Corruption is the bane of modern society, it is aligned with the worship of greed by corporations, where once there was a belief in service. Corruption of any sort, both within business and within government operations, cannot exist without some form of money laundering. Where there is no money laundering you find large amounts of cash stored; this is not considered the most effective means of action as cash is bulky, and unable to be used for major transactions without further corrupt practices (sometime by banks). Money Laundering is literally turning dirty money into clean (doing the laundry!). It was an expression originally coined when talking about organised crime. This is achieved through any number of vehicles including running illegitimate money through a legitimate business (massage parlours, tattoo parlours, tow trucks and vehicle wreckers spring to mind), reassigning the identify of the money in transactions (recording it as sub-contractor payments, or lease payments, false accounting practices) or by paying deposits and then never proceeding with the contract, forfeiting the deposit. The techniques are only limited by the inventiveness of the criminal. Money laundering has been expanded to include corrupt practices. Corruption and Money Laundering is a ticking time bomb for business. Corrupt practices by management, employees and contractors have threatened the financial viability of business. Corrupt practices have been found in the building industry, mining (both within countries and across borders), earthmoving, security, international aid and public service industries, amongst others. The issue may come to light as part of an 'expose' by the media (less likely as investigative journalism falls away), by 'whistleblower' action, or by the company finding it has unexplained losses, a breakdown of the correlation between inputs, costs and profits which may signify corrupt behaviour by an employee/employees. Corruption in one business can impact multiple businesses. The first business may give 'kickbacks' or 'favours' to obtain work through a fraudulent tender process or by being given inside information. This means the company contracting the work pays more, or receives a lower quality job; the honest company loses out because its honest tender is passed over, so is at risk of loosing employees and corporate skill levels. These costs will eventually be passed on to the the end users, or government that is paying for the task.
