Major Corruption Scandals Research Articles

The Role of White-Collar Crime Jurisprudence in Combating Corrupt Practices within Pakistan: A Contemplative Analysis

This research investigates the application of white-collar crime jurisprudence in eradicating corruption in Pakistan. The objectives include analyzing the background and development of white-collar crime jurisprudence, exploring the applicability of existing anti-white-collar crime measures, reviewing the performance of the legal body responsible for combating white-collar crimes, examining the impact of military and fundamentalist interference, and suggesting measures to reinforce Pakistan's legal frameworks. The qualitative research method uses literature review, case analysis, and comparison, examining major legal transformations and case decisions. Field studies on major corruption scandals, such as the Panama Papers Scandal and Different Cases of NAB, assess the efficiency of the legal mechanism and enforcement bodies. The influence of the military and fundamentalists is considered based on evaluation cases where legal processes were interfered with. Recommendations are prepared based on the experience of other countries, international norms, and views of professional experts. The study concludes that political civil and military exigencies, fundamentalist perceptions, and political pressure have profoundly influenced the evolution of white-collar crime jurisprudence in Pakistan. Proposals for strengthening the legal base and state authority include stimulating the judicial branch's independence, carrying out deep legal and institutional changes, advocating for the openness and accountability of power, and developing cooperation with other nations.

Decoding corruption in Brazilian construction multinationals

PurposeThis study aims to investigate whether firms involved in a major corruption scandal, with broad ramifications across several emerging and advanced markets, design the content of their corporate codes of conduct to either improve corporate ethical standards and practices or merely manipulate the impression of stakeholders.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts an impression management perspective. It uses content analysis techniques to examine the codes of conduct adopted by seven Brazilian engineering and construction multinationals accused of corruption. The analysis covered five major themes: (1) forms of corruption, (2) values or principles, (3) interested parties, (4) procedures and routines and (5) punitive action.FindingsThe study provides detailed evidence that the codes of conduct adopted by these firms are mere artifices that aimed at meeting legal requirements but do not target the relevant corporate audience involved in grand corruption. At best, such a code may impede petty and bureaucratic corruption.Originality/valueThis research contributes to improving the understanding of how Latin American multinationals adopted codes of conduct after a major scandal and how they failed—at least to some extent—to design codes complying with established corporate governance principles. It shows that management manipulated the impression of stakeholders by selectively adopting or omitting certain terms, examining or concealing various issues and addressing mainly petty crimes rather than grand corruption. It also identifies areas where Western ethical values conflict with established practices and cultural norms in Latin America.

La elección de 2017 y el fraccionamiento del sistema de partidos en Chile

El propósito de este artículo es reportar los resultados de la elección presidencial y legislativa de Chile en 2017 y explorar su efecto sobre el sistema de partidos. Relata el contexto, y sugiere que hubo tres temas recurrentes que definieron tanto la nominación de los candidatos como el tono de la campaña: una importante polarización política, dos grandes escándalos de corrupción y el debut de un nuevo sistema electoral. Presenta a los candidatos presidenciales y sus principales bases de apoyo. Describe los puntos medulares de la elección y las principales estrategias electorales. Repasa los resultados de la elección, los analiza y los interpreta. Destaca el inédito fraccionamiento en el sistema de partidos provocado por el contexto político e institucional de los últimos años. Sugiere que a partir de 2018 el sistema de partidos está en uno de sus niveles más fragmentados de su historia. Especula que hacia delante los próximos gobiernos serán más flexibles que los anteriores y buscarán pasar legislación sobre la base de negociaciones y pactos multilaterales.

Responding to a corruption crisis through disclosure and remedial action: The case of Petrobras

This case study adopts a positivist perspective to examine how Petroleo Brasileiro S.A (“Petrobras”), a high-profile company in its native Brazil with multiple listings including in Brazil and the US, responded to a major corruption scandal arising in 2014. We consider Petrobras's response both in terms of its visible activities – i.e. in relation to anti-corruption and compliance (“ACC”) disclosures in its annual report (AR) and sustainability report (SR), as well as actioned remedial policies that constitute the crisis plan – and how the company went about interacting with stakeholders during and after the immediate crisis period. We conducted a content analysis of ACC disclosures and assessed Petrobras's remedial activities in the eight-year period 2010–2017 as disclosed in its ARs, SRs and press releases. We find firstly that, consistent with legitimacy theory, Petrobras responded by voluntarily and substantially increasing its relevant disclosures so as to regain legitimacy, a finding which mirrors those found elsewhere following corruption and environmental crises. Secondly, the unique corporate governance situation at Petrobras combined with the fact that leadership was allegedly implicated in the scandal, led the post-crisis management team to undertake a series of remedial actions that prioritised the need to take and maintain executive control and independence from the government, whilst at the same time carefully managing the relationship with this influential stakeholder: - actions which argue strongly in favour of stakeholder-agency theory and multiple agency theory interpretations of the nature of stakeholder interactions that transpired during the crisis period of disequilibrium, and which precluded the type of stakeholder dialogue seen in some previous environmental crisis situations. Finally, we show that Petrobras's crisis management response actions align well with models of trust repair and legitimacy management, and suggest the company considered it had successfully regained legitimacy by 2017.

Do women face a different standard? The interplay of gender and corruption in the 2014 presidential elections in Malawi

Incumbency advantage and corruption are persistent features of Malawi politics, yet the incumbent Joyce Banda lost the 2014 elections. Drawing on national public opinion surveys and focus groups, we explore why incumbency advantage did not accrue to Banda. We argue that faced with a major corruption scandal, “Cashgate,” Banda paid a heavier price than male incumbents facing corruption scandals before and after her. Her electoral fate is consistent with studies demonstrating that women holding political offices are scrutinized more heavily than men, and when they transgress female gender stereotypes of incorruptibility, they are judged using a higher standard.

When red tape saves time: The Anti-corruption controls for the 2015 Universal Exposition

When a major corruption scandal emerged during the organisation of the 2015 Universal Exposition in Milan, the government set up a brand-new system of preliminary controls for the procurement of all Expo contracts. Controls can certainly be beneficial in many respects, but they inevitably complicate procedures and even produce delays and red tape. Indeed, for a time-pressed schedule as that of the 2015 Expo, preliminary controls were considered a fatal blow. Contrary to expectations, not only bureaucratic delays did not materialise, but controls actually sped up procedures. Therefore, it is worth explaining and learning from this unique outcome. Can it be replicated in other cases? We answer this question by building a model of controls based on programme and non-programme features that support three causal mechanisms: threat attribution, repeated interactions, and actor certification. Such a model is an indispensable tool for designers; it allows to explain how controls work in practice and provide clues on how to adjust the design of the policy to changing contexts. In this respect, the analysis of the Expo controls and their subsequent replications raises several methodological issues relevant to extrapolation-oriented research.

The Economic Impact of a Major Corruption Scandal in China: The Case of Heilongjiang

In this paper, we exploit a unique event in the Chinese province of Heilongjiang. Seven high level officials were prosecuted for corruption as an unexpected consequence of an ordinary investigation in 2004. This event exposed a significant amount of corruption and resulted in a substantial anti-corruption initiative within the Heilongjiang province. We use the Synthetic Control Method (SCM) to investigate how this exposition influenced subsequent economic activity. We find that, following the 2004 scandal, GDP per-capita, investment, consumption, and net exports decreased relative to the counterfactual. Government spending, however, increased suggesting that the government may have been attempting to compensate for the negative economic fallout. While our results are only weakly significant, the persistent lack of subsequent economic growth following this massive anti-corruption initiative is an important finding.

Corruption and complexity: a scientific framework for the analysis of corruption networks

According to United Nations, corruption is a systemic and adaptive phenomenon that requires comprehensive and multidisciplinary approaches for its effective prevention and combat. However, traditional approaches lack the analytical tools to handle the structural and dynamical aspects that characterize modern social, political and technological systems where corruption takes place. On this matter, complex systems science has emerged as a comprehensive framework to study highly adaptive phenomena from natural to socio-technical settings. Thus, in this article we present an empirical approach to model corruption using the concepts and tools of complexity science, mainly, complex networks science. Under this framework, we describe a major corruption scandal that took place in Mexico involving a network of hundreds of shell companies used to embezzle billions of dollars. We describe the structure and dynamics of this corporate network using available information related to their personnel and the date of the companies’ creation. We measured some global parameters, such as density, diameter, average path length, and average degree in order to provide systematic evidence on which corporate characteristics are likely to signal corruption. Moreover, this analysis also provides an objective perspective of the systemic nature of events where companies are abused for corrupt purposes, and the shortcomings of reductionistic analyses. Major corruption scandals comprise both legal and illegal deeds, in addition to several parties acting simultaneously over extended time periods. As a whole, such scandals pose enormous challenges for the study of law and put the legal design of administrative and criminal controls to the test.

Do Women Face a Different Standard? The Gender and Corruption Factors in the 2014 Presidential Elections in Malawi

Incumbency advantage is a key characteristic of African politics. Since the reintroduction of multiparty elections in 1994, corruption has been a persistent feature of the various administrations in Malawi. From this perspective, the incumbent president Joyce Banda of the People’s Party’s (PP) loss of the presidency after two years in office is a puzzling outcome of the 2014 elections. The paper explores why the incumbency advantage did not accrue to Banda, drawing from national public opinion surveys and focus group discussions conducted after the 2014 elections. We argue that, while faced with a major corruption scandal, ‘Cashgate’, Banda paid a heavier price than male incumbents facing corruption scandals before her. Her electoral fate is consistent with studies demonstrating that women holding political offices are scrutinized more than men and, when they transgress female gender stereotypes of incorruptibility, they are judged to a higher standard.

Last big corporate scandals in Brazil: Why investors did not see it in the annual reports?

This paper measures the level of information disclosure in the fight against corruption in sustainable reports disclosed by companies that participated in the last major corruption scandals in Brazil among 2013 to 2016 (Petrobras S.A., Odebrecht Organization, Brasil Foods S.A. and JBS S.A.); therefore, a not probabilistic sample was chosen. Content analysis through Novethic/SCPC survey (2006) was used to measure the level of disclosure and, among the results, the primary fact observed is that most of these companies exposed to corruption scandals did not modify their level of disclosed information in the fight against corruption, contradicting what was expected in a way that those companies which had higher levels of disclosure before the scandals continued following that path. Those results also revealed that information related to internal organization and a number of departments created to combat corruption were the most disclosed by the studied companies, indicating that these companies used of organized hypocrisy, that is, when the speech on their reports does not match with what is really done. This means that ethics committees created to diminish corruption, reporting systems, strict procedures related to contracting suppliers and other business partners, combined with other actions that encourage the implementation of anti-corruption training and systems were the most disclosed by the studied companies Since information about partnerships with nongovernmental entities and other organizations that have an interest in combating to this type of behavior were the least reported, the results showed off that it is required to look carefully to what is really happening and what it is disclosed by the companies’ reports.

Media coverage of corruption: the role of inter-media agenda setting in the context of media reporting on scandals

The study focuses on two Slovak corruption cases, both well-documented and of similar social relevance, of which one did not receive any cross-media coverage. Moreover, the case of large-scale bribery was rather under-hyped in comparison to other major corruption scandals occurring in the country. The case of cronyism formed a typical example of extremely poor inter-media coverage of highly unfair and politicised cronyism. Through these cases, especially in the one in which the media failed to stimulate the creation of a full-blown scandal, the study further analyses the criteria and circumstances that determine the worthiness of a case for wide media coverage. The study on Slovakia is framed within theories of scandalous reporting and the theory of agenda setting and inter-media agenda setting role of the media, and supported by quantitative analysis of actual media coverage of the bribery case.

Rotten Apples or Rotten System? Media Framing of Political Corruption in New Zealand and Italy

ABSTRACTJournalism functions as a watchdog against corruption, and contributes to its social construction in public debate. Investigating media representations of corruption is therefore fundamental to understanding how the issue is socially constructed in specific contexts. This study compares the media framing of corruption in two countries characterized by different levels of corruption, New Zealand and Italy. A qualitative framing analysis of the print media coverage of two major corruption scandals in these countries is conducted, integrated with a historical analysis of the coverage of Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index over a period of 20 years. The analysis shows that in New Zealand a “corruption as individual crime” frame dominates, characterized by a focus on individual responsibilities in opposition to the integrity of the country. In Italy, a “systemic corruption” frame dominates, characterized by widespread use of personifications, metonymies, and metaphors of corruption. Corruption is personified and often externalized, leading to a dilution of personal responsibility and accountability. These frames are discussed in relation to the potential role of the media in controlling and curbing corruption.

Corruption, accountability and citizen participation in protests in Latin America

Nos últimos anos, manifestações de rua ocorreram no Brasil e em outros países latino-americanos para protestar contra os grandes escândalos de corrupção. Vários pesquisadores que estudam o caso do Brasil argumentaram que a recessão econômica foi uma das condições que desencadearam a reação do público contra os escândalos de corrupção (MELO, 2016; HAGOPIAN, 2016), considerando que a opinião pública pode tolerar a corrupção em tempos de boom econômico – quando os programas sociais do governo podem ser expandidos – mas são menos propensos a aceitá-la em tempos de recessão econômica (BALAN, 2014). Este artigo utiliza dados da pesquisa LAPOP 2010 para mostrar que existe uma relação sistemática entre corrupção – percepção e vitimização – e participação em protestos, mesmo em tempos de crescimento econômico, no qual são discutidos dois possíveis mecanismos. Os resultados sugerem que o vínculo entre corrupção e participação em protestos não está condicionado pelo ciclo econômico.

Em busca de um herói: a construção discursiva de Joaquim Barbosa no julgamento do Mensalão por Veja e Época

This paper analyzes the discursive strategies of the two largest magazines in Brazil, Veja and Epoca , to build the image of Joaquim Barbosa during the trial of Mensalao , one of the major corruption scandals of the recent Brazilian history. We reflect on the notion of the journalistic discourse, focusing special attention on how journalism constructs the image of social actors. The corpus is scrutinized by categories of Critical Discourse Analysis: the meaning of words, use of metaphors, transitivity, interspeech and political and ideological effects of discourse. Resulting from the crossing linguistic techniques and critical social theory, these sociological categories help to understand how the media create specific semantic constellations that, when associated with people with ontological existence, turn them into paper beings, as Roland Barthes would say. The analysis shows that both magazines have resorted to strategies of heroization of Joaquim Barbosa, stressing the overcoming of the “poor boy who changed Brazil” as highlights one of the publications. As at other times in Brazilian history, the media have given to Joaquim Barbosa, although for a specific time, the national hero epithet, a post always put in the process of being occupied in a country historically lacking of heroic references. Keywords: discourse, journalistic discourse, Joaquim Barbosa, Veja, Epoca.

Disclosure Responses to a Corruption Scandal: The Case of Siemens AG

In the current study, we examine the changes in disclosure practices on compliance and the fight against corruption at Siemens AG, a large German multinational corporation, over the period 2000–2011 during which a major corruption scandal was revealed. More specifically, we conduct a content analysis of the company’s annual reports and sustainability reports during that period to investigate the changes of Siemens’ corruption and compliance disclosure using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Through the lens of legitimacy theory, stakeholder analysis, and organizational facades, we find evidence that Siemens changed its compliance and corruption disclosure practices to repair its legitimacy in the wake of the 2006 corruption scandal. We analyze these strategies more closely by using the rational, progressive, and reputation facades framework (Abrahamson and Baumard in The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Decision Making, pp 437–452, 2008). Our primary findings suggest that the annual reports show peaks of disclosure amounts on corruption and compliance disclosures earlier than sustainability reports, which can be partly explained by analyzing the disclosures made about—and to—the different stakeholder groups. We find that the annual report focuses more on internal stakeholders such as employees, while the sustainability report focuses more on external stakeholders such as suppliers. We also find that the company uses the facades differently depending on which report is being analyzed.

The Independent European Sport Review: Half Full or Half Empty?

This contribution reviews the ongoing debates on the role of European public authorities in the governance of sport, focusing on the recently published Independent European Sport Review, an initiative of British sports minister Richard Caborn during the 2005 UK Presidency of the EU. Former Portuguese Presidency minister, José Luis Arnaut, was charged with the task of carrying a review of the current state of European football in the aftermath of major corruption scandals in Germany, Belgium and Italy. With the support of UEFA, FIFA and the European sports ministers, Arnaut delivered his report last May, claiming that, despite being focused on football, it presents a template to improve the governance standards of sport in Europe, define the role the EU has to play and to preserve the so-called European Sports Model. The Independent European Sports Review is now featuring heavily in the consultation process conducting to the forthcoming European Commission White Paper on Sport.

Determinants of Corruption in Kenya: Born and Bred to Bribe

Corruption is an epidemic in Kenya. Major corruption scandals have been reported since the early 90’s. These include the Turkwel Hydroelectric Power Station scandal (1986 – 1990), the Goldenberg scandal (1990 – 1999), the Grand Regency scandal in 2008, and the Triton Oil scandal in 2009 among numerous others. Despite the attempts to fight corruption, the war has never been won. While a number of studies have examined the determinants of corruption in order to offer policy recommendations to fight corruption, individual-level factors have not been exhaustively examined especially for developing countries like Kenya where international corruption indices paint a grim picture. Moreover, the studies have mostly been based on perception of individuals and not the actual payment of bribe. This study sought to assess the individual factors that influence individuals to pay bribes in Kenya. The study uses survey data from Afrobarometer Round 5 survey. The probit analysis shows that corruption in Kenya is influenced by gender, race, ethnicity, religiosity, employment status, and education while age, religion and location were not significant determinants of corruption. The study therefore concludes that a number of individual-level factors explain the likelihood to be corrupt suggesting that some individuals may be born or bred to bribe. To address corruption in Kenya, policy makers should include individual-level determinants of corruption in policy formulation efforts as they are just as important as other factors in explaining corruption.

Costa Ricaas Anti-Corruption Trajectory: Strengths and Limitations

In spite of the economic and social policy successes of Latin America’s longest surviving democracy, corruption has become a major problem shaking Costa Ricans’ confidence in appointed and elected public officials. In response to the apparent rise in corruption since the start of the new millennium, governments have introduced new laws and created new agencies to combat corruption at all levels of society, with an emphasis on combating particularism by elected and appointed public officials. This report evaluates the apparent increase in corruption, the efforts to limit, expose, and prosecute corrupt acts, and the factors that have facilitated the rise in corrupt actions on the part of state officials and private citizens. In short, acts of corruption that may have previously gone unnoticed (at least unproven) are now exposed by a more aggressive media and prosecuted by new and/or stronger state anti-corruption agencies and laws in response to multiple major political corruption scandals of the early 2000s. State prosecutors show no deference in their investigations of corruption and/or illicit enrichment by public officials and private figures, no matter how powerful. The only limitation is the level of resources available to these agencies. The contemporary increase in the scope of corruption is not in the quotidian actions of low-level officials directly affecting the lives of ordinary citizens, but in influence trading and manipulation of formal processes. A separate, more recent and growing corruption problem comes from international drug cartels that have amplified their activities and money laundering in Costa Rica that some fear might outstrip the state’s capacity to keep corruption under control.

The Movement for Rule of Law in China

Though not much noticed in the West, a great debate is raging across China today, from the law faculties of its major universities to the Central Party School to the dissident community, over “constitutionalism” and the establishment of rule of law.In the wake of major corruption scandals, there are great expectations that the new leadership under Xi Jinping will respond to social pressure and pursue political reforms that have stalled over the last decade.A leading China scholar, Cheng Li, and the now famous blind civil rights advocate Chen Guangcheng, who dramatically escaped house arrest and fled to the US Embassy in Beijing last year, comment on where this debate is headed and what it might—or might not—produce.

China Has Good Laws, But They Should Apply to the Party

Though not much noticed in the West, a great debate is raging across China today, from the law faculties of its major universities to the Central Party School to the dissident community, over “constitutionalism” and the establishment of rule of law.In the wake of major corruption scandals, there are great expectations that the new leadership under Xi Jinping will respond to social pressure and pursue political reforms that have stalled over the last decade.A leading China scholar, Cheng Li, and the now famous blind civil rights advocate Chen Guangcheng, who dramatically escaped house arrest and fled to the US Embassy in Beijing last year, comment on where this debate is headed and what it might—or might not—produce.