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When someone gets given money or favours for something for which they are not meant to be paid, it is corruption. It is considered a major cause of evil around the world. 
Corruption affects people at all levels of society. It abuses the poor and keeps them poor, sends children to bed without food and drags on a country's economy. 
Corruption continues to plague many countries, according to Transparency International's 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released on December 1 last year. The index surveyed 183 territories and countries. It showed some governments failed to protect citizens from corruption, abuse of public resources, bribery or secretive decision-making. 
Here is a look at the state of corruption situations around the world.
How corruption is measured
Who is more corrupt: the person who pays a bribe, or the person who accepts one? It's a tricky question. 
In some countries when someone wants to set up a business, they have to pay extra money to government officials to get permission. This money is over and above the legal requirements. In these cases, it is easy to pinpoint that the business person is the victim. 
On the other hand, you can argue that the bribe payer is at fault for tempting the official, who would otherwise have done an honest job.
It's impossible to accurately measure corruption, because much of it goes unreported. The best we can do is look at the corruption indices published by anti-corruption campaign group Transparency International.
They have two indices:
The first is the Bribe Payers' Index, or BPI. This asks businesspeople how likely they are to pay bribes in different countries. 
The second is the Corruption Perceptions' Index or CPI. This asks people how corrupt they think countries are.
Both these indices rely on people's feelings and are not scientific.
Hong Kong rates well on the CPI, in that people don't think they have to pay bribes to do business here. However, it rates worse in BPI. According to SCMP analyst Tom Holland, this is because Hong Kong business people are likely to pay bribes when doing business overseas.
Snapshot of Asia
Asian countries know they have to fix corruption in order to develop, because the money that should go to the government is being stolen by private people. 
But so far, words have been louder than actions. Thailand hosted the 14th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Bangkok in 2010. But the Thais are confronted daily with so many examples of corruption that they might understandably greet this news with scepticism or sniggers. 
Officials scoring million-dollar kickbacks; politicians flaunting obscene wealth; cops 'so crooked they can lick their own shoulder blades'; all are familiar in daily news, in Thailand and all over Asia.
It is no wonder people are disillusioned. One of the biggest obstacles to fighting corruption is that the institutions whose job is to protect citizens are very often corrupt themselves.
In a shocking case reported by a US news agency, up to 60 mainland students were forced into prostitution at the Water Cube Club in Chengguan in Henan Province . The club, named for the Olympic aquatics centre in Beijing, is one intersection away from a police station. Officials and well-known citizens in Chengguan were among the customers; authorities are said to have delayed investigation until provincial leaders, alarmed by public discontent and online postings, demanded action. 
Snapshot of developed countries
It might seem that wealthy countries would be freer of corruption, but that is not the case. People in power all over the world are keen to take advantage of their status.
In Germany, for example, politicians and lobbyists joined forces to earn millions of dollars for themselves and their parties in kick-backs by building a garbage incinerator that was much bigger than the city needed. 
In the United States, it is rumoured, a president's father received a lot of money from a company which earned millions of dollars in defence contracts as his son took the country to war.
In Japan, the daughter of a provincial governor and former speaker of the upper house of parliament was sentenced in 2004 to imprisonment for false reporting of her father's campaign funds. 
Looking on the brighter side, any political system must mediate between private wealth and public power. Given the power, resources, status, and authority that governments wield, it is difficult to imagine a system designed so perfectly that incentives and opportunities for corruption do not exist. A close look at any country will reveal incidences of corruption on some scale. As such, it is important to distinguish between those incidents that are not significant and those that have an impact on economic and social well-being. 
The ICAC
Today, Hong Kong is considered less corrupt than the mainland. It is ranked 12 on the CPI, while the mainland sits at number 75. But up until the 1970s, corruption was rampant in the city. Ambulance crews would demand tea money before picking up a sick person. Even hospital amahs asked for 'tips' before giving patients a bedpan. Offering bribes to officials to get public housing, schooling and other public services was something that most people would have to do. 
Corruption was particularly serious in the police force. The police covered up for gambling, drugs and triad activities. In 1973, the landmark corruption case of Peter Godber became the turning point for fighting corruption in Hong Kong. 
As a Chief Police Superintendent, Godber controlled assets of more than HK$4.3 million. It was suspected he had earned his wealth through bribes. But he was able to escape from Hong Kong before any legal action could be taken. The public was furious. Students spearheaded a mass rally in Victoria Park, with the slogans 'Fight corruption. Arrest Godber'. 
In response to public demand, Governor Sir Murray MacLehose established the ICAC, or Independent Commission Against Corruption, in 1974. Today it is an independent body that keeps Hong Kong clean.
Is corruption on the rise?
Among the 90,000 people from 86 countries surveyed for the Transparency International in 2010, nearly six out of 10 say corruption has increased in their countries over the past three years. The rate is particularly high among Europeans (73 per cent) and North Americans (67 per cent). 
Globally, one out of four people surveyed said they had paid a bribe in the last year. And it seems the police were usually the ones taking them. Respondents, however, do not consider the police the most crooked institution: that dishonour belongs to political parties, of which about 80 per cent are regarded as corrupt. And religious institutions saw the biggest jump in perceived corruption: while only 28 per cent of people considered them corrupt in 2004, 53 per cent did so in 2010.



Bribery and corruption