State corruption primarily affects the lower classes, reducing their access to essential services such as education and health. Applying AI to corruption investigations can help us detect the underlying relationships between shell companies, their operations, locations, and bank account information to prevent entering into public contracts with them. While the International Monetary Fund has estimated that this global crime costs over $1.5 billion annually, new UN estimates place this figure above $3.6 billion[185]. Despite this, today the efforts of civil society, officials, and some companies toward data openness make it easier to see how governments spend their money. The constant transformation of public contracts into public information has become vital for controlling corruption since it is precisely these types of contracts that tend to favor such activity.
A report on trust in government and institutions carried out by the Edelman Trust Barometer[186] indicates that in Latin America, 74% distrust their government leaders. This trend has been constant at least since 2012, and according to 2018 Latinobarómetro data, only 13% of Latin Americans trusted their country’s political parties, and 79%[187] distrusted their congresses or parliaments. In other words, in the region, there is generalized distrust in representative institutions, which means they no longer represent almost anyone. Is that the case?
Just as over 50% of the world’s population is under 30 years old[188], INDEC indicates that in 2010, in Argentina, 20,195,042 people, or 50.34% of the population, were between 0 and 29 years old[189]. In fact, if we extend the sample to 39 years old, the composition increases to 25,972,190 people or 64.74% of the population. However, if we look at the data provided by the Argentine National Congress, as of August 4, 2023, we only had three deputies under 30 years old, and a total of 32 representatives under 40 years old. This represents 1.17% and 12.5%, respectively, given that the Honorable Chamber of Deputies of the Nation is made up of 257 members[190]. Thus, the average age of our representatives is 54 years. Isn’t the representation by age group somewhat disproportionate? Half the population has 1.17% of the power. On the other hand, the average age of the members of the National Senate is 58 years, and there is no one under 30 years old. Only five senators, or 6.9% of the chamber, which is made up of 72 members, are under 40 years old[191].
Researching further, I found other numbers that might help explain the distrust. It turns out that over the past 20 years, only a third of public officials brought to trial for corruption were convicted, although the vast majority of them were never sentenced to prison because the sentences were not enforced. That’s not all; few cases actually go to trial; some are dismissed for lack of merit, which may be justified, while other cases end in dismissals, sometimes controversial for civil society; and finally, many cases are shelved until they expire. Thus, only 2% of every 100 cases investigated for corruption result in a conviction: 2%. Without fire or smoke, they cook everything.
These numbers come from the audit of corruption cases conducted by the Corps of Auditors of the National Judiciary Council, which analyzed more than 700 files that reached various federal oral courts in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires between 1996 and 2016[192]. As the lyrics of a song by my favorite band, Cuarteto de Nos, say, we don’t need more heroes with promises turned to betrayal, who ask us to look for their name under S for salvation. We don’t need more of those who dress as redeemers and in the end, find their name under C for corruption.
Fortunately, I believe that as our governments advance in technology and transparency, the foundations will be laid to make it more difficult for future rulers to embezzle public funds. The fact that the future is necessarily more transparent is a good consolation.
However, let’s not think that technology solves all our corruption problems. We will have more tools to fight it, yes; but those who want to commit crimes will also have more tools to hide; at least until we reach a model of absolute transparency where each of our transactions is tracked, perhaps thanks to sovereign digital money, as we mentioned earlier. In this sense, Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies in general, and decentralized protocols like Tornado.cash, present an alternative for those who want to evade state monetary and legal controls today, but that deserves a different section, as it is enough to know that their characteristics make them a desirable asset for money laundering, capital flight, financing international terrorism, and tax evasion, even though their technology can also be understood as a tool that represents and defends freedom.
[185] The costs of corruption: values, economic development under assault, trillions lost, says Guterres. UN News. (2018). Viewed on October 30, 2021, at https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/12/1027971.
[186] Edelman Trust Barometer 2023 – Latin America. (2023). Edelman. Viewed on July 28, 2023, at https://www.edelman.lat/estudios/edelman-trust-barometer-2023-america-latina.
[187] Latinobarometro 2018. (2018). [Ebook]. Viewed on October 16, 2021, at http://www.latinobarometro.org/latdocs/INFORME_2018_LATINOBAROMETRO.pdf.
[188] Youth Admin. (2016). Launching Global Campaign Promoting the Right of Young People To Run for Public Office. Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth. Viewed on February 15, 2023, at https://www.un.org/youthenvoy/2016/11/launching-global-campaign-promoting-rights-young-people-run-public-office.
[189] INDEC: Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos de la República Argentina. (2018). Cuadro P 2. Total del país. Población total por sexo e índice de masculinidad, según edad en años simples y grupos quinquenales de edad. Año 2010. Indec.gob.ar. Viewed on February 15, 2023, at https://www.indec.gob.ar/indec/web/Nivel4-CensoNacional-3-999-Censo-2010.
[190] Cajén, F (2023). Argentine National Deputies. El Estado Virtual. Viewed on August 4, 2023, at https://elestadovirtual.com/diputados-y-diputadas-nacionales-de-argentina.
[191] Cajén, F (2023). Argentine National Senators. El Estado Virtual. Viewed on August 4, 2023, at https://elestadovirtual.com/senadores-nacionales-de-argentina.
[192] Fitz Patrick, M. (2019). Only 1.3% of corruption cases processed in the Federal Justice of the Capital in 2017 ended in a conviction. Infobae. Viewed on August 23, 2022, at https://www.infobae.com/politica/2019/07/15/solo-el-13-de-las-causas-de-corrupcion-tramitadas-en-la-justicia-federal-de-la-capital-en-2017-termino-en-una-condena.