Weekly Report - 14 January 2010 (WR-10-02)

COLOMBIA | Cost of corruption. The government's anti-corruption czar, Oscar Ortiz, claimed this week that Col$3.9 trillion (US$2bn) in bribes were paid in Colombia in 2009. Ortiz did not explain how he reached this figure but he said it was “serious in any society, but a catastrophe in Colombia". Ortiz said that the bribes are principally associated with public works contracts, although there are also irregularities in the resources the various municipalities and departments receive from the royalties for oil exploration. He said the money was the equivalent of an entire year's worth of foreign direct investment (Col$3.7 trillion in 2007). Alternatively, he said, it would have provided 347,000 families with housing subsidies; education for 325,000 children; or helped to build 2,000 sewer systems or 1,800 aqueducts. “Corruption harms rights and limits development," he concluded.

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