Corruption ... Is It Only Third World Based?

[jones jones]

I live in a Third World country & hardly a day passes by without the press or TV carrying a story about the embezzlement of taxpayers money by mostly politicians and

public servants.

From the President's office right down to local government, fraud and corruption is rife. Government tenders are awarded to companies owned by family or friends of someone actually working in the department that awards the tender.

So called "previously disadvantaged individuals" simply form a company or what is known here as a Close Corporation, and then tender for say the building of a bridge or road or whatever, without even owning as much as a shovel. Then once the tender has been awarded to them, they sub-contract the work to an already established civil engineering company who then completes the work. The "bogus" company then gets given say ten or twenty million by the company completing the tender.

Politicians or private individuals with influence also approach a company & suggest to them that if they submit a tender to government, they will ensure that they are awarded the contract. In return they must be paid a certain sum of money, usually millions.

What I would like to know is this...

Is this type of fraud & corruption endemic to the Third World i.e. Africa, Asia, Central America etc, or does it also occur & to what extent, in the First World?

[tabby]

I'm sure it's everywhere, JJ. First world nations simply put more effort into keeping it under the radar.

[Accountable]

I agree. It's just the level of sophistication that's different.

I guess that means that Third World criminals are just more honest.