the.com/corruption
the art of turning public trust into private yachts, one signature at a time
means the dishonest or fraudulent conduct of those in power, who abuse their positions for personal gain, or more broadly the decay of something once sound into something rotten.
from From Latin corruptus, the past participle of corrumpere, "to destroy, spoil, or break utterly" — built from the intensifying prefix com- plus rumpere, "to break" (the same root that gives us rupture and erupt). So at its core, corruption is something thoroughly broken — a thing shattered from the inside. The word arrived in English through Old French in the medieval period, first describing literal rot and decay (spoiled food, festering wounds) before it spread to the moral rot of bribed officials and bought consciences.
- global cost
- Drains over 2.6 trillion dollars yearly worldwide
- word origin
- From Latin corrumpere, meaning to break utterly
- oldest record
- Ancient Egyptians documented bribery in 3000 BC papyri
- hidden tax
- Bribes inflate project costs by up to 25 percent
- perception index
- Two-thirds of countries score below 50 of 100
odebrecht scandal — brazilian construction company paid $784 million in bribes across 12 countries, 2016 exposure
panama papers — 11.5 million leaked documents from 2016 revealing offshore accounts and money laundering by world leaders
enron scandal — american energy company's $11 billion accounting fraud collapsed in 2001, largest corporate bankruptcy at the time