Senator Richard Lugar remembered for anti-corruption work

Senator Richard Lugar (1932 - 2019) championed accountability for multinationals, especially extractive industries, in how they deal with foreign governments. This was inspired in part by his work as co-chair (with Joe Biden) on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in examining the World Bank's role in Lesotho's Highlands Water Project. The Lesotho government had successfully prosecuted international companies for corruption, a rare and precedent-setting accomplishment. He can be seen at work in this video about the corruption case.

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(previously published at progresstrap.blogspot.com ) Corruption is directly involved in the inhibition of true progress, in keeping vested interests vested and in keeping the status quo static.

How many societies have not been mired in violence due to bribery and arms trading? How many refugees would be spared the resulting voyage of despair? How many alternative energy innovations have not been stifled by oil barons? How many societies have fallen to decay because special interest groups called the shots?

One society that made a determined effort to prevent corruption from plunging it into a cycle of crippling debt was Lesotho, a small African state. When an international construction consortium provided illicit incentives to public officials responsible for their Highlands Water Project – the largest construction project in Africa – the Lesotho administration decided to act. This was a precedent-setting move, in that the defendants were powerful foreign companies.

A documentary on this campaign, called Pipedream,  is in the works. You can sample this documentary at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWTM-Eog55w

Ref: 
Prosecuting Bribery in Lesotho (11th International Anti-Corruption Conference, Seoul, Republic of Korea)
Foreign government payments - anti-corruption measures - The Atlantic