By 
Anywhere you go, corruption is always present,and it varies in scale, scope, and severity. Countries that uphold high moral values have lesser activities related to corruption. But for those who don’t, the malfeasance is prevalent and uncontrolled.
Corruption: Defined
Corruption, by definition,refers to unlawful conduct deliberately done to secure the benefit for oneself or another party by illicitly influencing the decision-making process of someone in power (the decision-maker).In its simplest sense, it is bribery. But when viewed ina wider sense, it includes extortion, fraud, misuse of highly classified information, embezzlement, money laundering, and abuse of power. The case of bribery only becomes complex when it falls in the gray area of ritualized “gift-giving” meaning the act is an integral part of a certain culture.
US Corruption: A Looming Crisis
According to Transparency International, the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of the United States of America has dropped by 9 points from its 76 score in 2015. Although there is a notable reduction in the nation’s corruption level, the advocacy director for the U.S. office of Transparency International, Scott Greytak, says otherwise. He said that the major contributor to the decline of the country’s CPI is due to the “decay” in the U.S. political institutions. According to the joint investigation published by BuzzFeed News and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists last 2020, about a trillion- dollars of dirty money was allowed by major banks to circulate in the USfinancial system as well as globally. It is suspected that these financial transactions were illegally used by drug syndicates, terrorists, and kleptocrats.Moreover, the ongoing humanitarian crisis has become an avenue for some powermongersto manipulate large funds like financial aids for small businesses to be granted to unqualified enterprises.Above all, the most appalling truth about this heinous crime is thevulnerability of its favorite victim—the public healthcare system—which is prone to misusage of funds. Other industries likepharmaceutical and medical supply chains are not exempted from it too. If corruption will not seize, the country’s economy and its people will suffer long-term damages.
The Role of Whistleblowers in Ending Corruption
Corruption exists out of pure negligence of duty, and most of the time it is done in secrecy. To expose it, it would require citizens of integrityto legally call out the people involved in such a humiliating act. But sometimes fear overpowers the whistleblowers’thirst for justice. Therefore, Massachusetts False Claims Actwas created and enactedto make these fraudsters accountable as well as to protect the whistleblowers from possible retaliation coming from the outlaws.
