Rabih Alameddine Quotes
I always assumed that everyone knew no country would ever be awarded a World Cup without pricey gifts exchanging hands under the tables.
Alameddine, Rabih. "World Cup Diary." The New Republic, 2014.
1st Earl of Kingston. Historically, this quotation shows that in the middle of the 19th century bribery was commonplace and material when there were critical issues under defeat by the legislature. It was so blatant that the Prime Minister in his report to the Queen pointed it out just like other political factors.
Abramoff had bribed over 100 Congressional offices by a combination of campaign donations, paid golf junkets all over the world, free elegant meals at his own fancy Washington Restaurant, free tickets for the Congressmen, their staffs and their major constituents, to Concerts and sporting events including his own Skyboxes, and promises of future employment at very high salaries. Ironically, we was convicted of cheating some of his lobbying clients and did a jail term, but his “bribery” was technically usually legal. In addition to Abramoff, only one Congressman was charged and convicted of corruption, when many if not most had engaged in these corrupt practices. Congress makes the rules with loopholes so that what is bribery and corruption in any other setting is often not against the law if Congress is involved.
In many countries throughout the world, corruption is rampant and any contractor to the government has to pay and often offers to pay the appropriate government officials. In the most corrupt countries like Nigeria, corruption is rife in all levels of government but is technically illegal. While in Saudi Arabia, the government has institutionalized the bribery and corruption but limited the amount to 6 percent. Corruption of this type is not only existent on government contracts but often operates for private money where government approval must be obtained. World Bank contracts for example are notorious for the percentage that must be paid to government officials despite the fact that the World Bank officially claims to be against corruption.
Rabih Alameddine (Arabic: ربيع علم الدين) (born 1959) is a Lebanese-American painter and writer.
