Financial Transparency Coalition

Corruption is notoriously difficult to measure. It’s not just because it is an illicit activity. In part it’s because the concept itself is undefined and relative. Transparency International found a (brilliant) way around this when they began surveying each nation’s public perception of corruption, rather than trying to define a concrete set of corrupt activities. So what is corruption? Transparency International uses the following working definition of corruption: “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain.” I imagine that's vague on purpose. So how do we define specific corrupt activities? Corruption isn’t just bribe paying, although that’s often it. It’s not just...

Before the end of the week, former United States Vice President Dick Cheney will be indicted by Nigerian officials in connection with the long-running bribery investigation into Halliburton Company. According to Bloomberg News:

Indictments will be lodged in a Nigerian court “in the next three days,” Godwin Obla, prosecuting counsel at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, said in an interview today at his office in Abuja, the capital. An arrest warrant for Cheney “will be issued and transmitted through Interpol,” the world’s biggest international police organization, he said.

Furthermore: