It would need to be open to public scrutiny.
(f) Corruption is a symptom of an all-pervasive sense of
helplessness. The citizen (or investor, or firm) feels dwarfed by
the overwhelming and capricious powers of the state. It is through
corruption and venality that the balance is restored. To minimize
this imbalance, potential participants in corrupt dealings must be
made to feel that they are real and effective stakeholders in their
societies. A process of public debate coupled with transparency and
the establishment of just distributive mechanisms will go a long way
towards rendering corruption obsolete.
Russia's Missing Billions
Russia's Audit Chamber - with the help of the Swiss authorities and
their host of dedicated investigators - may be about to solve a long
standing mystery. An announcement by the Prosecutor's General Office
is said to be imminent. The highest echelons of the Yeltsin
entourage - perhaps even Yeltsin himself - may be implicated - or
exonerated. A Russian team has been spending the better part of the
last two months poring over documents and interviewing witnesses in
Switzerland, France, Italy, and other European countries.
About $4.8 billion of IMF funds are alleged to have gone amiss
during the implosion of the Russian financial markets in August
1998.
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