The underground economic activity and the desire for corruption in the border region (study of Bengkayang District, West Kalimantan)

Underground economic activity is a situation that needs particular and ongoing attention. This tendency is detrimental to municipal income and is associated with corrupt behaviors and taxation. The purpose of this investigation is to identify and assess the practices of the underground economy, as well as the potential for corrupt conduct and tax evasion. The analytical tool was perhaps a qualitative method with a chosen strategy to identify knowledge sources (respondents) with subjects such as liquor producers, coffee shops, and street food vendors in the Bengkayang border area. The data collection method was carried out using a triangulation approach, namely an in-depth interview, observation, and recording/documentation. The data analysis approach was conducted using data reduction, data presentation, and verification. This study suggests that the presence of corrupt activity in collecting bribes and offering bribes is carried out in cash without going through an automated money processing mechanism such as giving false receipts. Increasing the level of corruption in society will contribute to an increase in the velocity of money. The need for massive surveillance of individuals and the introduction of Penta helix elements to shape synergies between actors and to start integrating and developing electronic/digital structures in any financial activity using the e-government system.

Political corruption: individual or institutional?

Contrary to current institutionalist theories of corruption, this chapter maintains that the quality of institutional practices can always be traced back to the officeholders’ conduct as both individual and interrelated role occupants via their institutional roles. This is the “continuity approach” to political corruption in public institutions. Because institutional roles are structurally interrelated, political corruption can be attributed to an institution in virtue of a variety of patterns (summative, morphological, and systemic), describing the shape of the interrelatedness of the officeholders’ conduct. Political corruption thus has its source in the action of officeholders within an institution, no matter how well designed that institution may be. This internal enemy is a serious one because the officeholders’ interrelated corrupt conduct may fail an institution’s raison d’être (the normative ideals that motivate an institution’s establishment and functioning).

The illegality objection in investor–state arbitration

In the past decade, the number of investment tribunals wrestling with allegations of investor illegality and corrupt conduct has soared. Much has been said and written about corruption in investment arbitration, but the treatment and import of objections on the basis of an investor’s illegal conduct other than corruption has not received equal attention. This article seeks to fill that void through a comprehensive, methodical review of investment awards to date that have grappled with the issue. Allegations of investor misconduct are richly diverse, ranging from the wilful disregard of local foreign investment restrictions to inadvertent administrative omissions a host State knowingly elected not to enforce. Recognizing that the factual matrices giving rise to the illegality objection are highly fact-specific, this article explores the contours of the illegality objection, its typology, the analytical framework tribunals apply, the evolving and competing applicable legal standards, the scenarios when illegality is fatal to jurisdiction or admissibility (or not), and the relevance of the State’s conduct in perhaps overcoming that death knell.

ANTI-CORRUPTION BEHAVIOR FORMATION AMONG THE EMPLOYEES OF THE RUSSIAN INTERNAL AFFAIRS AGENCIES: CONCEPTS GENESIS

At the present stage of development of our society, corruption has penetrated into all its spheres. The internal affairs bodies are at the forefront of the fight against crime, daily facing various corruption manifestations. It is obvious that the employees of the internal affairs bodies themselves are subject to corrupt influences. In this regard, we consider it a necessary reality to form anti-corruption behavior in every employee of the internal affairs bodies. The purpose of the work is the analysis of the scientific literature, to give integrative definitions of the main concepts used in the process of studying the problem of forming anti-corruption behavior of employees of internal affairs bodies «conduct», «corruption», «motivation», «legal literacy», «the staff of bodies of internal affairs», «corrupt conduct», «anti-corruption behavior, «fighting», «the formation of anti-corruption behavior of employees of internal affairs bodies».

Characteristics of Crimes Against the Interests of Service in Commercial and Other Organisations in Russia and Germany

The comparative study focuses on corruption in commercial organisations, which has received considerable attention in both Russia and Germany in recent years. In both countries anti-corruption law has been harmonised by several international conventions to reflect the growing importance of world trade and increasing globalisation. The authors analyse the current criminal offences and the criminological characteristics in both countries. Whereas in Russia special criminal provisions were created under Chapter 23 (Articles 201, 202, 203, 204, 204.1 and 204.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), in Germany the relevant corrupt conduct is covered by the traditional general criminal offence of embezzlement (§ 266 of the German Criminal Code (StGB)) and by newly created special corruption offences (§§ 299, 300 and 301 StGB). The authors show that in each of the two countries, Russia and Germany, corruption in commercial organisations is now considered a grave form of corruption, so that the international conventions are taken into account to some extent. In Germany, however, not only are the sanctions foreseen for corruption in commercial organisations considerably lower than those for corruption in the public sector, but the offences are only prosecuted on criminal complaint. In the practice of German criminal prosecution, these types of bribery offences have therefore so far had little significance. Nevertheless, a high number of undetected cases and large economic losses can be expected. Furthermore, the comparative legal study shows that there are not only considerable differences in the design of the criminal provisions as well as in the legal reality, but that there are also several common elements in Russia and Germany.

Informal Networks: Dark Sides, Bright Sides, and Unexplored Dimensions

Informal networking can be seen as a positive activity with beneficial outcomes for individuals, firms, and society as a whole, but informal networking can also lead to collusion, cliques, nepotism, and other forms of unethical or corrupt conduct – largely related to research on emerging markets. To date, the construction of informal networks and their cultural intertwinement and development have not been a focus of international management and organization studies, a gap that this special issue seeks to address. This special issue contributes to a better understanding of the dynamics of informal networks and their ambivalence, in which the same networks have different modes of operation and have positive and negative sides intermittently or simultaneously. We demonstrate the context in which informal networks operate, highlight their complexity, and encourage dialogue among scholars studying informal networks in a variety of countries. Using a context-based and comparative perspective allows us to conceptualize informal networks in a more integrated and balanced way. Understanding the workings of informal networking – known variously as guanxi, yongo, jentinho, wasta, and blat – in culturally specific settings, places Western values, social structures, and ideals of behavior in perspective and tests Western-centered assumptions, narratives, and theories. Because informal networking is a conventional way of conducting business in many countries, as depicted in this special issue, defining the bright (positive) and the dark (negative) sides of informal networks is critical for responsible management and business success at multinational corporations.

Cuba

Cuba has long been saddled with a culture of corruption. A lengthy history of colonialism and a state-controlled economy have produced a country with a weak economy, product shortages, low wages, and an understanding that taking a little for oneself is not only acceptable but, in many cases, necessary to get by. Scarcity and rationing of resources have led to an environment where obtaining goods and services requires grease payments, workers steal items from their employers to sell on the black market, and employees are often absent so that they can earn extra money from side jobs. At the same time, poorly paid bureaucrats, business managers, and even high-level government officials supplement their income through illicit use of their positions. The centralization of power, strict government control of the media, and lax compliance oversight have led to a lack of transparency and accountability. While high-level corruption on a large scale is less common in Cuba than other parts of Latin America, lower-level corruption is widespread. Over the years, the ruling Castro regime has taken a number of approaches to curbing corruption that have led to laws and institutions aimed at eliminating corrupt conduct, fraud, waste, abuse, and cronyism. However, there is little protection for whistle-blowers in Cuba. Accordingly, a vital tool in the effort to detect and prevent bribery, the misuse of government funds, fraud, and other types of corruption is largely missing.

UK Political Corruption and the Role of the Criminal Law

My focus here is political corruption, as opposed to personal corruption, and my task is to explain that prosecution for a serious common law offence such as misconduct in a public office cannot be the sole, or even the main, way in which officials are held to account for corrupt conduct. So, I consider the most important—indeed, primary—remedy for corruption in politics, which I call ‘negation’: the setting back at naught of corrupt (potential) gains. I then go on to consider efforts to address risks of corruption through regulation (including regulatory offences), especially in relation to elections, but also in relation to the practice of ‘lobbying’. Discussion of lobbying provides an opportunity to discuss how ‘republican’ the UK constitution really is: how resistant it is to cheque-book influences or, more broadly, to the influence of repeat players amongst the wealthy and powerful.

Criminal Misconduct in Office

The book is principally concerned with the use of the criminal law to deter and punish corruption in politics: from employing family members at public expense to improper spending on elections. Its main focus is the application of the offence of misconduct in public office to Members of Parliament. The criminal law should not be the sole or even the main way to tackle all corruption in politics. However, the offence of misconduct in a public office should nonetheless be seen as a constitutional fundamental. It provides a way in which corrupt conduct on the part of legislators (and other officials) can be deterred and punished with an appropriate label, thereby making them account for the misuse of power by reference to the standards of ordinary people. When other—civil law or regulatory—means prove insufficient, it should be possible for ordinary members of a jury, and not, or not just, for parliamentarians or other officials, to decide whether—for example—the expenditure of public money on legislators’ private income and benefits amounts to a criminal abuse of the public’s trust. This is what I call the ‘bottom-up’ (jury standards-led) as opposed to the ‘top-down’ (officials applying their own standards) view of the role of the criminal law in constitutional contexts. In developing this theme, an important intellectual challenge is also taken up: the provision of a history, philosophy, and politics of the offence of misconduct in office, an offence hitherto little considered by mainstream criminal law theorists in the UK.

Private Sector Response to Corruption

This chapter focuses on what has been done to combat corruption in the private sector starting in the United States with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in 1977: the first law that criminalized foreign bribery. The OECD Convention, which internationalized the FCPA, became effective in 1999; it prohibits foreign bribery of public officials by over forty countries. The UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) became effective in 2005; it deals with domestic as well as foreign bribery, bribery of public officials as well as bribery in the private sector. Corporate responses have also evolved with anticorruption compliance programs applied by US companies now for more than three decades. This chapter covers common problem areas such as gifts, entertainment, and travel expenses; lobbyists and sales representatives; political contributions; facilitation payments; foreign subsidies and joint ventures. This chapter also covers the psychology of corrupt conduct and factors to change the corporate culture.