According to the NGO Transparency International, France has a score of 71 on its corruption perception index in 2021. This ranks it in 22nd place behind countries such as Denmark (1st in the ranking with a score of 88), Germany (80) or Japan (73), but far ahead of other countries where corruption is endemic. Direction South Africa (44), Lebanon (24) and Mexico (31).
In South Africa, a devastating level of corruption
Reports detailing anti-corruption investigations regularly make the news in this African country. The latest was released on Friday April 29 and shows how Eskom, the public electricity company, was looted. The result is more and more power cuts that enrage South Africans. This is just one example among many since the 2010s were marked by a devastating level of corruption. They correspond to the two terms of former President Jacob Zuma between 2009 and 2018, described by his successor as “nine wasted years”.
Jacob Zuma is suspected of having allowed a group of individuals to infiltrate public administrations and companies to divert their operations and resources. We are talking about state capture here. The word is not too strong when we see that the South African tax authorities, the national airline, or the port manager, have fallen under the virtual control of the Gupta brothers. The Guptas are siblings of Indian origin, businessmen, close to President Zuma and who fled the country to escape justice.
These various scandals have led to the establishment of an anti-corruption commission which is currently submitting its investigation reports. President Cyril Ramaphosa promises to address parliamentarians by the end of June and say what he will do with the recommendations contained in the reports. “Never again”, has repeatedly repeated Ramaphosa, whose ruling party, the ANC is heavily implicated. If he supports this great unpacking, not sure that Ramaphosa is ready for the big cleaning which would involve attacking former President Zuma.
In Lebanon, corruption even in daily life
The country is going through the worst economic and financial crisis in its history. One of the reasons for this major crisis is the endemic corruption in Lebanon. The NGO Transparency International puts Lebanon in 154th place in the ranking of the most corrupt countries out of 180. Corruption is everywhere in Lebanon, with community, confessional political parties, which are former civil war militias converted and who have shared power for thirty years. We should rather say “who shares the cake”, because the Lebanese State has been literally plundered by these political forces, allied with the economic and financial elite. To the point that he is almost bankrupt, bankrupt. An example, as in South Africa, the electricity company of Lebanon, which weighs down the accounts of the State for a decade, which is today unable to provide more than four hours of current per day to the Lebanese. Electricity of Lebanon is known to be a cash cow: embezzlement, commissions, fictitious jobs, etc. One example, but there are many others in Lebanon.
This corruption, ordinary Lebanese are also confronted with it, in their daily lives. There is one word that sums it up: “Wasta”. The “Wasta” is the piston, nepotism. It is the use of personal relationships to access jobs, positions, services that the state is supposed to provide. The practice is widespread in the Arab world but has taken on delirious proportions in Lebanon, because of the denominational system, the stranglehold of community parties. For registration at university, for an administrative formality, for a building permit, to open a business, to access specific care or medicines that have become rare. If you know someone, if you have a personal connection, you fare better, much better than those who don’t. It is a form of corruption because the “Wasta” is most often accompanied by financial retribution or political allegiance.
In Mexico, corruption plagues public life
The country is ranked 124th out of 180 according to the corruption perception index by the organization Transparency International with a score that does not rise above 31/100. In Mexico, corruption plagues many spheres of public life. It is undoubtedly at the local level that corruption is most visible on a daily basis, whether in administrative procedures or when carrying out public projects. The consequences can be very serious. For example, the metro accident that collapsed and claimed the lives of 26 people in Mexico City a year ago. The case is still pending in court, and several sources have denounced construction irregularities linked to the corruption of city officials.
The police are also very often implicated. A recent US government report denounces the involvement of official agents in numerous murders. And in the case of enforced disappearances, the same document points out, local authorities are too often in cahoots with criminal groups.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador was however elected on an anti-corruption program and he has made the subject his hobbyhorse for three years. On the issue, he assures that his government is making great progress. But despite strong rhetoric of cleaning up public life from the president who talks about Mexico’s 4th great transformation, corruption remains high. A poll shows that a majority of Mexicans criticize Obrador on this point. It must be said that the corruption scandals have not spared the Mexican political class, tarnishing many personalities who are sometimes close to the government. But none of these cases ever lead to the slightest sanction. It is ultimately this general impunity which is one of the great problems. Whether in political, financial or criminal cases, the prosecution of the guilty comes up against the weakness of Mexican justice and 95% of misdemeanors and crimes remain unpunished.