According to the United Nations, political corruption costs governments $1.6 Trillion every year.  The money is lost as public assets are funneled around the world in secret holdings.

Source:  “Corruption costs $1.6tn, UN says,” BBC News, November 9, 2009.

Russia President Dmitry Medvedev stated that police corruption and incompetence lead to 760,000 theft cases, 124,000 burglaries and over 2,000 murders or attempted murders to all go unsolved each year.

Source:  AFP, “Medvedev orders crackdown on Russian police corruption,” Google News, February 18, 2010.

The number of corruption cases handled by Italian Officials increased by 229 percent in 2009 from 2008.

Source: “Corruption is surging in Italy, says state auditor,” Reuters, February 17, 2010.

Transparency International reported that around 4 million families in India were forced to pay a bribe to a public official to receive services in 2009.

Source:  David Chen, “Zero-rupee bribes for bent Indian officials,” Radio Australia, February 12, 2010.

Nearly every Greek family pays an average of $2,500 in bribes to public officials each year.

Source:  Sylvia Poggiol, “Economic Problems Threaten Greece’s Place In EU,” NPR, February 2, 2010.

The United Nations Office on Crime and Drugs reported that Afghans paid up to $2.5 Billion in bribes in 2009.

The average amount paid in bribes was $160, and that half of all Afghans paid at least one bribe to a public official within the  year.

Source:  Alex Rodriguez, “Corruption robs Afghans of a quarter of nation’s GDP, report says,” Los Angeles Times, January 20, 2010.

In the first nine months of 2009, over 800 Russian officials faced charges of corruption.

Source: “Over 800 Russian officials face corruption charges in 2009,” Xinhua, January 13, 2010.

In 2009, 106,000 public officials in China were found guilty of corruption, an increase of 2.5 percent of the year before.

In addition, the number of officials who stole more than one million yuan ($146,000) increased by 19 percent in 2009.

Source: “Corruption up among China government officials,” BBC News, January 8, 2010.

In 2008, 630 arrest warrants were issued against officials suspected of corruption in Iraq, but only 97 people were convicted.

In addition, 135 cases of corruption involving 211 people who were mostly from the Oil Ministry were closed down by the decision of senior officials.

Source:  “Iraq chases many for corruption, catches few,” Reuters, December 23, 2009.

According to a government audit, officials in China either misused or embezzled $35 Billion in the first 11 months of 2009.

Source:  David Barboza, “China Finds Huge Fraud by Officials,” New York Times, December 29, 2009.