OPINION: The global spread of a culture of integrity
One of the surprising news events of 2017 was the arrest of more than 200 prominent people in Saudi Arabia for corruption. The roundup on Nov. 4 even included powerful princes within the ruling royal family. Now the leader of the campaign, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has revealed a prime reason for this dramatic crackdown in the Middle East kingdom.
“My father [the king] saw that there is no way we can stay in the G-20 and grow with this level of corruption,” he said in a New York Times interview. Prince Salman estimates that 10 percent of government spending is siphoned off by corruption each year.
The G-20 is a club of the world’s wealthiest nations. It has also become the major forum for global governance. Its member states, including Saudi Arabia, not only set standards of reform among themselves, they also rely on peer pressure to hold each other to account.