Corruption is like a cancer that eats away at peoples’ values, and undermines a functioning society.
Corruption takes place when people in public office or business misuse their authority for their own gain.
It deprives democracies of their legitimacy, undermines society’s faith in their leadership and political institutions, leads to wanton abuse of the environment – and then there is the enormous wealth it loots, often from those whose lives depend on it most.
Due to its very nature, the scale of corruption is impossible to quantify with precision. But these facts and figures, drawn from a variety of sources, show just how far- reaching it is.
The global bill
$1 trillion The estimated amount spent each year on bribes – including bribes paid by firms and ordinary individuals (World Bank).
It is also the estimated amount of ‘dirty money’ (that is, money derived from criminal or corrupt activities, or tax avoidance) stashed in offshore tax havens (Raymond Baker, Capitalism’s Achilles Heel: Dirty Money and How to Renew the Free Market System, John Wiley and Sons, New Jersey, 2005).
In developing countries
$148 billion The amount corruption costs African countries each year, or 25% of their national income (Africa Union).
2.4% The percentage of health service workers in Honduras considered ‘ghosts’ – that is, they are on the payroll but don’t exist and someone else collects the salary (World Bank).
5-10% The percentage of the Cambodian health budget that goes astray in transit between Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Healt. (Transparency International).
50% The estimated proportion of allocated funds that do not reach clinics and hospitals in Ghana (Transparency International).
$15-35 billion The total plundered by General Suharto during his 30 years as military leader of Indonesia. He was never tried (Transparency International).
$600 million The amount former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori is alleged to have left the country with in 2000. He remains wanted in Peru on charges of corruption and human rights abuses (Transparency International).
$4.3 billion The sum estimated to have been stolen by Sani Abacha when dictator of Nigeria. This included $2.3bn from the national treasury and $1bn from foreign contractors (Christian Aid partner, the Tax Justice Network).
38 The number of suitcases of cash Abacha’s widow was found trying to remove from Nigeria after Abacha’s death (BBC).
$5 billion The amount recovered by Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in the last two years. They have also convicted 82 people (BBC).
In developed countries
$250 billion Estimated amount laundered from developed and transitional economies lodged in US banks each year (Raymond Baker).
It is estimated that the total value of bribes paid in Russia is 2.5 times the whole national state budget (BBC).
22 The number of people killed in explosion at firework company in the Netherlands in 2000. Subsequent investigations uncovered bribes that were paid to government regulators to not report lax safety at factory (Transparency International).
£1.6 billion The value of property, including farmland, art and cash, seized in anti-corruption crackdown involving town council officials in Marbella in June 2006 (BBC).
It takes two…
$50 billion Approximate amount of corrupt money deposited each year into western bank accounts and tax havens (Raymond Baker).
$500 billion The estimated amount of untaxed money that leaves developing countries unrecorded each year – 10 times what these countries receive in aid (Raymond Baker).
3,500 Number of domestic and foreign subsidiaries and affiliates created by US energy giant Enron to avoid paying tax (Evidence from US Senate investigations).
$1 billion The estimated amount looted from Nigeria by ex-President Sani Abacha that is still in the UK. The Swiss have paid back most of Abacha’s money they held (BBC).