The recent scandals of Lava Jato and Panama Papers have brought up the debate about corporate corruption. But it can be much more present in the day-to-day life of companies than imagined, including in the front line of service provision. Called silent corruption, this practice is not directly linked to the diversion of money, but to a complex and difficult to identify and punish behavior. The concept was created in 2010 by the World Bank to describe the situation in African countries, where public officials did not fulfill their duties and small flaws in conduct caused major impacts on development. “The most serious thing about silent corruption is that it has no immediate impact, it is long-term”, warns economist Jorge Arbache, a professor at the University of Brasília (UnB) and one of the scholars who formulated the concept.

Source: O Estado de São Paulo newspaper (17/05)

Click here to read the full story