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How to tackle corruption
The EconomistAvril Andrews, Leslie Weingard, Shamila Bhattoyi, Max Nefudov, Cynthia Agnes Soraya Stimple
- Global corruption costs an estimated $3 trillion annually, blighting the lives of hundreds of millions and necessitating urgent action to restore state-owned enterprises and ethical leadership.
- In South Africa, the Cape Flats district faced nearly 1,000 murders in the first six months of 2019, a violence rate partly fueled by police corruption and illegal arms trafficking.
- Former police colonels pleaded guilty in 2016 to illegally selling 2,400 guns, with nearly 2,500 shootings linked to illegal weapons since 2010, including 261 involving child victims.
- Anti-corruption campaigns have documented over 475 reports of police bribery and over 300 reports of abuses of power within the South African police force.
- In the Western Cape alone, 229 court dockets (case files) have gone missing over the past six years, undermining judicial processes for victims like Avril Andrews and Leslie Weingard.
- During the nine-year presidency of Jacob Zuma (2009–2018), an estimated $100 billion was stolen from the state, representing nearly one-third of South Africa's GDP at the time.
- In 2019, President Cyril Ramaphosa was elected on a platform to crack down on corruption, initiating a "new spirit" characterized by:
- Firing and replacing Zuma's acolytes in critical state institutions.
- Revamping boards of state-owned enterprises.
- Establishing a more cooperative relationship with watchdogs like Corruption Watch compared to the previous administration.
- Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo's Commission of Inquiry, established in 2018 to investigate the capture of the state under Zuma, has:
- Heard thousands of hours of testimony from over 100 witnesses regarding fraud and corruption.
- Served as a public education tool to counter false narratives about the Zuma era, akin to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
- President Ramaphosa appointed Shamila Bhattoyi, a former prosecutor from the International Criminal Court, as Chief Public Prosecutor to:
- Restore credibility to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), which was infiltrated by Zuma's cronies.
- Prioritize the certainty of investigation and prosecution as the primary deterrent to crime.
- In Ukraine, a 2014 revolution deposed President Viktor Yanukovych, who and his associates are estimated to have stolen $40 billion from the public purse over four years.
- Activists have converted Yanukovych's confiscated $100,000/year mansion into a "museum of corruption" showcasing looted assets like a private zoo and a gold-panelled chapel.
- Ukraine implemented the ProZorro digital procurement system to increase transparency, resulting in:
- A reduction of corruption costs by an estimated $6 billion per year since 2014.
- Savings of 7–8% on the value of each tender through open bidding and automated fraud detection.
- Processing of roughly one million tenders annually, repositioning Ukraine as a global technological leader in public procurement.
- The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in the UK utilized AI and machine learning for the first time in a criminal case during the 2013–2018 Rolls-Royce bribery investigation.
- The AI system reviewed 30 million documents 2,000 times faster than human lawyers, identifying patterns in communication across seven jurisdictions more reliably than independent legal review.
- Rolls-Royce admitted to paying tens of millions in bribes to middlemen in six countries to secure contracts.
- The company agreed to a record fine of approximately $650 million to avoid prosecution, contingent on implementing strict future compliance systems.
- Whistleblowers remain critical yet vulnerable to retaliation, illustrated by:
- Cynthia Stimpell, former Group Treasurer at South African Airways, who saved taxpayers $17 million by refusing to sign irregular debt financing documents but subsequently lost her job.
- The consensus among whistleblowers that a culture of impunity persists where speaking up leads to suspension, loss of employment, and a lack of due process.
- Experts argue that while technology and high-level leadership are vital, sustainable anti-corruption efforts require:
- Protecting and rewarding whistleblowers rather than punishing them.
- A genuine cultural shift in companies from "box-ticking" compliance to ethical behavioral change.
- Continued public pressure to ensure political rhetoric translates into tangible accountability for the guilty.