Viewing corruption as a crisis

Transparency International defines corruption as misuse of entrusted power for private gain. Capt. Samuel Argall, the notorious deputy governor of Virginia from 1617 to 1619, explained the working definition of corruption when he openly boasted to "make hay while the sun shines, however it may fare with the generality." The corrupt people are desperately focused. They use the end to justify the means.

Corruption has many names. Bribe, graft, kickbacks, extortion, electoral frauds, nepotism, favoritism, commission, discount, payoff, cut, margin, so forth and so on. There are so many ways to play this game. Benjamin Fletcher, who was the Governor of New York from 1692 to 1698, was many forms of corruption in one man. He took protection money from pirates, shook down Indian traders, bilked the customs, padded military payrolls, and stole funds raised to pay the provincial debt.

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The history of corruption is long and universal. About the same time when the American continent seethed with seedy sources of income, the picture wasn't different in faraway India. Muiz-ul-Mulk had to pay some three lakh mahmudis (about £15000) and a bribe of some £10000 to secure his post at Surat. Wazir Khan, a noble at Shahjahan's court, took huge bribes sometimes as much as Rs 30,000 a day. Itmad-ud-Daula, the father of Empress Nurjahan, was notorious for taking bribes and resorting to corrupt practices. Daulat Khan, entitled Nazur-ud-daula, the head eunuch in Akbar's time, had no equal in taking bribes. The state appropriated 10 crores of ashrafis and jewels worth Rs 3 crore after he died.

Further back in time, the code of Hammurabi (the first code of laws created over 4,000 years ago) mandated that a man, who gave false witness against another, would receive the punishment of the case. One Egyptian Pharaoh declared that a bribe received in a performance of duties by a Priest or official was subject to the death penalty. Harsh penalties were meted out for corruption in ancient times.

As a matter of fact corruption is as old and original as the human soul. From time to time, it not only came in primary colors, but also in many shades and nuances. If the student, who copies in the examination, pays the teacher to look the other way and his parents give him money for it, corruption comes in many strokes. If the police officer who pays to get his posting and then takes bribe to buy gifts and property for his mother, wife and children, corruption is spread out over many people at many levels.

Thus, corruption, like any other industry, has its forward and backward linkages. The politicians spend money to win elections and then take bribes to recover that spending in manifolds. Corruption needs its own constituency, people who support the system, the victims and the beneficiaries, the supply and the demand chains, which make it happen and keep it going. Corruption also needs its audience, people who would enjoy and applaud the private gains made by someone through misuse of power entrusted in him.

That is where condoning comes into the picture as a necessary conclusion. If you build a house with ill-gotten money, which nobody wants to visit; if you raise your children with illicit wealth whom nobody befriends; and if you amass illegitimate fortune that doesn't buy you any respect, why would you do it? Condoning comes when corruption reaches an equilibrium with the conscience of man, creating the moral equinox where to be or not to be is no longer the question.

Hence, condoning is corruption done in reverse. In other words, if corruption is violation of honesty, condoning is the honesty of violation. In other words, if corruption is misuse of entrusted power, condoning is power entrusted in that misuse. The motivation for corruption is always there, but condoning affects its modulation. Condoning loosens up the moral constipation of corruption, and creates the confusion that clouds the soul.

If you look at it, corruption is more than a moral problem. It is rather the mother of all problems. It destroys the gravitational force of judgement that holds all things in balance. It messes up characters of men and women and then creates the ecology of aggressive decadence. Democracy assumes that every citizen has an equal say, regardless of social, political, or economic status. But corruption, in effect, undermines that political precept by giving money more access to the political system.

Shortly before his death, Abraham Lincoln stated that "An era of corruption in high places will follow and the money power will endeavor to prolong its reign ... until wealth is aggregated in a few hands ... and the republic is destroyed." Dick Grasso, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, who never graduated from college, has recently created a great deal of controversy in that republic over his $140 million compensation package. The question many people asked: how was this man going to have a higher moral level than those who were regulated by him?

Give a spin to that question, it will put you in perspective. You cannot stop corruption, unless first you have stopped condoning, for the same reason a cheering crowd rushes a performer's adrenaline. If you look at the reality, money has taken over the voice of people, and people have taken over the voice of money. How can a society have higher moral standard than those who control it?

So, if corruption is a crisis, condoning turns it into a culture. If corruption is the candidate, condoning is the campaign for it. If corruption is a function, condoning turns it into a faith. In the end, condoning becomes the air in which corruption breathes. Look around if you must verify the truth. Corruption and condoning are close cousins.

For two years in a row, Transparency International has rated Bangladesh as the most corrupt country in the world. If you ask me, it's not only because we have the highest level of corruption in the world, but because we also have the highest level of condoning. We misuse entrusted power and we entrust power in that misuse, turning selective abuse into a collective passion, which becomes pervasive.

Nothing exceeds like excess and nothing corrupts like corruption. But condoning corrupts even more, because it amplifies the effect. But then it also multiplies corruption and stokes its appetite. Corruption deviates from misuse of entrusted power, looking for other options. If people are being kidnapped for ransom today, it's because corruption has opened new frontiers. It's the power of corruption, which has begun to misuse our trust in family, friends, neighbors and countrymen.

Corruption is a close call on corruption, which has started to make house calls.

Mohammad Badrul Ahsan is a banker.