Form of lobbying
Influence peddling
, also called
traffic of influence
or
trading in influence
, is the practice of using one's influence in government or connections with authorities to obtain favours or preferential treatment for another, usually in
return for payment
. Influence peddling
per se
is not necessarily illegal, as the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) has often used the modified term "undue influence peddling" to refer to illegal acts of lobbying;
[1]
however, influence peddling is typically associated with corruption and may therefore delegitimise democratic politics with the general public. It is punishable as a crime in Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Brazil, France, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Romania,
[2]
Spain, and the United Kingdom.
Known cases
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In December 2008,
Rod Blagojevich
, the then
Governor of Illinois
, was accused of influence peddling in attempting to sell the
U.S. Senate
seat vacated by the then President-elect
Barack Obama
.
[3]
Larry O'Brien
, the then
mayor of Ottawa
, was brought to trial on similar grounds in May 2009. O'Brien was accused of purported influence peddling. On 5 August 2009, both charges were dismissed.
[4]
In April 2009, former
Newfoundland and Labrador
politician
Ed Byrne
was convicted of influence peddling for his actions in the Constituency Allowance Scandal. He was the first of four politicians convicted in relation to the Scandal and the remaining politicians are on or awaiting trial.
[
citation needed
]
In 2012,
Amado Boudou
, the then
vice president of Argentina
, was accused of being a mere straw owner of the printing house Ciccone Calcografica, a private company that has contracts to print over 120 million new Argentine pesos banknotes, license plates, and other government issues. The scandal became known as
Boudougate
, as the contracts were awarded by Boudou himself when he was the
Economy Minister
.
[5]
In the
Radia tapes controversy
of the late 2000s and early 2010, Nira Radia was under investigation for using her connections with Indian politicians and members of the Indian media to tilt the auction of multi-million dollar licence contracts in favour of certain companies and individuals.
[
citation needed
]
In 2014, former French President
Nicolas Sarkozy
was investigated due to alleged influence peddling.
[
citation needed
]
In April 2015, the
Public Prosecutor's Office
of Brazil opened an investigation for influence peddling against
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
, at the time a former
president of Brazil
. It was alleged that, between 2011 and 2014, he lobbied for
Odebrecht
company to gain public procurements in foreign countries while also getting
BNDES
to finance those projects. Countries where this allegedly took place include
Ghana
,
Angola
,
Cuba
, and the
Dominican Republic
.
[6]
On 9 December 2016, the National Assembly impeached
Park Geun-hye
, the
president of South Korea
from 2013 to 2017, on charges related to influence peddling by her top aide
Choi Soon-sil
, and
Hwang Kyo-ahn
, the then
Prime Minister of South Korea
, assumed her powers and duties as Acting President as a result.
[
citation needed
]
The
Constitutional Court of Korea
upheld the impeachment by a unanimous 8?0 ruling on 10 March 2017, thereby removing Park from office.
[
citation needed
]
On 6 April 2018, South Korean courts sentenced her to 24 years in prison; this was later increased to 25 years, and Park was imprisoned at Seoul Detention Center.
[
citation needed
]
In 2018, two separate criminal cases resulted in an increase of seven years in her prison sentence. She was found guilty of illegally taking off-the-book funds from the
National Intelligence Service
and given a five-year prison sentence, and also found guilty of illegally interfering in the
Saenuri Party
primaries in the
2016 South Korean legislative election
, for which she was sentenced to two more years in prison.
[
citation needed
]
See also
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References
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External links
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