Timothy Bukumunhe
27 June 2009
(Page 2 of 2)
Graft
While bribery includes an intent to influence or be influenced by another for personal gain, which is often difficult to prove, graft only requires that the official gains something of value, not part of his official pay, when doing his work. Large "gifts" qualify as graft, and most countries have laws against it. (For example, any gift over $200 value made to the President of the United States is considered to be a gift to the Office of the Presidency and not to the President himself. The outgoing President must buy it if he or she wants to keep it.)
Another example of graft is a politician using his knowledge of zoning to purchase land which he knows is planned for development, before this is publicly known, and then selling it at a significant profit. This is comparable to insider trading in business.
Patronage
Patronage refers to favouring supporters, for example with government employment. This may be legitimate, as when a newly elected government changes the top officials in the administration in order to effectively implement its policy. It can be seen as corruption if this means that incompetent persons, as a payment for supporting the regime, are selected before more able ones. In non-democracies many government officials are often selected for loyalty rather than ability.
Nepotism
Favouring relatives (nepotism) or personal friends (cronyism) is a form of illegitimate private gain. This may be combined with bribery, for example demanding that a business should employ a relative of an official controlling the regulations affecting the business. The most extreme example is when the entire state is inherited, as in North Korea or Syria. A milder form of cronyism is an "old boy network", in which appointees to official positions are selected only from an exclusive social network - such as the alumni of particular universities - instead of appointing the most competent candidate.
Embezzlement
Embezzlement is outright theft of entrusted funds. Another common type of embezzlement is that of entrusted government resources; for example, when a director of a public enterprise employs company workers to build his own house.
Kickbacks
A kickback is an official's share of misappropriated funds allocated from his or her organisation to an organisation involved in corrupt bidding.
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