Five regional governors, four deputy ministers, two heads of a government agency, the deputy head of the presidential administration, the deputy attorney general, five regional prosecutors… in the midst of the war, the ousting of important officials Ukrainian politicians and soldiers accused of corruption shocks. Yet these group dismissals and resignations are good news. If the judicial system of this country remains a weak link, despite the war and the state of emergency, an independent press can act. The country continues to fight on this other front.
Corruption, as old as the world
In rich countries, ordinary men and women do not experience “petty corruption”, the kind one encounters in their daily lives, on the occasion of a roadside check, a job search or an administrative formality. It is more of an elite sport, a delinquency of upscale neighborhoods. ‘Grand corruption’ is nowhere being eradicated, as recent arrest showed of a Vice-President of the European Parliament, the Greek socialist Eva Kaïli. And this is only the tip of the iceberg, as lobbyists have officially set up shop in the European Parliament, practically without control.
Nothing new under the sun, you might say. Lured by the lure of gain, the sons of Samuel, the Bible tells us, accepted bribes and violated justice. One of the oldest publicized corruption trials is that of Governor Verres, against a defender of the people named Cicero, in 70 BC. But for being old, and even ancient, these precedents are nonetheless worrying.
In The Decline of Rome and the Corruption of Powerthe American historian Ramsay MacMullen, of Yale University, showed how the “auction” state functions and “privatization of government” undermined Rome from within. They precipitated the decadence of the Empire, even if they are not the sole cause.
As for the Catholic Church, she tried for a thousand years to fight against the crime of simony, that is to say the fact of selling sacraments or ecclesiastical offices, a demonic activity in which cardinals in several conclaves.
The troubled role of states
But corruption is not only a question of people, it is becoming one of the keys to relations between States. In the scandal of the Europaparliament, Qatar and Morocco are singled out. Turkey, Azerbaijan… the list of fake friends whose wallets are overflowing with generosity is never closed. What is new is not that a few deputies drag their hands in the oil well and the briefcase, nor that foreign powers exploit the taste for lucre to obtain information or influence. Again, the phenomenon is not new. As early as 1938, the United States adopted a law to counter Nazi underground propaganda. The new fact is that the corruption of elites is now considered a quasi-military means.
Russia and China, in particular, are suspected of leveraging their culture of corruption to export it on a large scale, using it for a dual purpose. First, build a global network of influence made up of obedient oligarchs and obligated countries, particularly in Africa. Second, to undermine democracies from within, for example by targeting Canadian banks, British real estate, American lobbying firms or, more directly, political personnel and institutions.
The favorite weapon of authoritarian regimes
The theme has therefore broadened considerably. From a “simple” subject of society, we move on to geopolitical and military issues. The phenomenon becomes so threatening that the concept of “strategic corruption”. Alongside conventional weapons, as we know, many States use a whole panoply of shady means, cyberattacks, fake news and other sabotage. “Weaponized corruption”, we say in English: corruption as a weapon of war is now added.
As noted by American researchers in an article by Foreign Affairs, in 2020, strategic corruption lies at the heart of the gray war. The Chinese campaign against Australia, from the early 2000s until the adoption of a transparency law in 2018, is a textbook case. We also see that it is an asymmetrical combat instrument. Because on the one hand, democracies cannot afford to use it to retaliate, at least probably not on the same scale and always with the risk of scandalizing their own internal public opinion in the event of leaks. And on the other hand, authoritarian regimes have a lot of culture, few risks and vast resources.
Last but not least, the authoritarian regimes enemies of the West expect powerful leverage effects. If their corrupting efforts remain hidden, they hope to obtain favorable political decisions, even electoral successes. If they are pierced up to date, it is almost even better, so much does the poison of disgust undermine democracy. Heads I win, tails you lose.