Dangerous Liaisons Cuba Tries Entrepreneurs for Corporate Corruption

Dangerous Liaisons: Cuba Tries Entrepreneurs for Corporate Corruption

June 6, 2013

Fernando Ravsberg*



HAVANA TIMES — Some of the most important entrepreneurs who have been

doing business in Cuba for decades have been summoned to courts on the

island to respond to serious corporate corruption charges, the visible

face of a much broader clean-up campaign undertaken by Cuban authorities.



What is surprising about this is not that the government has taken on

the campaign but that it has taken so long to investigate these crimes,

when Cuba's entire business community knew how these individuals did

business, the manner in which they operated and even what mechanisms

they used to deal out different perks.



The creation of the Cuban Comptrollers Office spelled a radical change

in the battle against corruption, allowing authorities to set their

sights high, on the big shots who, though generally the very originators

of the crime, had hitherto been untouchable.



I recall that, when Raul Castro announced that Mrs. Gladys Bejerano

would be appointed Chief Comptroller, he mentioned that some high

officials had not been pleased with the decision. Perhaps it was because

they suspected this woman would not turn a blind eye on the illicit

activities of ministers, the relatives of high-ups, or foreign

businesspeople.



If so, their apprehension was justified. In the last 20 years, Cuba had

not seen an anti-corruption campaign as far-reaching, profound and,

above all, as protracted as this one. I have been told there aren't

enough courts on the island to try those charged with different

corruption charges.



I know of a number of Cuban managers who were left alone for more than a

year after being implicated in a case of corporate corruption. Just when

they thought they had gotten off, however, they were summoned to trial

and sentenced to several years in prison.



So many people accused of corruption have been sent to labor farms that

– at least according to a high penitentiary official – the racial

demographics of the inmate population is changing, as these business or

political leaders are, for the most part, white.



Some think that the imprisonment of these officials is unjust, arguing

that they became corrupt because of the measly salaries they receive.

This argument could be used if we're speaking of a regular employee or a

school teacher, but it doesn't hold water when it comes to Cuba's

entrepreneurial elite.



Generally speaking, these individuals have a standard of living that is

well above that of common Cubans: they live in comfortable houses, move

around in cars, have a monthly gasoline quota allotted to them, use

cells phones paid for by their companies and receive additional money

for their trips abroad. They are the people who have the least, material

reasons to become involved in illicit activities.



Now, much commotion has been stirred up because the courts aren't only

trying corrupt Cuban company managers but also foreign entrepreneurs,

even if they are citizens of such powerful countries as Canada or the

United Kingdom.



No one, however, ought to be surprised at the fact that, when a case of

corporate corruption is unveiled, authorities should detain, not only

the person who receives a bribe, but also the one who hands it out under

the table, to obtain privileges over competitors during business

negotiations.



The Cuban government cannot be criticized for defending itself from the

hawks that soar across its skies, looking for preys willing to sell out

their fellow countrymen for a bit of cash, but it could be asked to show

greater transparency in its proceedings.



Providing the public with information about these judicial processes

would expose Cubans to the country's successful struggle against

corporate corruption and show businesspeople, both Cuban and foreign,

the high price of accepting bribes.



As a Brookings Institution expert told Reuters, "If the Cuban government

intends that such penalties serve as effective deterrents to corruption,

and not as deterrents to legitimate foreign investment, it should

clarify the precise nature of the alleged infractions and make the

entire legal process more transparent."



Transparency is precisely what the Cuban government needs to make the

difference between eliminating corruption and discouraging foreign

investment clear. It would help, for instance, if we knew that the legal

actions currently being pursued arise from activities that would be

considered crimes and punished in any other country as well.



In Cuba, the passion for secrecy continues to be a boomerang that

returns to the thrower with dangerous force. In this issue, as in so

many others, silence continues to be the least advisable response.

—–

(*) An authorized HT translation of the original published in Spanish by

BBC Mundo.



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