What if your company was so honest you could lose your job or you had to accept a lousy salary?

Sir, Michael Skapinker writes about someone who bought a company, discovered it was engaging in corrupt practices, disclosed it to the government, was told to correct it, and the company lost one half of its business. “What to do if you discover your company is corrupt” October 15.

What would you do if you discover your company, is so scrupulously correct with absolutely everything, even with the silliest regulations, that it begins to lose business and could disappear

Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world, in which all are scrupulously correct.

And sometimes I have even got the feeling that the corruption fighters themselves, are engaged in some very devious kind of corruption.

Am I not against corruption? Of course I am! But I am also absolutely sure that the best way of fighting corruption is to reduce the temptations. In other words not to require weak humans to be able to resist too big temptations.

I come from Venezuela. There the government receives 97 percent of all export earnings… and these, oil revenues, do not even come as a result of a productive effort of its citizens… it was given to us by God.

To impede corruption in Venezuela, the minimum minimorum needed, would be to share out all net oil revenues to all citizens. But that is not happening, because there is always someone in waiting for the opportunity to manage and exercise the power provided by those oil revenues... and there is always somebody there, like EITI, telling you that if only they supervise and the governments adhere to their principals, everything is going to be fine and dandy.

Let us not ignore that so many speaking out against corruption, do so out of a position of security, one that quite often was assured them and their countries by not so utterly clean means. So less preaching, and more practical action.

@PerKurowski ©