Corruption starts at the top and works its way down
By George Koumoullis
The Al Jazeera video which had the now departed president of the House of Representative Demetris Syllouris, together with the ex-deputy of Akel Christakis Giovanis, negotiating the granting of citizenship with a Chinese man, supposedly convicted for money laundering and bribery, indicates how deeply immersed in corruption political officials are. The most grotesque part of this grand show was the transformation of the two ‘fathers of the nation’ into godfathers – an acting performance, especially by the former House president, that would have been the envy of unforgettable Marlon Brando when he starred in legendary movie The Godfather.
When we talk about corruption, we usually mean the abuse of state and public power for self-serving purposes. Of course, corruption in the public sector is transferred to the private sector. But what we are mainly interested in are the politico-economic scandals (as those in which Giovanis and Syllouris starred) which come across as one-off events and ‘exploitation of opportunities’ by some, as opposed to daily corruption. It is logical for the public to wonder what the reasons are for this recent surge of corruption. The explanation is not so simple because we are dealing with a complex problem.
All of us, more or less, know the causes: the lack of inspiring education, the absence of meritocracy in the administration, the failure to implement the law at all times etc. I would like to concentrate on the most important cause, the root of the evil that is described by the Latin phrase, ‘Corruptio Optimi Pessima’, that is, the corruption of the best/most powerful is the worst of all because it unrelentingly permeates all levels of the state machinery and of society. In the case of Cyprus, ‘optimi’ is not just the political leadership but also the religious leadership as the number of churchgoers is high compared to other European countries.
How does this permeation take place? Sociologists use a term – demonstration effect – which explains that the behaviour of individuals in the higher echelons of the polity is copied/mimicked/adopted by individuals of the lower echelons (See David Fisher: The Demonstration Effect Revisited). In addition, the victims of corruption tend to lose their faith in traditional values and morality as they suffer from corruption. At a later stage, they are thus inclined to follow the same corrupt course. This would be confirmed by many public employees in Cyprus. At the start of their careers they were model employees, but further down the road they jumped on the bandwagon that had victimised them. This is how a culture of unbridled corruption develops and leads society to changing for the worse. The habit of thinking on the basis of networks of mutual help and mutual obligations is cultivated and we blur the boundaries between corruption and non-corruption.
Looking at the link between corruption and the top state position of the Republic we cannot but express surprise. In an article in Politis last Sunday, under the headline ‘Rule of law or rule of a gang?’, Makarios Drousiotis wrote that in no democratic country, “can the President of the state shape policy with a turnover of billions, when he has his name in a law office that deals with passports and a family business that deals with land development in combination with the so-called investment programme, without there being any supervision by independent institutions.”
In short the view of a large section of the population is that president is using his office for self-serving reasons. Through the demonstration effect, corruption permeates the House, (although a large part of it remains incorruptible). This is why we should not be puzzled by the absurdity of the law on the assets of politicians, the refusal to release the list of politically exposed persons with bad loans, the embarrassing Al Jazeera video and so on. If we assume the opposite of corruption is virtue, happiness, in the Aristotelian sense of moral completeness, which is based on coherence (see Plato’s Timaeus) then our politicians have failed totally.
The archbishop is also responsible for the corruption plaguing our society. The alleged payoffs he received from Malaysian Jho Low so he could secure a Cypriot passport pushed his reputation to its nadir. Since 2017, Low is wanted not only by Malaysia but also by many other countries for allegedly defrauding many companies. Any money pocketed in this manner by the archbishop would be considered stolen and in law taking stolen funds is a criminal offence. The archbishop confuses being streetwise with illegality. According to the Republic’s criminal code, chapter 154: “whoever accepts or holds property he knows to have been stolen or obtained in any way, under conditions that constitute a criminal or civil offence, is guilty of a criminal offence of the same degree.”
But because the church is a state within a state there is no equality before the law and this in itself constitutes corruption of huge proportions. Apart from a penal issue it is also a moral issue as it violates the one of the Ten Commandments. The archbishop tramples on every sense of virtue that consists of qualities such as honesty, integrity and compassion. With his behaviour, he blocks the rays of virtue and morality from shining on the faces of the faithful. He creates a demonstration effect that boosts corruption. He also creates the impression that the purpose of life is the maximisation of profit, for which the Creator (as described in Holy Bible) would strongly reprimand him as this pursuit is connected to corruption.
George Koumoullis is an economist and social scientist
