Roy Cullen

The fight to eliminate world poverty is being severely hampered by corrupt leaders in developing countries. According to the African Union, some $150 billion is lost every year to corruption in Africa. In China, it is estimated corruption diminishes the annual value of gross domestic product by 15%. The pattern repeats itself elsewhere.

          This bleak situation compounds the poverty problem even more because donor countries are justifiably reluctant to support jurisdictions whose leaders are known to be corrupt, ignoring their citizens' needs while stealing and laundering public funds for private use. What development does occur in chronically corrupt nations is often poorly planned and environmentally unsustainable, since the private gain of corrupt politicians and officials takes precedence over the implementation of sound development strategies. Likewise, bureaucratic corruption also results in the compromising of worker and consumer safety —after all, a bribe costs less than obeying the law. And it is the poor who really pay the true cost of corruption.

          The Poverty of Corrupt Nations is a straightforward, easy-to-read exposition of the nature and scope of global corruption and money laundering, explaining the impact of recent troubling corruption trends on the public-at-large and public policy makers. Specifically, Cullen examines the links between world poverty, corruption, terrorism, global migration patterns, and money laundering. Constructively, Cullen then outlines a practical 20-point program to increase transparency and accountability in governments and parliaments around the world and break this cycle of corruption and poverty.

"Roy Cullen's pioneering work goes straight to the heart of the corruption phenomenon. He shows us not only its true nature and extent but also its links with many other ills befalling the world community. The Poverty of Corrupt Nations should be obligatory reading for policy-makers, business people and concerned citizens."
—Rt. Hon. Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe

Author Roy Cullen as a Canadian Member of Parliament has drawn on his international experience in private and public sectors to write this timely and constructive book. When Parliamentary Secretary to Canada's Minister of Finance, Cullen worked to create Canada's anti-money laundering regime, and today remains active in the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption battling corruption and money laundering.