New York Times’ article which appeared today called ” With Wind Energy, Opportunity for Corruption“, serves as a reminder that business activities based on permits, subsidies, public officials, lands deals and construction, are fertile grounds for kickbacks and money laundering. For example, in this New York Times’ article, Stephen Castle writes: “It’s a very new area of development with the promise of a lot of money that can be made, both for the developers of wind farms and landowners,” said John Milgrim, a spokesman for the New York attorney general’s office, who noted that the industry had been largely unregulated. “Anytime there’s financial dealings, new industry and large sums of money, there is potential for corruption.
And more on the topic of money laundering, the respected UK’s Guardian reported yesterday in an article titled “Drug money saved banks in global crisis, claims UN advisor“, quoting the head of the United Nations’ Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa: ” …he has seen evidence that the proceeds of organised crime were “the only liquid investment capital” available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year. He said that a majority of the $352bn (£216bn) of drugs profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result“.
To paraphrase John Milgrim, anytime there’s real estate and permits, there is potential for corruption. And corruption may have saved a banking system. Go figure.