CAPITALISM'S ACHILLES HEEL Dirty Money and How to

Dirty Money at Work 51
• Channel public money into defense and infrastructure, where kickbacks
are typically high.
• Increase debt burdens on poorer countries.
Having watched the debilitating effects of corruption for more than 40
years in dozens of countries, I don’t want to hear the argument that it has a
good side, oiling the wheels of commerce and enabling rich people to dole
out money to poor people. That’s like arguing that HIV/AIDS has a good
side, promoting research and enhancing profits of pharmaceutical companies.
No, there is no good side to HIV/AIDS, and there is no good side to
corruption. Both kill people.
The most nervous civil servant I’ve ever encountered was a top official at
the Brazilian central bank during the administration of Fernando Collor de
Mello. I had been referred to him by a senior advisor in Palacio do Planalto,
the office of the president in Brasilia. This central banker monitored capital
inflows and outflows. I offered some preliminary data on illegal outflows
from Brazil, and he panicked. He paced, pulled another colleague into his
office, drew his chair close to mine, whispered, and squirmed. Little wonder.
Collor was accused a few months later of robbing the till to the tune of tens
of millions of dollars. Later, on a sunny Sunday in August 1992, I watched
as a hundred thousand people took to the broad avenues of Brasilia demanding
Collor’s resignation, which was tendered a few weeks later. The Brazilian
Senate proceeded to impeach and convict him of corruption, though this
was later overturned by the country’s supreme court for insufficient evidence.
Based on the Senate outcome, Collor was nevertheless barred from
public office for eight years.
Transparency International (TI) lists some of the larger kleptocrats of
recent years, as in Table 3.1. Many more names could be added. Saddam
Hussein must feel terribly slighted not being included among the great
thieves of recent years. During the presidency of Ibrahim Babangida of
Nigeria, $12.4 billion in oil revenues received during the Persian Gulf crisis
of 1990–1991 allegedly disappeared. Alfredo Stroessner of Paraguay was
world class, believed to have ripped off millions. The Angolan government
of Jose Eduardo Dos Santos was accused in a 2004 report by Human Rights
Watch of mislaying $4.2 billion from 1997 to 2002. 2 Daniel arap Moi, expresident
of Kenya, is currently being suspected of frauds that allegedly gen-