This is for the information of all those who wish to be informed and reflect that like physical laws moral laws are also irreversible and though all are not caught in the net, but look at the personal life of the corrupt and the exploiters, are they happy and you will know that there is a Cosmic Energy which ruthlessly takes care of all.  

1.      In 1964 Melvin H. Osterman, a prisoners in the Ricurse island prison was very happy and amused on the Christmas eve. He had been a judge at a New York claims-Court. He was due to be released that evening, after eight months incarceration on the charges of accepting a huge amount as grant from a liquor contractor in a case filed against him by the States Excise department, along with two high officials of the Governor Rockefeller Administration.  

2.      Two other prisoners were released that evening J. Vincent Kiyogh, a former judge of the Brooklyn State Supreme Court and former Chief Assistant Federal Attorney in Brooklyn, Eliot Kahaner. They had collaborated in declaring a businessman bankrupt fraudulently and accepted a huge amount as bribe from him.

  3.      On March 13, 1965 the U.S. Senate Hall witnessed an extraordinary sort of activity and it was under a strange pall of hush. After a gap of more than 35 years the Senate was going to sit as the Court of impeachment about to declare its judgement in the case it were hearing for past one week. The accused was 74 years Justice Napoleon Bonaparte Johnson, who had been serving as Justice at the Oklahama Supreme Court since 1949, and as Chief Justice at the time of his indictment. He was accused of accepting 10,000 dollars as bribe from another judge. The Senate found Justice Napoleon guilty of the charge and removed him from his office. The matter did not end with the impeachment of Justice Napoleon. As the hearing proceeded ahead a number of other judges found themselves in the dock. Justice Nelson S. Corn, who had charged Justice Napoleon of corruption was also investigated and found guilty of concealing his income and theft of taxes. He admitted his guilt. He was incarcerated for one and a half years. After his release, Corn made on 84 page submissions before the Senate and charged former Chief Justice Earl Welsh with corrupt practices. Welsh had been a judge for 32 years and he belonged to a reputed lawyers family in Oklahoma. He resigned his job before the proceedings of impeachment against him were set in motion. He was found guilty of corruption and awarded 3 years imprisonment and a fine of 13,500 dollars. During the hearings he was asked if he remembered an occasion when he delivered his judgment or expressed his opinion without taking bribe, during his entries career as a Judge, he replied in the negative.

  4.      In 1960 the California State legislature empowered an investigation Commission appointed by it, to also investigate charges made against judges. This resulted in about a dozen judges seeking voluntary retirement and conviction of 26 judges during next five years on charges of corruption and nepotism.

  5.      It is a grim state of affairs and the only consolidation the people of America can have is the existence of a vigilant and watchful press which had developed and refined the art of investigative journalism.

  6.      Unscrupulous and immoral ways to usurp political power are the order of the day. Today a statesman considers it as his birthright to grease his palm in the form of gifts or donations. This is on account of widespread corruption throughout the length and breadth of the world that humanity appears to sit on the brink of a volcano that can explode any moment. If leaders of a nation are corrupt, how can a common man be expected of an honest living and how will he protect his production?

  7.      Particularly in democratic societies, building and running political parties, hiring workers for them and leading them to victory at polls involve immense cost. This cost is the price of democracy. The only question that remains to be answered is: who pays the price of democracy? Politicians and Political parties need huge funds to run the show of democracy and because the show is being run in the name of and for the people, the people shall have to bear the cost of the show, either by voluntary contribution or through bribery or by exploitation. Be it America or England, India or Philippines, it is a well-known fact that politicians and political parties spend enormous amounts of money on their political activities. It is also very well known fact that the money thus spent is hardly ever collected from individuals in the form of voluntary contributions. The money comes from a number of sources most of them illegal and unethical-commissions received on purchases made and contracts given on behalf of the state, grant of favours and licences, manipulation of prices, assurance of regular supplies of energy and scarce raw materials and the like. These unethical and at times also anti-national means are resorted to by political parties and also politicians in their individual capacity in almost every democratic and socialist state in the world. Bribery resorted to by multinational business corporations and foreign espionage agencies is also a universal phenomenon.

  8.      It is easy to criticize and condemn corruption but it is difficult to eliminate it from human society, and much more difficult to avoid being tempted into it when our own turn comes. The only one method of rooting out corruption is to build human character, and to teach mankind the fundamental concept of Buddhist ethics, which consists in Samyak Aajeevika - proper livelihood, one of the eight cardinal principles of Dharma or right conduct according to Lord Buddha. It is really heart-rending to note that all of us have forgotten his message. Materialism which is the order of the day must not disassociate itself with moral-ism.

  9.      It is very easy to ridicule others for their acts of corruption but that would not be the answer to the problem. We can hope to root out corruption form the world only if we are able to root the nefarious thing out of our own hearts and minds. Society is, a man, in its mega form. Let us with a heavy heart put a question to oneself:

  Am I honest? Would I have behaved in a different fashion had I been given the power enjoyed by a Nixon, a Tanaka, a Chun, or a Churbanov?

  (Excepts from Most Famous Corrupt Politician by Nemisharan Mittal with modifications)

  Aruneshwar Gupta

May 7, 2003