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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