Prostitution, it is said, is the oldest profession. Could be. But corruption is probably an even older human activity. Austrian writer Karl Kraus rightly considers corruption worse than prostitution, as while the latter might endanger the morals of an individual, the former invariably endangers the morals of an entire country.
Corruption is also worse than prostitution because it gnaws at the heart and soul of the moral fibre of society. It erodes trust in individuals in authority as well as in national institutions while at the same time it disempowers honest citizens.
During a homily delivered in June 2014, Pope Francis had said that the poor are the ones who end up paying for the damage wrought by the corruption of the powerful, whose avidity leaves the poor without the essential things to which they have a right. He gave three concrete examples: hospitals go without medicine, patients do not receive care and children are left without an education.
“They are the modern Naboths [a reference to the Biblical character who was framed and killed so that the king would take over his vineyards], who pay the price for the corruption of the haughty.”
In some countries it kills. In the early 1980s a Maltese accountant was brutally killed, cut into pieces and buried in a well probably because he knew too much about the corruption of Maltese people in authority. Other less dramatic cases surely exist though perhaps not publicly documented.
But lack of trust in our main institutions is well documented. The Corruption Perception Index published at the end of 2014 (the base year would be 2013) by Transparency International showed that results for that year showed a marginally higher perception of corruption than in the previous two years and considerably higher than it was in, for example, in 2004.
Examples of real or perceived corruption by people in authority there are aplenty. The political class has always been the main target of myriad accusations and allegations, though juridical convictions are hard to come by. This flies in the face of popular conviction that corruption is rampant.
Corruption is present in other public spheres. A number of members of the judiciary have disgraced the Bench by their action; and I am not referring only to those who were found guilty and sent to prison. Archbishop Joseph Mercieca had warned against corruption in Mepa years ago. “A forest is burnt by its own trees,” he had said; and I know of no one who does not share the same opinion.
Now it is the turn of the Police Corps, whose motto is aptly enough ‘Lord guide us’. The stories revealed recently have justifiably shocked the nation. It transpired that highly placed policemen – some still in the force or in positions of trust – had entered into business partnerships with shady characters. Action taken so far is miserably inadequate.
But behind most cases of corrupt politicians, judges, Mepa people or policemen there are always corrupt businessmen. It is a deadly web. The mega-scandal of Mater Dei’s defective concrete is just one case of undoubtedly several others where contractors cut corners on concrete strength, and only God knows what else, to rake in more money. One hopes that this scandal will not net the same result as the oil procurement scandal has so far.
The corrupt will always be with us
The latter played a key role in the electoral campaign but almost fizzled out after the election. No further arrests have been made since then. The people rightly demand that ‘scandals’ are not used as political football only to be forgotten after the political goals are scored. It is also corrupt to keep scandals up one’s sleeve, revealing them selectively when politically convenient. The public expects that the perpetrators are made to pay dearly for their actions.
While hardly anyone equates good ethical behaviour with many in the business community it is a pity that the relevant faculty at our University had decided that the course about business ethics would no longer be compulsory for students studying business and management. We need more, not less ethical businessmen and managers.
There have also been at least two cases of mass corruption. In 2007, 500 people corrupted Malta Maritime Authority officials to be awarded a maritime licence without having to go through the trouble of sitting for a course. All 500 were charged and most were convicted and sentenced to a one year jail term suspended for two years, thus sending a strong signal against corruption.
This is not what happened last year when massive fraud was discovered at Enemalta. Corrupt employees colluded with corrupt individuals to fiddle with electricity meters so that consumption is not registered. The perpetrators were offered an amnesty in the form of a fine. According to press reports, most of those who preferred not to benefit from the amnesty have not even been taken to court, thus conveying the message that corruption pays.
In the past couple of years the country has been inundated by one stinking story after another. The Café Premier and Gaffarena sagas are just two scandals out of a long list that hopefully will not get even longer. Some people in authority or close to them give us the impression that they are similar to people running amok at a luxurious buffet after they have been starved for weeks. Some people never get satiated.
Looking at some of the people that certain ministers have surrounded themselves with gives one the shivers. It proves how right George Bernard Shaw was when he wrote that “Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.”
The corrupt will always be with us. Corruption can be effectively controlled only if honest people – and most are – in politics and business unite to fight against it, and if society in general realises the truth of the Pope’s words last March in Scampia, a poor district of Naples:
“Corruption is a dirty thing! If we find a dead animal [it] is corrupted. It is ugly. But it also stinks, corruption stinks! A corrupt society stinks! Christians who allow corruption to enter are not Christians, they stink! Got It?”
joseph.borg@um.edu.mt