Corrupt politicians are found in the West and rich countries too

By Neville de Silva

It is one of those myths usually propagated by western governments and western media that rampant corruption among politicians in the developing countries is what makes good governance impossible.

While it is true that there is widespread corruption in many developing countries and this has stood in the way of clean government, it is not the only reason governance has proved difficult in the developing world. Nor is bribery and corruption the monopoly of the poor countries as western critics try to make out.

Survey the international scene over the years from the US, UK and continental Europe to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan and what does one see but the corruption scandals in which politicians, business figures, lobbyists, and relatives and friends of prominent personalities have been mired.

To listen to western leaders sprouting their regular homilies one would think that here were lily-white politicians, incorruptible and incapable of initiating corruption themselves.

But what has been happening in recent times in this part of Europe is proof enough that corruption and bribery are not the exclusive preserve of politicians from the developing world including our very own Sri Lanka, who come to power promising the moon and the stars and then start robbing the earth of its resources and more and corrupting those below them.

Earlier this month Tony Blair became the first serving British prime minister to be interviewed by the police conducting a criminal investigation. Admittedly Blair was not questioned under caution which means that at the moment there is no possibility of charges being preferred against him.

This does not mean of course that if further investigations necessity that he be interviewed under caution with the possibility of charges hanging over him, it would not be done. Whatever might be said of British administration in general, such independence of action could hardly be expected from police forces or other officials in the vast majority of developing countries, especially if it involves investigations against the president or prime minister or their cabinet colleagues.

Whatever criticisms might be levelled at most western democracies, at least some of their institutions still function with the independence and impartiality that one has come to expect of them.

In our countries even if there are police officers and bureaucrats who still feel the urge to act impartiality they are reticent to do so because of the consequences that often flow from such actions.

In Sri Lanka if a police officer dare question a senior government politician or any of his cronies, the poor man will probably end up in Jaffna the next day, transferred to the nether regions.

As though prime minister Blair does not have enough troubles of his own in the twilight of his leadership, he and close associates are being investigated over what has come to be known as the cash- for- honours scandal where the Labour Party has received donations from some rich individuals apparently in exchange for peerages that would make each one of them a lord.

Laws dating back many decades and even a more recent one introduced by the Blair government itself, have made donations to party funds in exchange for honours a criminal offence.

Now Blair's chief fund raiser Lord Levy and his chief of staff at the prime minister's office Jonathan Powell seem to be at the centre of this investigation. Lord Levy has already been cautioned and Powell is expected to be cautioned when he is interviewed next month.

While this was happening in Britain, across the waters the Irish Republic is also knee deep in a corruption scandal that involved a former prime minister and has rather tainted the current one Bertie Ahern too. Only last September Ahern had to go on national television to apologise for not disclosing cash donations received by him from friends at the time of his divorce.

Some of our politicians receive cash donations for various reasons, if the stories that are circulating in Colombo are true, but imagine any of them going on Rupavahini or any of the other TV channels that operate in the country to say sorry for all the 'gifts' that they receive. The Irish prime minister is said to have, as a regular practice, signed blank cheques which were later used by Charlie Haughey for his own benefit.

Our leaders seem to be signing what amount to blank cheques almost everyday.

The public purse is being raided regularly by politicians and their cronies for this, that and the other not to mention the billions of rupees reported to be committed for budget airlines without official approval.

But hardly a murmur escapes the lips of some of those sanctimonious humbugs that parade as statesmen and saviours of the nation and those dubious characters escape the penalties that should really be imposed on them. If legend is sometimes genuine history then these rascals that rob the public purse would have been tied between two arecanut trees and torn in half as in the days of the Sinhala kings.

Unfortunately such justice is not possible now not just because these are enlightened times but also there aren't enough trees for such summary justice. Our trees have probably been felled by politicians and their henchmen and already sold for personal gain as has happened even in our precious rain forests.

In Sri Lanka investigations into political shenanigans close even before they have begun.

In Ireland the relentless pursuit of truth took an official tribunal nine years to establish that the long-serving leader of the country's Fianna Fail party, Charlie Haughey, who died earlier this year aged 80 'misappropriated' funds raised for the liver transplant of a ministerial colleague, sold passports to an Arab sheik and had collected up to £7.3 million in surreptitious payments from rich businessmen.

The inquiry that went to the highest levels of the Irish government declared that Mr Haughey, who was first elected prime minister of the Irish Republic in 1979, had 'devalued the quality of modern democracy.'

The tribunal, chaired by Belfast-born Mr Justice Michael Moriarty said in its report released last week: "Apart from the secretive nature of payments from senior members of the business community, their very incidence and scale, particularly during the difficult economic times nationally, and when governments led by Mr Haughey were championing austerity, can only be said to have devalued the quality of modern democracy."

How well those words would fit our own situation where politicians allegedly involved with visa scandals and even more serious 'doings' while preaching prudence and patience to the public, seem to escape justice and due punishment.

Democracy is being devalued day by day by the unexplained use of public funds without the approval of the relevant authorities and yet there is no accountability and no punitive action follows those who flout the norms of civilised political conduct.

Parliament itself has been debased to the extent that the public hardly takes it seriously. Where it was once a chamber of serious debate and the public and students were informed and educated today it has been turned into a vaudeville act.

It is the Tower Hall of tasteless comedy where members even remove their shirts to display their ageing torsos though it was some wonder to behold.

The fact that corrupt politicians are found in the west and rich countries is no excuse why those in our midst should be tolerated or retained in positions of power so that they could continue to ruin the country and amass wealth for themselves and their cronies.