ABSTRACT
Corruption is prevalent in both emerging economies with high growth rates and developed economies with relatively small growth rates. Transparency International (TI) defi nes corruption as misusing one’s position in an organisation for personal benefi t. Corruption includes bribery, embezzlement, money laundering, misuse of discretionary power, trading infl uence and diverting organisational funds or property for personal gain. Other corrupt practices include avoiding taxes, skirting the law, fi nancial fraud, insider trading, manipulating the system using legal loopholes, nepotism and discrimination. Many corrupt practices are illegal in all countries. Often, corrupt behaviour may be legal but unethical since laws are not able to cover the entire domain of human behaviour and laws vary across countries. Corruption affects government, public institutions and private businesses in all countries to varying degrees. Some business practices are illegal in one country but can be perfectly legal in another country. In today’s globalised economy, one has to examine the context of a business practice to determine if it is illegal, corrupt or unethical. The corrupt business practices are motivated by ambition, success and/or economic gain. Political corruption exists both in democratic and in centrally planned governments. Some examples of the political corruption include voter fraud, political fi nance, political payback and retribution.
