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Corruption in Colombia is a pervasive problem at all levels of government, as well as in the military and police forces. A general culture and awareness of this corruption permeates society as a whole.

Transparency International's 2017 Corruption Perception Index, based on experts' and businesspeople's perceptions of corruption in the public sector, ranks the country 96th out of 180 countries.

Various factors are closely linked to and play into corruption in Colombia, including drug trafficking, the armed conflict, systemic inequality and a weak judicial system.

The government as well as international agencies are continuously taking steps to measure and reduce levels of corruption through anti-corruption laws and programs. Initiatives have also been headed by the private sector in the interest of facilitating and encouraging business activities.

Historical Context

Practices of corruption that plague politics and the judicial system are in part rooted in the colonial legacies of the Spanish conquest. The Spanish Empire was known to possess a disorganised and corrupt bureaucracy, which was transplanted to its colonies, including Colombia.

The first courts established by the Spaniards in today's Latin America were known to be corrupt, poorly paid and inefficient and the policies they implemented were ambivalent and customary. As a result, one of the primary ways elites could make a fortune was through occupying important positions in the colony's judicial bureaucracy and thereby capture rents. Colombia thus inherited an ineffective and distrusted legal system which fails to guarantee private property rights and promote economic investment and in which officials can easily abuse of their power.

The colonial government's domination over the economy and a lack of property rights was followed by the massive expropriation of land from Indigenous peoples, who's population had already shrunk by 90% by 1595, by which the elites further enriched themselves and set the patterns for future inequality.

This context set the precedent for Colombia's present-day interventionist, bureaucratic and clientelistic state.

Political Corruption

Accusations of corruption are prevalent at high levels of the political system involving politicians, even former presidents, and members of congress, many of which have recently been under investigation. Despite some convictions, abuses of power are said to remain common.

A 2005 study published by Transparency for Colombia (Transparencia por Colombia) assessed the index of integrity of governments, assemblies, and comptrollers at the departmental level and concluded that none of those dependencies scored an appropriate level of integrity, as 51% were prone to high or very high levels of corruption.

Recent studies of criminal behavior in the country indicate that while the rate of crime grew annually at about 39.7%, the criminal behavior by officials in local and national government grew 164.1%, and despite this increase there are few convictions. The levels of administrative corruption are so high that as of 2011, the media reports of such felonies overshadow the stories on terrorism or armed conflict.

In terms of political parties, none seem to be exempt of ties to corruption of some sort. However, some parties seem to be more closely implicated than others. The partido de la 'U' was found to have the greatest number of legislators linked to corruption cases, followed by the Partido Liberal, Cambio Radical and the Partido Conservador.

Among the most well-known cases of corruption at high levels of government are the collusion of previous administrations of Samper and Uribe with paramilitary groups funded by the illegal drug trade with the aim of obliterating the guerrilla opposition. The institutionalization of paramilitarism was such that by 2010, it was found that up to one third of local politicians and congress members had paramilitary ties. The amount of money laundered through their ties to the illegal drug trade is estimated to be equivalent to 3% of the country's GDP.

Following the surfacing of these allegations, 37 of 94 investigated members of congress were convicted as well as 8 out of 15 governors.

Costs of Corruption

In 2016, the country's general comptroller, Edgardo Maya Villazón, found that the sum lost to corruption in Colombia can reach $55 billion annually.

In addition to the economic costs of corruption, other aspects of Colombian society have been affected such as the loss of credibility of politicians and the Colombian government, as well as the demoralization and disinterest of society at large in political participation.

The impartiality of society in addressing the issue of corruption in Colombia stems in part from the recognized levels of impunity: only a small percentage of officials investigated for corruption are likely to suffer legal consequences. In addition, it is difficult for the judicial system to handle many investigations at lower levels. At the top, politicians avoid prosecution via political maneuvering and loopholes, sometimes under the protection of their own political party. An example of this is the attempt by the Party of National Unity to pass a bill that would protect its politicians involved in the parapolitics scandal.

Perceptions

According to data from a Global Corruption Barometer survey from 2010, 56% of respondents perceived corruption levels in the country to have increased during the last three years. Further, the institutions seen as most corrupt were the political parties and the parliament, followed by the police and public officials, the judiciary and the military.

Despite corruption being perceived as prevalent by 81% of respondents in 2011 according to the Americas Barometer, only 12% of them considered corruption to be a priority issue.

Public-Private Collusion

The lack of ethical behavior among private individuals or organizations, and politicians has resulted in a culture known in Colombia as "serrucho" (saw), in which it is almost the norm for individuals to bribe politicians in order to be granted contracts and for politicians to add commissions and extra costs for their own benefit. Other sources of corruption come from the result of privatization of government owned institutions in which the profits are used by individuals for their own benefit.

According to a study by the Universidad Externado de Colombia, corruption is one of the main factors that render doing business difficult in Colombia. They found 91% of entrepreneurs considered some business owners to pay bribes. Further, 16.92% said that a businessperson is likely to offer a bribe, and of the 28.4% of entrepreneurs who were asked for money or favors by a government official, only 8.52% reported it to the authorities in an effective way.

Cases of private company involvement in major corruption scandals involving contracts with the state include Odebrecht, who's bribes to the Colombian state to obtain construction and engineering contracts have exceeded $11 billion US dollars, as well as Saludcoop relating to tax fraud, and Ecopetrol related to embezzlement.

It is estimated that companies pay on average 17% of contract costs in the form of bribes to win contracts with the state.

Corruption and the Armed Conflict

Corruption also played an important role in the onset and prolongation of the armed conflict between left-wing guerrillas, predominantly the FARC, and the Colombian state and paramilitary groups.

At the outbreak of the conflict, then-president Ernesto Samper undertook a militarily costly and violent approach of annihilation of the guerrillas, rather than trying to solve the conflict through political or diplomatic means. The divulgence of corruption scandals within Samper's government, like the funding of his presidential campaign by the Cali Cartel and his subsequent loss of public legitimacy resulted in a profound political crisis, which is regarded as one of the causes of the civil conflict that ensued. The state's lack of accountability and inability to provide services to citizens in remote regions contributed to the polarization of the conflict and the legitimacy of the FARC as providers of services and security.

Despite the context of civil war, corruption levels remained comparable to those found in peaceful, neighbouring countries like Ecuador and Peru.

Corruption, Poverty and Inequality

The absence of the implementation of an extensive land reform after independence enabled large tracks of land to be gathered in the hands of a few powerful elites, one of the factors provoking the uprising of rural campesinos and the subsequent civil war in the 1960s. The expropriation of peasants from their farmland had dire impacts in terms of poverty and subsistence.

Today, corruption in the judicial system has enabled the perpetuation of these patterns of land appropriation and inequality. The Contraloría General de la Republica has recently brought to light 33 cases where the former were able, through judicial manipulations and their positions of power, to acquire parcels of land far exceeding the limits permitted by law. The primary culprits are usually businessmen, entrepreneurs and politicians, including ex-president Alvaro Uribe, who's hacienda was found to exceed the legal lot size by 103 hectares.

High levels of nepotism, patronage and cronyism in the civil service sector may also contribute to the perpetuation of inequality in restricting economic opportunities for those who need it most. Tax evasion and bribery of course also take away resources from public funds which could be used for public programs, which disproportionately affects the poor and contributes to sustained patterns of inequality.

Petty and Local-level Corruption

Levels of corruption at the local level (towns; cities) have been increasing since the 1990s relative to corruption levels at the national scale.

Local authorities are often found to be characterized by low levels of transparency and high levels of discretion, which promotes an environment favourable to bribe-taking, nepotism and poor service provision at local and regional levels.

Between 2004 and 2011, the largest increases in the frequency of bribe requests have been felt in cities where there is still a strong presence of illegal actors such as guerrillas, paramilitaries and drug lords. There has been, however, a decrease in these incidents for a majority of cities. The lack of a strong state presence in these smaller, rural areas inhibits the existence of petty corrupt activities.

Elections and Corruption

During election campaigns, it is not uncommon for parties to wield influence by providing rewards (monetary or other) in exchange for votes.

In the 2002 presidential election campaign, for example, potential voters were bribed with temporary work contracts and public contracts. Further, several mayors from the department of Nariño were accused of funding their vote-buying enterprises through extracting funds from Plan Colombia.

Beyond vote-buying and vote-rigging activities, electoral fraud has also taken the form of voter intimidation and illegal campaign funding by narco-paramilitary groups. As a result of misreporting information concerning campaign financing sources, the National Electoral Council investigated 120 regional and municipal election candidates.

Political scandals

• The Proceso 8000, the legal investigation to the events that happened in the middle-1990s, when the president of Colombia, Ernesto Samper, was accused of receiving money from drug lords for his electoral campaign.
• The Colombian parapolitics scandal, which debuted in 2006, revealed links between political leaders and paramilitary forces. Supporters of Álvaro Uribe's government are known to be involved in this scandal.
• The Yidispolitics Scandal, caused by declarations of the Colombian ex-representative, Yidis Medina, in which she claims that the Uribe administration offered her important jobs and money if she voted for the approval of his reelection.
• The 2006 DAS scandal, in which the now-defunct Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (Administrative Department of Security) illegally wiretapped the telephones and other communication lines of Supreme Court magistrates, judges, senators, journalists and other prominent figures perceived as being in opposition to the Álvaro Uribe administration.
• The 2011 DIAN (Office of taxation and customs) scandal in which the administrative staff plotted ways to steal millions of dollars from the Colombian taxpayers through a complex system of fake companies and legal loopholes.
• In 2011, a number of mayors in different departments misused money that was supposed to help Colombians that were affected by floods. Instead, they used the funds for political campaigns and personal benefit.
• In September 2011 former mayor of Bogota Samuel Moreno was convicted for irregularities in contracts with private businesses, under a scandal named "contract carousel" by the media, in which $55 million dollars in briberies were involved.
• In February 2014 a massive corruption network within the Colombian army was exposed. High-ranking military officers siphoned money and took bribes in order to grant contracts. Some of these senior officers took bribes of up to 50% of the cost of the contracts they awarded. Other branches of the military were taking money that was intended to be used for military supplies
• In February 2018, the Corte Suprema de Justicia leaked audios in which ex-president Alvaro Uribe talks with Juan Guillermo Villegas, investigated for paramilitarism, about manipulating witnesses in a case against Ivan Cepeda; a colombian senator.

Article Evaluation

I am evaluating the article "Corruption in Colombia"...

- one of the first opening lines is a bold statement which lacks proper citation - it is not clear where the information comes from.

- missing many citations in the next section: "Impacts of corruption".

- some grammatical/spelling errors.

- seems more argumentative than neutral/encyclopedic.

- missing historical perspective? looking at colonialism and how it shaped the political culture and corruption we see now.

- very limited scope... many other sections could be added: - looking at the historical evolution of a political culture of corruption... -going into more detail for some important cases of corruption, - looking at attempts that have been made at reforms/convictions against corrupt politicians or industries. - how has corruption changed or stayed the same over the years?

- how does corruption affect the wide population in their everyday lives?

- more in-depth details about how the armed conflict is related to corruption? does it even have that much of a causal link?

Topics/articles for final project

- "corruption in Colombia" : - A lot of sources available... - interesting topic personally. - needs to be rewritten in more "encyclopedic" manner. - broad topic, a lot to be said.

- different sections can be talked about: grand corruption: in politics, in the judiciary system. Petty corruption: how does it penetrate society in everyday interactions.

- corruption related to drug-trafficking, the civil war between the government and the FARC and paramilitarism during that period especially.

- why is this important? because it affects already high inequality and poverty, diverts government funds from programs that could benefit the poorer classes.

- has the privatization of the health system and of much of education system become embedded in corrupt networks as well?

- instances of attempts of reform, correction of corruption, success or failure? why?

Corruption in Colombia

OR

- "Panama as a tax haven" : rated C-class, part of many Wikiprojects, not too broad, specific enough to go in depth and cover what's most relevant. This article I would develop quite a lot further as it is only in its beginning stages. Look at what kind of tax evasion has been going on, by whom and how is this system upheld without punishment? How is this related to and affect corruption at large? What are the implications for Panama as a developing, Latin American country? Who benefits, who loses from this?

Panama as a tax haven

OR

Paramilitary: paramilitary groups have been used by powerful interests/politicians in many civil war contexts ... illegal nature but also has large negative effect on society at large more than monetary, of violence and fear.

- the article needs to be developed a lot. can look at important case studies (Colombia as one example).

- what is the nature of paramilitary armies, why have they emerged alongside national armies?

- what have the consequences been for society?

- attempts to eradicate?