EDITORIAL: Corruption comes in small packages too

Like dynamite, corruption comes in small packages these days. The crooked among us have discovered increasingly cunning ways to steal after decades of successful prosecutions, asset forfeitures and imprisonments — or even the death penalty in countries like China. ‘Quiet corruption’ usually involves modest amounts of money, or large amounts acquired through means camouflaged with spins of legitimacy. That level of corruption doesn’t make for screaming newspaper headlines like Fishrot. But accumulatively, the cost of such theft could beat the N$315 million scandal – thus making it more dangerous than the old-fashioned, conversional form. If politicians make up trips so that they may lay their filthy hands on travel allowance, that too is corruption. Silent corruption because, on the face of it, it ticks all the administrative boxes - but deep down, it’s draped in filthy linen. It is very pedestrian, for example, to assume that just because a minister has gotten permission from the president to travel, the trip is beyond reproach. The entire trip turns into a corrupt endeavour if the primary motivation is to stay in cozy Davos hotels rather than attend and actively participate in seminars that cost government money. It is thus important for institutions such as the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to acclimatise to the new rules of the corruption game and closely observe every kick of the ball. Everything in life evolves, corruption included.