In the summer of 2007, the media announced that the arms company BAE which is a British defense firm, secretly paid more than $2 billion in bribes for over 20 years to a member of the Saudi Arabia royal family, the Prince Bandar. The Prince had provided one of the biggest weapons contract with Britain; Saudi Arabia was purchasing warplanes, spare parts, and training for Saudi pilots. After they found that BAE was paying bribes to the Prince, some of the payments were channeled by an ambassador through a United States bank. After that, the British Fraud Office started investigating these transactions. Consequently, the Prime Minister Tony Blair gave the order to put an end to the investigation for “national security” reasons. It is worth to mention that the contracts are still valid nowadays, and the 10-15 commissions of agents are distributed between head of state, generals, and their friends. …show more content…
People who are involved in the government, such as majors, prime ministers, presidents, etc. are easily criticized for not doing what is ethical and legal, which is why they need to consider all the pros and cons before taking action. In this ethical dilemma, Blair’s position was unacceptable and unethical because he decided to ignore all the bribery affairs, thus allowing something illegal. In consequence of the action taken by Blair, many citizens were not happy at all, and the ending of the investigation incited an outcry of the anti-corruption
However, as the case continues to unravel and some of the prosecuted personal motives have not yet been determined by prosecutors because of the ongoing trial. The trial proceeding that has been released hint possible of corruptions not only from mid-level officials but from higher officials as well. As Sheldon Steinberg and David Austern determined that “Corrupt behavior occurs within the interaction of three facts incentive, or the size of the benefit; opportunity, or the ease of access to the corrupt practice; and risk, or the chance detection” (Austern,
from 2003 to 2013 made 81 improper payments through commissions to employees of foreign governments or their third-parties. These payments totaled over $9 million, and resulted in more than $34 million in profits. These commissions were approved by senior management at Celcat or Condel, but the real purpose of the payments were concealed from GCC’s executive management.
6. Evaluate whether the changes in Exhibits 4 and 5 are likely to stop future foreign corrupt practices at Baker Hughes.
There is always a conductor of corruption, an authority figure who knowingly exploits the mind of others. They look at what they perceive is right versus what is actually right. In the case
Someone who is abusing the power that is given to him or her defines corruption, however, the word in its self is more than a simple idea; it is an intricate network. Since people’s views about ethical and moral behavior affect the way corruption is examined, the word has a slightly different meaning to each person. Additionally, misconduct across various societies is viewed differently due to social and cultural borders. The criminal justice system has had many instances where corruption had affected the outcome of a case and has inserted itself into the legal process.
In the year of 1792, a twelve year old boy named Carl von Clausewitz enlisted in the Prussian army for war, and soon after appearing in such battles as Jena-Auerstädt and Waterloo, became dedicated in conflict and its reasons for their results most of his life. By being alive at the same time as Napoleon's rise and fall, Carl von Clausewitz was able to document and relate how war was fought, won, and lost. It's important to comprehend that in his writings, he is relaying why it is pertinent to think about how war is fought, not how to win a war. Clausewitz' theories described in “On War,” are not only effective in wars fought in today's time and past, but will remain current in future endeavors, due to its generic layout of
Most of the news stories today report on several scandals involving high-profile government officials with corruption being the major criminal aspect. In a news story reported by Thomas, Ryan, Date, and Cook (2009), one brazen crime occurred in Tennessee whereby the then Hamilton County Sheriff William Horace was caught on tape taking bribes. Another case is reported by Wines (2014) whereby Virginia governor Bob McDonnell was indicted on fraud and conspiracy charges. These are the only few cases among several strings of scandals that have continued to affect the credibility of public service. According to Wines (2014), since 2000, there are eight governors and former governors who have been found guilty of crimes. Doss et al. (2013) point out that there are ethical dilemmas that exist in all these cases. In a way, one would be right to assert that it is odd to haul politicians and high-profile government officials before judges and prosecutors. Investigators also have a hard task dealing with such cases especially considering that the persons they are investigating are of high status in society. This has always created fear among investigators because they have to make hard choices. The same case applies to prosecutors who feel that ruling a case in favor of a politician would spark public outcry. However, they
One major point that there is corruption in the United States Government is all the scandals that have occurred in the past. One of the most known is the Watergate Scandal. This occurred during Richard Nixon’s presidency. Nixon was drove from office before he could be impeached for obstruction justice.(Grossman) ”Although no one in power profited financially from the matter, Watergate nonetheless is perhaps the most egregious example of political corruption because of the effect it had in subverting the political process.” “Responding to a request from
Corruption is the dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery (Jones). When a person or a group of people are in power, situations arouse where they can acquire anything by lying, bribing, conning, or stealing. History can prove this statement to be true with instances such as the Nigerian military scandal in which persons in high places in the Nigerian government took large amounts of money for their own personal wants (. A different situation in which corruption took place was in the case of Monica Lewinsky Scandal involving president Bill Clinton and one of his inters Monica Lewinsky having an affair while President Clinton was married. One example of corruption in literature is that of the book Macbeth where he kills his king in order to attain more power. Lastly, an example of corruption in high power was the Catholic church and its indulgences, using pilgrimages and other such
Brenda Franklin had been serving Allied Tech for the past 8 years. As any other organisations, Brenda used to be a part of the lunch hour conversations with her colleagues. One day when her colleagues were discussing about corruption and politics, something occurred to her. As a result she prepared a list called “Ethically Dubious Conduct” and pasted it on the common notice board. Her colleagues were taken by surprise. Brenda was now anticipating the next lunch where she was expecting her list to be analysed among her colleagues.
the actions of the corrupt officers were wrong and unethical. They weighed the positive results
Thesis Statement: In order to determine whether a moral issue is categorized as a bribe, the ethical concepts of bribery must first be defined.
Political corruption is parasitic; it finds a host, and can almost always find a way to survive. Eventually, people grow dependent on this corruption as a means for income, thus forming a symbiosis between the people who benefit from it, and the elites that regulate it. People sometimes ignore the corruption surrounding them, feeling that as long as the politicians do their jobs well, their ‘extra salary’ can’t hurt (BNS).
As I look back on my k-12 school experience and reflect on how I saw student diversity; I think that I was not aware of it as much as I am now about it. I do however, I do remember a few time that I did see it, for example in elementary school. I was in ESL and once a week I was pulled out to meet with my ESL teacher. I noticed that it was always the same small group of student being pulled out and so did the student in my class. I personally felt different from them, but at the end of the day I loved going. The reason why was because my teacher made us feel like individuals and let us share our culture with each other. I learned more about others’ diversity and culture in that small amount of time that I was with her then when I was with my actual teacher. Mrs. Mueller made us embrace our differences while still learning the lesson that we needed to go over.
The unlawful use of a person’s position while in power leads to multiple problems with today’s government. The corrupt methods politicians use are ideas that are strictly in place for personal gain. Present throughout history and still prevalent within today’s world, government corruption has consisted of a number of negative issues including bribery, economic and social impacts, and the misuse of power. Government’s role within daily life has been shown to have negative effects as seen in many aspects of life as well as in literature.