Some Corruption Statistics

In Australia, two companies have control of about 90% of the capital city and national newspaper markets.

It is estimated, that in the U.S., television alone is responsible for 10% of youth violence.

The average American child while watching TV will see more than 20,000 commercials each year and will have watched about 8,000 murders by the time they finish grade school.

It is conservatively estimated that approximately 56 billion Euros are lost annually to fraud and corruption within the European Union.

Considering the most conservative estimate only, the price tag to healthcare fraud and corruption is of at least €80 million every day in the European Union.

In Scotland, around £21 million (€24 million) in net savings have been generated by NHSScotland Counter Fraud Services between July 2000 and March 2009.

In September 1998, thousands of unhappy investors took to the streets in Guangdong to protest the loss of their savings in shady investment schemes. A month later, 200 villagers in the southern city of Guiyang protested a government land developed scheme. In Anhui Province, villagers wrote a petition to leaders about corrupt practices by village chiefs, who imposed heavy taxes. After the villagers took a local official hostages a settlement was worked and the village chiefs were given prison sentences.

Former U.S. ambassador to China, James Lilley, told Time, "It's been said there are three options. Shoot the corrupt, let them go free, or muddle through. Their only option is the third.

Each year, in both developed and developing countries, over US$ 1trillion is paid in bribes

Corruption and the transfer of illicit funds have contributed to the capital flight in Africa, with more than US$ 400 billion having been looted and stashed away in foreign countries. Of that amount, around US$ 100 billion is estimated to have come from Nigeria.Former President of Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko (in power 1965-1997) is alleged to have looted the country's treasury of some US$ 5 billion—an amount equal to the country's external debt at the time. The late Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha and members of his inner circle looted and exported an estimated US$ 2.2 billion. The World Bank estimates that 70 per cent of the population of Nigeria live on less than US$ 1 a day. In Mexico, the brother of former President Carlos Salinas amassed US$ 120 million as a result of corruption, an amount that the World Bank estimates would pay for annual health care at current per capita levels for more than 594,000 Mexican citizens.

Corrupt practices facilitate drug trafficking and organized crime. Corruption is associated with money laundering and illicit international money transfers, which can be used to support mechanisms for international terrorists