Mexico’s $6 Billion Corruption Price Tag
By Jake Taylor, Marketing –
The price tag for corruption in Mexico comes in at a whopping $6 Billion for the last decade.
Let’s face it: Latin America is no stranger to corruption. Cartels, coupes and mass violence have plagued the histories of these nations and tarnished their reputation.
When I heard Mexico has lost $6 billion over the last decade due to governmental corruption, I wasn’t too surprised. It did make me think that the problem could be solved in part by implementing a few simple steps.
The State of the States
Mexico’s government favors state administrators and their ability to direct their provinces without much interference from the federal government. Some go to say so far as the state governors have immunity from federal jurisdiction.
This has led to widespread misuse of the funds distributed to the states. The only federal body with the charge of doing state budget oversight is the Superior Audit Federation (ASF) and it lacks the authority to charge perpetrators with crimes.
Lie Detection as a Key
The ASF depends on indisputable information against the perpetrator in order to have them convicted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office. This kind of information relies on hard data, proof of the deceit that has occurred. This kind of proof could be produced through lie detection testing.
It is difficult to convict someone of a crime without the proper evidence, but with results produced by a reputable lie detection test, the authorities could acquire the necessary proof to charge and convict criminals for their crimes.
Choosing a System
Of course, there are many lie detection methods from which to choose, each with specific variations and perks. Intuition and personality tests are much too hit-and-miss to use as hard evidence against corruption.
There is always the polygraph. It is accurate and widely accepted as reputable evidence in a court of law in Latin America. But is polygraph testing the most accurate option in this specific setting?
There are many officers and administrators in each state’s financial department. To go through and polygraph each one of these would cost nearly as much as the corrupt dealings themselves, not to mention it would take longer than a decade to carry out.
What the government needs is a system that is quick and cost efficient. Converus’ EyeDetect® fulfills both of those requirements, with an 85 percent accuracy rate to boot.
With just a bit of quick training on how to operate the technical aspects of the program, EyeDetect tests could be administered to large bodies of governmental workers by the ASF, limiting the outflow of money due to corruption by detecting and removing those involved with corrupt deals.
