route of these bonds as well as the final buyer was known to the issuer, alleging corruption.

No Minister resigned and an investigating process begun. The formal position of the government was that the on-going investigation would assign political responsibility, if there was any. However, as soon as the report was ready, the author of the report was personally attacked and the PM called for early elections.

[Erik Puke]

Actual "bribery" of government officials, like giving a politician an amount of money to vote a certain way, is probably close to non-existant. It seems doctors and other professions often get free trips & gifts to promote certain products.

But, when it comes to more "unofficial" corruption, such as government representatives getting high ranking jobs in the private sector after they've left politics, politicians & media befriending capitalists, etc, I feel it's a very big issue. For instance, our former prime minister recently got an employment at a PR / lobby firm! Politics is money, even in Sweden.

[Heretik]

I've voted "Bribery and corruption in general is a major issue"...

It really is a great concern in Croatia.

[Lagun]

In Spain corruption is linked to politians, fortunately, Government officials (clercks) are most generally clean.

But the political class is unfortunately corrupted, not only in the "light" way that Erik Puke has signaled, but also in their daily praxis. This is specially noticible in town halls and real estate issues.

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by LAGUN

In Spain corruption is linked to politians, fortunately, Government officials (clercks) are most generally clean.

But the political class is unfortunately corrupted, not only in the "light" way that Erik Puke has signaled, but also in their daily praxis. This is specially noticible in town halls and real estate issues.

You hit the nail. Corruption at local (municipal) government level has soared in the last few decades.

Only a few weeks ago, during the festivals of a small village near here, I was briefly talking to a friend's grandfather, a 93 y/o man who had been the mayor in that village in the past. A very clear mind for such an old man. He cursed all politicians while he was telling me how he had been the mayor in that village for long years, and how he never earned a cent from it.

I feel very bad for the old people like him, who have worked hard and lived honestly all their lifes, to now see in their last days the moral dump that we have turned into, since Brussels, Socialists and Liberals.

[Marulus]

In Croatia it's the local politicians who are extremely corrupted, even more so than those of the central government. What we have is the intertwining between the political class and business.

[Kernunnos]

Originally Posted by Mynydd

You hit the nail. Corruption at local (municipal) government level has soared in the last few decades.

Only a few weeks ago, during the festivals of a small village near here, I was briefly talking to a friend's grandfather, a 93 y/o man who had been the mayor in that village in the past. A very clear mind for such an old man. He cursed all politicians while he was telling me how he had been the mayor in that village for long years, and how he never earned a cent from it.

I feel very bad for the old people like him, who have worked hard and lived honestly all their lifes, to now see in their last days the moral dump that we have turned into, since Brussels, Socialists and Liberals.

Spain went from poverty to great development, economic growth and well being some thirty years later than Italy: it went also the same way from a strictly moralistic catholic society to a corrupted modern "democracy".

The foremost problems come from the development plan sector, thatìs's generally where the corruption process starts: clerks and local politicians quickly learn that businness licenses are a gold mine to increase their not so optimal legal rewards, with minimal risks.

Development plans are distorted to favour speculators, politicians become speculators themselves through complacent proxies: they start by using wifes and relatives as proxies , then they concoct more refined schemes.

Waste disposal and treatment also is a great source of kickbacks and illicit traffics.

In Italy in the North we have a situation that can be compared to France, everything happens behind a facade of legality and civil sevice efficency: apaprently it is all ok, but there are rumors that big kicks are still running.

In central Italy corruption is worst (in the roman area it us often utterly indecent) but there is no violence and public service is still decent or even optimal as in Umbria.

In the south various mafias control directly politicians , who are often mafiosi themselves, or staff civil service with their hacks and protegees, or with mafiosi provided with school degrees: it is not unlikely to hear of physicians who are accused of being bosses of the mafia or strict cohoperators of bosses, as for an example.

The regional civil service staff of Naples came to the fore for its refusal to implement a waste disposal plan that any other region has: they refused to implement it because it is in the interest of camorra (neapolitan mafia) to avoid the construction of incinerators and other waste treatment plants, since they run and illegal dumping ground system that is immensely lucrative.


You may imagine what it is like to build a road in such zones ...

[Lagun]

Originally Posted by Breha

In Italy in the North we have a situation that can be compared to France, everything happens behind a facade of legality and civil sevice efficency: apaprently it is all ok, but there are rumors that big kicks are still running.