Government Contracting Corruption Roundup

From three very different parts of the world come stories about corruption related to the award of contracts. In Jamaica a former Minister of Trade, his assistant and a company official are under investigation for fraud and money laundering over a contract for the government to provide light bulbs to the population. The case, Radiojamaica.com reports, got more confusing as the official’s other company qualified for construction contracts issued by the government.

Somehow his fraud accusation did not come out in the contract review process. In South Africa the ruling ANC part moved to disband the internal corruption unit, nicknamed “The Scorpions“, who were investigating a former minster for bribery involved in a large order of aircraft from BAE. The Times states that the reaction of law enforcement across the world is astonishment at this move blatantly done to protect those in power. In Finland the former head of the arms company, Patria, is under investigation for bribing Slovenian officials in order to get a contract for armored personnel carriers. NewsRoom Finland discusses the case against Mr. Wiitakorpi who is also accused of industrial espionage. He was fired by his employer; and the contract case may have caused the downfall of the Slovenian Prime Minister at the last election as the case was made public before the September elections.

Governments spend a lot of money through contracts and there is temptation on both sides - government and contractor - to use bribes and gifts to tilt awards to one company or another. In some parts of the world bribes are an accepted part of the deal; although there has been a great deal of reform in that area. There is also an expectation that this is how things should be done.