Human beings are corruptible by nature. It is his physical body, which by exhausting the life cycle is doomed to a smelly decomposition. So is his moral fiber, which is sometimes strong and resilient, but too often falters or breaks down altogether when he falls into supposedly irresistible temptations. As long as corruption remains in the private sphere and does not harm society, it passes for a private vice. But when it gallops through the public sphere and bites into the treasury, it is urgent to stop it, unmask its authors, punish them and remove them from the institutions. To all. And forever, lest they become repeat offenders.
Because it is human nature, corruption is rampant in all countries. Although not equally. According to Transparency International's 2023 report, which scores 180 states from zero to one hundred – whether they are very or slightly corrupt – Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Norway and Singapore would be exemplary, with indexes from 90 to 83. While countries such as Somalia, Venezuela, Syria, South Sudan, Yemen, North Korea, Nicaragua, Haiti and Equatorial Guinea, at war or subject to dictatorships, close the list with regrettable indices of 17 to 11.
This preamble comes about the Koldo case, which has stirred up Spanish politics for a week and a half. Let's start with the global context: in the Transparency list, Spain occupies position 36, in the first quarter of the table, with an index of 60, between Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (beautiful Caribbean archipelago) and Botswana (African country with many diamonds and good per capita income). And it surpasses, in Europe, Italy – where the mafia parasites the Administration –, Poland or Greece. A Laportista would perhaps shout: “Screw it, we're not that bad!” But the sensible thing is to ask how to improve, and even more so taking into account that in the 2023 Transparency report we are as in the 2021 report.
More or less, corruption affects all governments. Canadian historian Michel Brunet said that it is only a serious problem if it affects 15% of public resources. De facto, then, it is accepted. But it shouldn't be like that. What Koldo did with his accomplices, thanks to the position in which Minister Ábalos had recklessly placed him, was to take advantage of the Covid emergency and invoice more than fifty million euros in health supplies. It was enough for them to move contacts and inflate prices. The masks multiplied the value of the unit by ten, and in extreme cases by twenty or more. Unchecked, the law of supply and demand leads to theft.
Fifty million is a fortune. But in the second quarter of 2020, the State, the Spanish autonomous communities and city councils paid a total of forty times that amount – more than two billion – to obtain essential health supplies. The controls did not apply under the state of alarm, masks and other products were missing and imports could disappear at any airport stopover, in the hands of a higher bidder. Obtainers and commission agents, some experts, others mere opportunists, profited by squeezing the institutions and economically harming the citizens they seemed to help.
None of that can be fixed now. But we must prevent it from happening again, and from the outset it is best to reveal all the goings-on. For this reason, the Government is right to propose an investigative commission in Congress to review all public awards of those days, regardless of the party in charge. And, for this reason, the PP errs by setting up an alternative commission in the Senate, so that Sánchez, Armengol, Illa and other socialists can parade there. This commission, designed like a hunt, aspires to turn the Senate, which controls the PP, into a private hunting preserve. But only Congress's attempt, if it finally clears up all the shenanigans, no matter who falls, could have broad curative effects.
We citizens already know what the PP thinks about the PSOE and vice versa. Now it would be appreciated if for once they agreed, to prevent unscrupulous smart people from putting their hand in our pockets again. And, if they don't know how to do it, let them at least spare us the moral lessons related to the behavior of others, and at the same time blind, deaf and dumb in the face of our own excesses.
