"[url=http://michaelyon-online.com/wp/men-of-valor-part-viii-of-viii.htm wrote:

Michael Yon[/url]"]Iraqi border guards take “tolls” from the drivers. From one shipment, Iraqi guards unloaded some Persian rugs. From another they took tile. In some cases the border guards siphon fuel out of the trucks as “tax.” British Captain “Bertie” Basset saw guards take off a mess of fish, leave them in the sun all day with flies buzzing and dogs sniffing about, then depart with the fish at close of business. Standing on the border, CPT Basset told me that this causes a delicate situation. Obviously the British don’t want Iraqi and Iranian drivers thinking the British are aiding border guards in unofficial “border taxes.”

Context is crucial when talking about corruption, whether on a large or small scale. Most of the world’s countries that I have been are openly corrupt. I lived in Poland for about two years and got an eye full. I’ve seen plenty of corruption in Nepal, India and Romania. Thailand is very corrupt and yet booming along. During a break from Iraq, I was in Indonesia in 2007, when police stopped my driver (and others) and took money. My driver just grinned sheepishly and handed it over, like paying a toll on I-75 in Florida. It’s so easy to focus on the corruption in Iraq as if the sky is falling, but countries where corruption is low are islands in a sea of corruption.

Corruption is like arthritis. Not itself a fatal disease, it grinds at the body and slows it down. Corruption makes a country hold itself in contempt. Contempt for having it, for not standing up to it, for casting one’s eyes down to the floor while handing over the change instead of saying NO. Corruption is the absence of justice. Certain types of corruption depend on intimidation and the willingness to be intimidated, and diminish the stature of the nation that allows it to occur. Institutionalized corruption diminishes that nation in the eyes of its own citizens, and in the eyes of the world. Yet it is the job of the Iraqis to stop the corruption. Coalition civilians are assisting with training, technical assistance and capacity building, but the job of the Coalition military at the border is to attempt to interdict lethal aid. The best ameliorate to corruption is a truly free press. Without free press, forget it.

I don't really come across corruption, which I suppose is distinct from many crimes in that it involves either a degree of collaboration or an indecent element to routine business. The dictionary calls it "misuse of trust for dishonest gain" or "inducement by improper means" which both sound about right.

If I put my mind to it I can think of some instances: a nightclub owner who had some sort of relationship with the dealers in the club (I know because the promoter had put me in charge of keeping it drug-free and it got messy); a drug dealer who used counterfeit notes for premium Champagnes and the like, and would of course receive legal tender change; someone I didn't recognise, but who obviously knew me, who once offered me a large sum of money but wouldn't say what for or where from unless I accepted (I didn't accept - in retrospect I think it was an attempt at setting me up for a fall); and an employer who came onto me, which I consider a very minor abuse of trust especially since it was quite subtle and without pressure (and if she'd been attractive, maybe...). But those are few and far between and perhaps before the internet took off I lived a colourful life.

I guess where there's a concentration of money and power the corruption is likely to be more rampant, such as tax fraud and abuses of authority. We sometimes read about that sort of crime in the papers, which rather supports Yon's point.

There's another sort of corruption, which is institutional rule-bending. Public bodies and company departments do it, say by spending their budget frivolously before April so as to get a complete top-up, or by inflating personal expenses, and some traffic wardens do it too, ticketing cars and having them towed prematurely.

But by-and-large I've never found myself surrounded or frequently confronted by corruption.

What examples have you come across?