Transcript for Fighting Corruption at Every Level

Transparency International is a citizen-based organization that creates tools, coalitions, and campaigns to fight corruption locally,

nationally, and globally. In some countries whole generations of young people are being lost, because their parents cannot afford

the bribes which are being demanded. Transparency International has pioneered the worldwide creations of legal frameworks to

combat corruption and works tirelessly with global partners, and more than ninety national chapters to enforce them. Peter Eigen is its

creator. What has happened during the last five years is breathtaking.

So in a way, we have a window of opportunity of a couple of years.

In this program, Peter Eigen describes the terrible toll that corruption takes on the lives of millions of people.

How social, political, and legal breakthroughs offer great hope of neutralizing it.

And how everyone can join the growing campaign, to eliminate one of humanity’s greatest injustices.

The definition of corruption which we use at Transparency International is relatively broad,

because we can rely on our national chapters to flash it out in the practical and functional sense in their own environments.

We simply call corruption the abuse of entrusted power for private gain.

Corruption has some incredible impacts on the world.

The World Bank for instance, has estimated that every year about one trillion dollars are misallocated

through corruption, are stolen by corrupt people.

And, I think this is a huge number, but I also believe that this is only a small part of the actual damage that is done

Lichtenstein or so or in the Bahamas, in order to get a wrong decision about a five hundred million dollar project,

then the damage is not only the ten million, but it is a five hundred million in terms of future debt service, in terms of resources

withdrawn from other parts of the economy. The environment maybe destroyed which is irreparable for many, many generations.

which are stolen by this corrupt minister. Because that damage in my opinion,

may very well be the main reason for the poverty in many parts of the world.

I have seen this, when I was the director of the World Bank office in Nairobi,

I saw how through corruptions wrong decisions about investments in the power sector, in the health sector,

in the transportation sector, were initiated. And, led to a total misallocation of the scarce resources in that country

to huge white elephant projects, which benefited say the suppliers from the north, and a few kleptocrats in Kenya,

but did nothing for the people. The Democratic Republic of the Congo could be one of the richest countries of the world.

It has everything, it has fantastic minerals, it has other natural resources, it has wonderful people, it has good geographic access to the

world. The Congo could be one of the richest, could be a paradise, you know the same thing Nigeria.

Nigeria has everything, same thing in Argentina, and instead through corruption these countries are turned into living hells for the people.

the people. Generations of children, who are stunted in their growth in rich countries, because they don’t have enough to eat.

2.4 billion people in the world don’t have access to sanitation.

So, the damage you do in terms of creating desperation and hopelessness, and then eventually also the anger and the energy,

which will often unload itself in conflict and violence as we see in the countries like the Congo, like Sierra Leon or like Liberia,

and which then eventually also lead to terrorism and attacks in safer parts of the world.