Fingers in the pot: Corruption or just dues?
Robin Rhee, The Korea Herald, Asia News Network, Seoul
"It is well known what a middleman is: He is a man who bamboozles one party and plunders the other," wrote Benjamin Disraeli. That's probably a fair assessment of how politics operates, strictly speaking, or at least tongue-in-cheek. A middleman who is involved in a scam, be he a politician, a relative of a politician or just an individual in a powerful position, is the go-between, or agent, who is well placed to make the connections and introductions and arrange the influence peddling to make the mastermind's grand scheme work. As John Steinbeck wrote, "Man is the only kind of varmint that sets his own trap, baits it, then steps on it."
What's in it for him? In the best of scenarios he may be exacting a cut of the action from all concerned. What makes him do it? The possibility of walking away with a pot of gold is just too tempting to pass up. After all every crook thinks he's so smart he'll never be caught, or even if he is caught he can plead innocence and/or wiggle out of all charges and will have muddied the waters enough so that his money trail can't be followed.
Undoubtedly there are currently enough scams to satisfy the most voracious media appetites, keep us all wondering what will be revealed tomorrow and how far the tentacles of corruption will reach. It is alleged that China will eventually have to deal with its mind-boggling banking irregularities. The United States has its scandalous collapse of Enron which bilked employees out of their retirement funds, caused the stock market to plunge because people now distrust bookkeeping practices and profit disclosures made by other corporations, even as some multi-million dollar homes of Enron executives in Houston, Texas are still under construction. Korea, not to be outdone, has its nefarious treasure ship scandal.
In each of the three scandals all trails seem to weave to and fro among powerful individuals and ultimately lead directly to the pinnacles of power, although there is total denial of any prior knowledge and involvement by all concerned.
All of this raises questions about whether managers were simply inept and had no clue what was going on right under their noses and so can legitimately state they had no knowledge of blatantly criminal activities on their watch or if they believe that a "know nothing" stance will establish a "lack of intent to defraud" as a plausible legal defense. It is also possible, however, that since corruption has been rampant in society for so long dipping their fingers into the proverbial till doesn't seem wrong. To them it is viewed only as their just due.
If society is naive enough to still believe that crime doesn't pay, just look at the former CEO of Enron. His wife appeared on national television and tearfully stated they were financially ruined. The government has alleged they have tracked down forty- plus million dollars which the couple has hidden away and their multi-million dollar home is theirs to keep -- no matter what -- under Texas law.
If history is a guide to the future, even as Korea tries to unravel its treasure ship scandal, somewhere out there are Slippery So-young and Infamous In-dong conspiring to launch the next scam. They are convinced they will succeed. They are well educated, in powerful positions and have all of the right connections.
If Korea wants to head off the next scam and clean up the government it might be wise to heed the warning issued by Doug Larson: "Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, (or nation) it might be better to change the locks."