Transparency International Corruption In Public Administration (BVI)

What is corruption? According to Transparency International corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. Corruption is said to be a cancer which once generated affects every aspect of a country’s economic and civil life and cannot be ended without medicine and spreading its roots continuously. Corruption has been a common poison in society since ancient time, and in today’s society it 's reaching to new heights. It has spread itself deeply in many societies and has become stronger because of its lots of roots, and the BVI is no exception. ‘Corruption worse than ever’, ‘There is rampant corruption under the NDP’, ’NDP Accused of Raiding Treasury & Corruption’: these are just a few of the headlines that brand the BVI news media

According to Transparency International, transparency is about shedding light on rules, plans, processes and actions. It is knowing why, how, what, and how much, and ensures that public officials, civil servants, managers, board members and businesspeople act visibly and understandably, and report on their activities. In the BVI, however, there seems to be a systematic breakdown in transparency at the institutional level. While there are many regulatory bodies such as the financial services commission, the breakdown occurs not in the regulation of entities, but the said regulatory bodies being shrouded in secrecy and concealing many of their operations from the general population. This, along with the fact that when accusations of corruption are brought to light, they are often downplayed by those in public offices and reacted mildly to, often resulting in little to no penalty or even any sort of investigating/inquiry into the matter at hand. To top it all off the practice among those of influence who choose to exploit their power and authority to provide favors to family members and friends also poses a serve hindrance to fairness, equality and transparency in the society. Together combined these ethical dilemmas create a storm of bad publicity for the BVI. Reports in recent new articles about corruption and the lack of transparency that resulted from the panama papers data leak (the biggest data leak in history) has already branded the BVI as a Tax Haven and a front for money laundering and financing of terrorism. This combined with the leniency granted by the government when sanctioning those involved in the leak and not forgetting the allegations of corruption involving the pier park project and the