Corruption at border points remains a pressing global issue, threatening not only border integrity but also the health, safety and security of our societies. It enables illicit trafficking, facilitates organised crime and undermines trust in public institutions.
In our Working Paper 58, Saba Kassa and Jacopo Costa examine how corruption facilitates drug trafficking through the port of Rotterdam.
Drivers, strategies and implications
This Working Paper explores the drivers and strategies of corruption as a facilitator of drug trafficking in the port of Rotterdam, with a specific focus on cocaine trafficking. Through in-depth interviews with stakeholders, a review of judicial cases and desk research, it aims to:
Actors in grand corruption schemes often conspire and deliberately create sophisticated networks to extract huge amounts of public resources from government systems. They hide such conspiracies behind hybrid formal/informal arrangements.
The paper targets the nexus between corruption and money laundering. Scholars and practitioners recently observed how offshore financial centers and financial infrastructures have become central in facilitating corruption and other criminal activities.
Offshore vehicles often serve to conceal the connections between business people and politically exposed persons. Secrecy jurisdictions and service providers have emerged as key actors in these illicit schemes.
The paper explores the following questions: