Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Kleptocracy (from
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
, "thief", or , "I steal", and from , "power, rule"), also referred to as thievocracy, is a
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
whose
corrupt Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...
leaders (kleptocrats) use
political power In political science, power is the ability to influence or direct the actions, beliefs, or conduct of actors. Power does not exclusively refer to the threat or use of force (coercion) by one actor against another, but may also be exerted thro ...
to expropriate the wealth of the people and land they govern, typically by
embezzling Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...
or misappropriating government funds at the expense of the wider population."Kleptocracy". ''The Oxford English Dictionary''. Oxford University Press. 1st ed. 1909. One feature of political-based socioeconomic thievery is that there is often no public announcement explaining or apologizing for misappropriations, nor any legal charges or punishment levied against the offenders. Kleptocracy is different from
plutocracy A plutocracy () or plutarchy is a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income. The first known use of the term in English dates from 1631. Unlike most political systems, plutocracy is not rooted in any established ...
(rule by the richest) and
oligarchy Oligarchy (; ) is a form of government in which power rests with a small number of people. Members of this group, called oligarchs, generally hold usually hard, but sometimes soft power through nobility, fame, wealth, or education; or t ...
(rule by a small elite). In a kleptocracy, corrupt politicians enrich themselves secretly outside the
rule of law The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a Body politic, political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". Acco ...
, through
kickbacks A kickback is a form of negotiated bribery in which a commission is paid to the bribe-taker in exchange for services rendered. Generally speaking, the remuneration (money, goods, or services handed over) is negotiated ahead of time. The kickback ...
,
bribes Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official duty, to act contrar ...
, and special favors from lobbyists and corporations, or they simply direct state funds to themselves and their associates. According to the ''
Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...
'', the first use in English occurs in the publication ''Indicator'' of 1819: "Titular ornaments, common to Spanish kleptocracy."


Characteristics

Kleptocratic rulers often treat their country's
treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry; in a business context, corporate treasury. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be ...
as a source of personal wealth, spending funds on
luxury good In economics, a luxury good (or upmarket good) is a good for which demand increases more than what is proportional as income rises, so that expenditures on the good become a more significant proportion of overall spending. Luxury goods are in con ...
s and extravagances as they see fit. Many kleptocratic rulers secretly transfer public funds into hidden personal accounts in foreign countries to provide for themselves if removed from power. According to L.K. Samuels, one reason governmental bodies subscribe to theft-prone policies is to lay the groundwork for the socialization of labor and property, thus permitting kleptocrats to make a populace "subservient to an institutionalized authority." Journalist Paul Greenberg, in writing in 1989 against the idea of the United States sending substantial foreign aid to
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
, argued that the country was emerging from "40 years of a Communist thievocracy that has obliterated not only economic progress but also the idea of a modern economy."


Financial system

Contemporary studies have identified 21st-century kleptocracy as a global
financial system A financial system is a system that allows the exchange of funds between financial market participants such as lenders, investors, and borrowers. Financial systems operate at national and global levels. Financial institutions consist of comple ...
based on
money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...
, which "depends on the services of the world's largest banks and expert financial professionals". The
International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...
has suggested it could be a consensus of estimates, that money laundering made up 2–5 percent of the global economy in 1998. Kleptocrats engage in
money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...
to obscure the corrupt origins of their wealth and safeguard it from domestic threats such as economic instability and predatory kleptocratic rivals. They are then able to secure this wealth in assets and investments within more stable
jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple level ...
s, where it can then be stored for personal use, returned to the country of origin to support the kleptocrat's domestic activities, or deployed elsewhere to protect and project the regime's interests overseas. Kleptocrats abuse the freedoms found in Western countries by transferring funds out of a kleptocracy and into
Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
jurisdictions for money laundering and asset security. Since 2011, more than $1 trillion has left
developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed Secondary sector of the economy, industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. ...
annually in illicit financial outflows. A 2016 study found that $12 trillion had been siphoned out of the kleptocracies of
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, and developing economies. Western professional services providers are taken advantage of by kleptocratic Russians and Chinese, exploiting legal and financial loopholes in the West to facilitate transnational money laundering. The kleptocratic financial system typically comprises four steps according to one opinion. #First, kleptocrats or those operating on their behalf create anonymous shell companies to conceal the origins and ownership of the funds. Multiple interlocking networks of anonymous shell companies may be created and
nominee director A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulations ...
s appointed to further conceal the kleptocrat as the ultimate
beneficial owner Beneficial may refer to: Organizations * Beneficial Corporation, a consumer finance company founded in 1914 that was ultimately bought by HSBC Corporation ** Beneficial Loan Society, the former name of Beneficial Corporation ** Beneficial Finance, ...
of the funds. #Second, kleptocrats violate Western laws when they illegally transfer funds into the Western financial system. #Third, financial transactions conducted by the kleptocrat in a Western country complete the integration of the funds. Once a kleptocrat has purchased an asset this can then be resold, providing a defensible albeit illegal origin of the funds. This is known as money laundering and is illegal throughout the Western world. Research has shown that the purchase of luxury real estate is a particularly favored method, especially by Chinese and Russian kleptocrats. #Fourth, according to a British newspaper, kleptocrats may use their illegally laundered funds to engage in reputation laundering, hiring
public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...
firms to present a positive public image and
lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...
s to suppress journalistic scrutiny of their political connections and the origins of their wealth. In a 2011 forensic study of grand corruption cases, the
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...
found the United States was the leading victim of illegal incorporation of entities involved in money laundering schemes. The Department of Treasury estimates that $300 billion is laundered annually in the United States in violation of US law. This kleptocratic financial system flourishes in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
by illegally abusing the United States' liberal economic structure for two reasons. #First, the United States does not have a beneficial ownership registry, and kleptocrats take advantage of this privacy benefit. #Second, kleptocrats take advantage of incorporation agents, lawyers, and realtors to unknowingly launder their money. Currently, there are only around 1,200 money laundering convictions per year in the United States and money launderers face a less than five percent chance of conviction.
Raymond Baker Ray or Raymond Baker may refer to: *Ray Stannard Baker (1870–1946), American journalist and author * Ray Baker (record producer), country-western music producer *Ray Baker (actor) (born 1948), American actor * Ray Jerome Baker (1880–1972), Amer ...
estimates that law enforcement fails in 99.9% of cases to detect money laundering by kleptocrats and other financial criminals. Other Western jurisdictions favoured by kleptocrats include
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
, the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, and British dependencies, especially the
British Virgin Islands The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands, are a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands and north-west ...
, the
Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory, and the largest by population. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located so ...
,
Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...
, and
Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...
. Jurisdictions connected to the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
that are particularly favoured by kleptocrats include
Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
, the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
, and the
Netherlands Antilles The Netherlands Antilles (, ; ), also known as the Dutch Antilles, was a constituent Caribbean country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands consisting of the islands of Saba (island), Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten in the Lesser Antilles, ...
.


Political and corporate kleptomania

Other forms of a thievery society that can induce a "culture of systematic fraud" have been described as "political and corporate kleptomania". In this case, the plunder and looting enriches not only high government officials, but a narrow class of
plutocrats A plutocracy () or plutarchy is a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income. The first known use of the term in English dates from 1631. Unlike most political systems, plutocracy is not rooted in any established ...
, who usually represent wealthy individuals and families who have amassed great assets through the usage of political favoritism, special interest legislation, monopolies, special tax breaks, state intervention, subsidies or outright graft. This type of economic system of political spoils is sometimes referred to as
crony capitalism Crony capitalism, sometimes also called simply cronyism, is a pejorative term used in political discourse to describe a situation in which businesses profit from a close relationship with state power, either through an anti-competitive regul ...
.


Effects

The effects of a kleptocratic regime or government on a nation are typically adverse in regards to the welfare of the state's
economy An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...
, political affairs, and
civil right Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...
s. Kleptocratic governance typically ruins prospects of foreign investment and drastically weakens the domestic market and cross-border trade. As kleptocracies often embezzle money from their citizens by misusing funds derived from
tax payment A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...
s, or engage heavily in money laundering schemes, they tend to heavily degrade the quality of life for citizens. In addition, the money that kleptocrats steal is diverted from funds earmarked for public amenities such as the building of hospitals, schools, roads, parks – having further adverse effects on the quality of life of citizens. The informal oligarchy that results from a kleptocratic elite subverts democracy (or any other political format).


Examples

In early 2004, the German anti-corruption
NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...
Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil s ...
released a list of ten self-enriching leaders in the two decades previous to the report. Transparency International acknowledged that they were "not necessarily the 10 most corrupt leaders" and noted that "very little is known about the amounts actually embezzled". In descending order of amount allegedly stolen (converted to
United States dollar The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
s), they were: # Former
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
n
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Suharto Suharto (8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian Officer (armed forces), military officer and politician, and dictator, who was the second and longest serving president of Indonesia, serving from 1967 to 1998. His 32 years rule, cha ...
($15 billion to $35 billion) # Former
Philippine The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...
($5 billion to $10 billion) # Former Zairian
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Mobutu Sese Seko Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu wa za Banga ( ; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997), often shortened to Mobutu Sese Seko or Mobutu and also known by his initials MSS, was a Congolese politician and military officer ...
($5 billion) # Former
Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
n
Head of State A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "
he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...
being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...
Sani Abacha Sani Abacha (; (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military dictator and statesman who ruled Nigeria with an iron fist as military head of state from 1993 following a palace coup d'état until his death in 1998. Abacha's seiz ...
($2 billion to $5 billion) # Former Yugoslav
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Slobodan Milošević Slobodan Milošević ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан Милошевић, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the President of Serbia between 1989 and 1997 and President of the Federal Republic of Yugos ...
($1 billion) # Former
Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...
an
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Jean-Claude Duvalier Jean-Claude Duvalier (; 3 July 19514 October 2014), nicknamed "Baby Doc" (, ), was a Haitian dictator who held the presidency of Haiti from 1971 until he was overthrown by a popular uprising in February 1986. He succeeded his father François ...
($300 million to $800 million) # Former
Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
vian
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Alberto Fujimori Alberto Kenji Fujimori Fujimori (26 July 1938 – 11 September 2024) was a Peruvian politician, professor, and engineer who served as the 54th president of Peru from 1990 to 2000.* * * * * * * Born in Lima, Fujimori was the country's fir ...
($600 million) # Former Ukrainian
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Pavlo Lazarenko Pavlo Ivanovych Lazarenko (; born 23 January 1953) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian convicted criminal, international fugitive, and a former politician who served as Prime Minister of Ukraine from 1996 to 1997. Born in 1953 to a peasant family in southe ...
($114 million to $200 million) # Former
Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...
n
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Arnoldo Alemán José Arnoldo Alemán Lacayo (born 23 January 1946) is a Nicaraguan politician who served as the 56th president of Nicaragua from 10 January 1997 to 10 January 2002. In 2003, he was convicted of corruption and sentenced to a 20-year prison term; ...
($100 million) # Former
Philippine The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Joseph Estrada Joseph Ejercito Estrada (; born Jose Marcelo Ejercito; April 19, 1937), also known by the nickname Erap, is a Filipino politician and former actor, who served as the 13th president of the Philippines from 1998 until his resignation in 2001. ...
($78 million to $80 million) The political system in Russia has been described as a
Mafia state In politics, a mafia state is a Sovereign state, state system where the government is tied with organized crime to the degree when government officials, the police, and/or military became a part of the criminal enterprise. According to US diplom ...
where president
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
serves as the "head of the clan". Former
Malaysian Prime Minister The prime minister of Malaysia (; ) is the head of government of Malaysia. The prime minister directs the executive branch of the federal government. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong appoints the prime minister who is a member of Parliament (MP) wh ...
Najib Razak Mohammad Najib bin Abdul Razak (, ; born 23 July 1953) is a Malaysian politician who served as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2009 to 2018. In 2020, he was convicted of corruption in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal, on ...
had $731 million in his personal bank accounts when his ruling party alliance
Barisan Nasional Barisan Nasional (BN; ) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1974 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties to succeed the Alliance Party. It is the third largest political coalition with 30 seats in ...
lost the 14th election to opposition party
Pakatan Harapan Pakatan Harapan (PH; stylised as HARAPAN; ) is a Malaysian Parliamentary group, political coalition consisting of Centre-left politics, centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has led ...
led by former Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad Mahathir bin Mohamad (; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author and doctor who was respectively the fourth and seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia, prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003 and from 2018 to 2020. He was the ...
, in part because of allegations of participating in the
1MDB scandal The 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal, often referred to as the 1MDB scandal or just 1MDB, is an ongoing corruption, bribery and money laundering conspiracy in which the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) w ...
. Azerbaijan has been described as a kleptocracy for its use of oil revenue to enrich an oligarch class, including that of the ruling Aliyev dynasty. In 2010, ''
The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American Conservatism, conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It covers general interest topics with an emphasis on Politics of the United States, national politics. Its broadsheet daily edit ...
'' estimated that HDZ elites in
Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
led by former prime minister
Ivo Sanader Ivo Sanader (; born 8 June 1953) is a Croatian former politician who served as Prime Minister of Croatia from 2003 to 2009. He is currently serving a 18-year prison sentence for corruption in Lipovica penitentiary. Sanader is to date the second ...
had "stolen or siphoned off" about 1 billion USD.


Iran

Iranian regime has been called marxist kleptocratic, even though in his speech in 2025 Supreme Leader Khamenei denied the regime being systematicly corrupt though it was concurrent with
Iranian economic crisis As of December 2024, Iran is experiencing its deepest and longest economic crisis in its modern history. With international sanctions, particularly those reimposed under current United States president Donald Trump, Iran's oil exports and access ...
and
Iranian energy crisis Despite being a country with huge oil and gas reserves Iran suffers from a severe energy crisis. The Iranian energy crisis is a multifaceted problem that has been exacerbated by a combination of factors, including poor governance, foreign polic ...
.


Narcokleptocracy

A narcokleptocracy is a society in which criminals involved in the trade of
narcotics The term narcotic (, from ancient Greek ναρκῶ ''narkō'', "I make numb") originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with numbing or paralyzing properties. In the United States, it has since become associated with opiates ...
have undue influence on the governance of a state. For instance, the term was used to describe the regime of
Manuel Noriega Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno ( , ; February 11, 1934 – May 29, 2017) was a Panamanian dictator and military officer who was the ''de facto'' List of heads of state of Panama, ruler of Panama from 1983 to 1989. He never officially serv ...
in
Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...
in a report prepared by a subcommittee of the
United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a Standing committee (United States Congress), standing committee of the United States Senate, U.S. Senate charged with leading Foreign policy of the United States, foreign-policy legi ...
chaired by
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...
John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...
. In 2020, the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
charged the president of
Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
,
Nicolas Maduro Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to: People Given name * Nicolas (given name) Mononym * Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer * Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer Surname Nicolas * Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–1774), ...
with drug trafficking, as well as many officials and head figures of his administration.


See also

* * * * *
Group of States Against Corruption The Group of States against Corruption (, GRECO) is the Council of Europe's anti-corruption monitoring body with its headquarters in Strasbourg (France). It was established in 1999 as an enlarged partial agreement by 17 Council of Europe member ...
*
International Anti-Corruption Academy The International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) is an international intergovernmental organization based in Laxenburg, Austria, that teaches government officials and professionals about anti-corruption measures. Membership to the organization i ...
*
International Anti-Corruption Day International Anti-Corruption Day has been list of minor secular observances#December, observed annually on 9 December since the passage of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption on 31 October 2003 to raise public awareness for anti- ...
* * * * *
Paradise Papers The Paradise Papers are a set of over 13.4 million confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investments that were leaked to the German reporters Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer, from the newspaper'' Süddeutsche Z ...
* *
United Nations Convention against Corruption The United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) is the only legally binding international anti-corruption multilateral treaty. Negotiated by UN member states, member states of the United Nations (UN) it was adopted by the UN General Ass ...


References

Notes Further reading * {{Corruption Political corruption Pejorative terms for forms of government Wealth concentration Oligarchy