The Corrupt Have Inherited This Good Earth
The most potent symbol of government corruption in our time are the Marcoses. This family looted the Philippines and stashed money by the hundreds of millions in secret bank accounts, real-estate holdings, blue-chip investments, etc all over the world, particularly in US and Europe. The spectacle of peasants roaming around in the Malacanang Palace after the Marcos downfall, gawking among other luxuries at the 3,000 pairs of shoes owned by Imelda Marcos, still remains vivid as an example of their outrageous excess. Engaged in a drawn-out legal battle with the Philippines Government which is trying to recover the money (almost US$ 1 billion) in Swiss banks, Imelda is shamelessly holding out to retain a percentage of the illegally acquired wealth as the price for returning it without further legal contest, airing a likely story that this accumulation of wealth is because of the fabulous treasure hidden by the Japanese during World War 2 and purportedly found by late President Ferdinand Marcos. Under trial in New York a few years ago, the Steel Butterfly (as Imelda Marcos is known), dramatically collapsed in open court, playing on the sympathy of the Jury (and the public) and successfully being acquitted of alleged wrong doings. The “bad health” of this wonderful actress persisted till it was clear that many Filipinos, forgetting that blatant corruption was the reason for the Marcos ouster, voted her into office as Senator. She has since made a miraculous recovery to her boisterous self again. Throughout the last decade, despite her well-deserved reputation for corruption, Madam Marcos and her family kept on denying any wrongdoing, safe in the knowledge that if you keep lying confidently, people will begin to believe your lies. She remained in good social graces in the world’s exclusive elite social circles, no one among the rich and beautiful really giving a damn that this woman and her family were directly responsible for the poverty and present misery being endured by millions of Filipinos. Madam Marcos sends a very clear green signal to Third World leaders having qualms about looting the public till, it is socially acceptable to be corrupt, you just have to keep on denying any accusations poker-faced. We have surpassed the Marcos example in Pakistan. In fact the Marcos Syndrome (as we may like to call corruption among Third World leaders) would seem to be kindergarten stuff compared to the advanced techniques developed by us in this country.
The standard practice of making millions illegally is to get kickbacks in civil and military projects because of one’s official position. This was endemic in the number of authoritarian regimes opposed to communism in the region who were the recipients of vast amounts of direct economic and military aid from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), etc as well as country-to-country aids and grants, involving huge deals for projects in energy, telecommunication, transportation, health, arms and equipment, etc. The sales agents of the various companies, among them many Multinationals (MNCs), were extremely active in getting their products and services sold. Since they were also particularly interested to keep on selling their products for years they also campaigned against the goods being manufactured in-country, thus serving to keep commissions recurring. Countries like Pakistan have taken four decades to develop heavy industries but even then do not produce automobiles but simply assemble them (we are on a deletion programme that never sees anything deleted). The biggest known case of kickbacks in the Philippines was the Westinghouse deal for a nuclear power station when Westinghouse was taken to task by the US Government for running afoul of US Corrupt Practices Act i.e. laws strictly eliminating bribery. Companies know how to circumvent such laws, the normal modus operandi now is to give very heavy retainers as monthly service charges to “Consultants”. The Marcoses stole away a lot of “commission” on various projects in which others acted as frontmen. On their part the companies padded the prices so as not to cut into their profits. Populist Third World leaders vow their adoring and gullible masses about their commitment to the masses while bilking their countries of billions of US dollars. Developed countries have very good intelligence agencies looking after their strategic and commercial interests but in the larger interest of their own commercial gains, these countries, normally very high on moral issues, deliberately chose to look the other way. However, siphoning commissions is now old hat, new and advanced techniques are employed by the unscrupulous, the obtaining of commissions is peanuts compared to what can be got through these other means mainly money acquired through rendering “services”.
