Hi!
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Inquartata Peter, all of your safeguards depend upon one assumption: that all transactions between corrupt officials and their purchasers occur in Sweden. Monies paid elsewhere and retained in foreign bank accounts---or for that matter under the mattress---could escape notice entirely, no? |
With the same reasoning, one could assume that the US. intelligence community would be unable to track Al-Qeuda (spelling?) money, if they are going through non-US accounts. I doubt that CIA (or other relevant agency) just throw up their hands and give up without trying.
Furthermore, if a Swede wants to give money to a Swedish civil servant outside the country, he still must withdraw the money from his bank account, or save up money that has never entered his bank account. It is doable, but difficult to get enough money this way - remember that you must pay a substantial sum to bribe people who already have job security.
You are on to something, though. When bribery/corruption happens in Sweden, it often involves foreign trips. My home county has a county-owned apartment rental company which dwarfes all private landlords combined. (This goes for the great majority of Swedish counties.) The people in that company board are appointed by the city council, many of them are locally prominent politicians. (You might be interested to hear that this company runs a healthy profit, has good flats - I live in one of them, and has one of the lowest rental prices in the country.) Anyway, the pay for being on the company board is not much. Last year a huge scandal (by Sw. standards) was uncovered - the study trips that the board has been taking to London, Paris, various East European cities, have included good dinners -
including company-payed alcohol - for these board members. Several tens of thousands of dollars were wasted, and the whole thing made the national news.
One of our top politicians, Mona Sahlin, was set to take over the prime minister post some years ago when the then PM wanted to retire, and he was grooming her for the post. However, just as she was going to take the next step, the **** hit the fan. The papers found out that she had gotten several parking tickets, payed private stuff (kidīs diapers, a few bars of chocolate, etc) with her govt. credit card and only repayed later on, and been late with her IRS returns. In short, her sloppiness had cost the state a few hundred dollars. She was forced to resign from the govt. in disgrace and could only rejoin it after several years. That says something about how harshly corrupt pols are dealt with here.
A few decades ago, a govt/parliament member (forget which) was home in his home town during a winter night. He got drunk, went out, and fell asleep in a pile of snow. The cops found him, and put him in the sobering-up cell that all Sw. police houses have. No crime had taken place. When he woke up there, he understood that his political life was over, and rather than facing the disgrace of being found drunk - and therefore being forced to leave politics - he chose to commit suicide in the cell. At the time, it was considered that he did the right thing.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Inquartata I would not care to give up so much of my privacy for the illusion of greater security... |
If you were to switch citizenships and work for this political stance within the Swedish political system, I would discuss the topic more. As it is, I do not really see what leg you have to stand on.
Have a nice time!
Peter Gustafsson
Linear Mode
