Mukund Sarda Views On Political Corruption

Mukund Sarda Views On Corruption

Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties, is done under or involves .

Forms of vary, but include and . Corruption may facilitate such as ,and, though is not restricted to these activities. Misuse of power for other purposes, such as of political opponents and general , is also considered political corruption.

The activities that constitute illegal corruption differ depending on the country or jurisdiction. For instance, some political funding practices that are legal in one place may be illegal in another. In some cases, government officials have broad or ill-defined powers, which make it difficult to distinguish between legal and illegal actions. Worldwide, bribery alone is estimated to involve over 1 trillion US dollars annually. A state of unrestrained political corruption is known as a , literally meaning "rule by thieves".

Some forms of corruption — now called "institutional corruption" — are distinguished from bribery and other kinds of obvious personal gain. A similar problem of corruption arises in any institution that depends on financial support from people who have interests that may conflict with the primary purpose of the institution.