CORRUPTION IS CORROSIVE AND CONTAGIOUS

by Dr Upatissa Pethiyagoda

Corruption is the ultimate criminality. It is also a contagion that spreads both vertically and horizontally. It is clearly eating the heart and vitals of our Nation.

Corruption is indisputably a dominant reason for our plight. A lot of sanctimonious scoundrels have promised, with monotonous frequency, to “eradicate” this rampant evil. Each event that unfolds in the all-pervasive political arena, serves to increase the public’s revulsion towards politics and its practitioners.

For instance, everything that emanates from the Diyawanna sewer, increases the penetration of this diabolical menace;. In our early life, parents and schools drilled in developing minds, a compulsion to adhere to the most strict rejection of lying and deception. No more. The indelible example is of this is that in developed countries, the newsagent leaves a pile of news papers on the sidewalk in front of the shop, with a little label indicating the price of each. A customer would pick his choice and leave the relevant price in the tray. Seldom, we were told was there a risk of a cheat betraying this trust. This kind of simple event, makes me an unashamed and admitted “Anglophile” or “Europhile”

It appalls me to witness how casually people who should know better are chronically dishonest, and do not deserve the genteel “economical with the truth”. They should, in our lexicon be qualified as liars.

A distressing fact is that the closer one gets to the top rung of the social ladder, the higher the intensity of fraud. In consequence there was one of our Heads of State who was described as “a compulsive liar ” How then can one address such a person as “Honourable”? I am therefore inclined to be careful to restrict this to them who genuinely qualify. A colleague goes even better – when one such stands up to speak, he just walks out. May seem trivial, but symbolically powerful.

Financial impropriety is not all, but an important factor under the general rubric of “corruption”. Why does our government fight shy of using the readily available listings of the “wealthy” on the Internet? Panama Papers, Pandora’s Box. The information is shocking. Several are not cheats, but many others clearly are.

When a guy with no substantial means of becoming rich, having neither talent nor worth, turns up with stashes of millions of dollars, be called to account? Is it a question of “He who is without guilt, may cast the first stone?”. No stones, no guilt. More likely it is a case of “You scratch my back, and I will scratch yours”. Lots of back-scratching is evident.

The most distressing feature is the lateral and vertical spread of financial corruption. Some seem to display remarkable ingenuity of changing crises to bonanzas. Nothing seems beyond their reach. Nothing is protected from the clutches of these vultures. If a quarter of that “talent” is employed towards the public good, Sri Lanka can become a bright country like often mentioned Singapore.

The “horizontal spread” is one where the dishonest in one Institution (say Department”), spawns the practice in another. The vertical spread is within such a body, where subordinates are inspired to feel “If it is good for my boss, how can it be bad for me”?

To take a simple scenario. Say, someone is flicking his petrol coupons or fudging his traveling claim, a whole chain of persons participate in continuing the chain, down to the officer who writes the cheque.This spreads of the contagion of corruption, corrodes and fouls all. Take the case of stashes of the products of dishonesty, so readily accessible on the Internet. Why is there no obvious follow-up action? Is it not strange that these products of crime are not extracted, and used to meet our nation’s commitments. How so? It seems as though we are displaying the caution of one who is walking on eggs.

Everyone would know about the (James) Bond Scam. There are strong suspicions, but again an inexplicable delicacy and neglect of follow-up. In relation to hoards in banks and safe havens abroad, why have not these clearly corrupt treasure troves (Nidahan) been captured and restored to their rightful owners – the Sri Lankan people. If such monies are diverted towards meeting our foreign borrowing obligations, our burden might be substantially reduced. This would be morally and ethically proper. The usual excuse of “the law does not provide” is a feeble and unacceptable excuse.

I believe that the famous “Numbers only” accounts in Swiss Banks etc. have been made more transparent. This is action (endorsed by the UN ?) that permitted the gold snatched from the Jews, and national wealth that has been robbed by persons like the Marcos (Phillipines) and the Suhartos (Indonesia) and be restored to the rightful owners – the people.

One understands that such remedial measures, require the aggrieved nations to institute legal action within their own jurisdictions. In our case, there are several cases of astronomical amounts held by persons who have engaged solely in “politics”, with no inherited wealth or activities to generate some massive amounts. If a dozen or so of such delinquents are thrown into jail, our nation would not require future “Aragalayas”.