A corruption probe is an investigation of the possible involvement of public officials in corrupt activities. The probe may be triggered by citizen reports (such as through whistleblowing channels, through media reporting or through private organisations’ internal audit functions), as well as by State bodies such as law enforcement agencies and anti-corruption authorities. The process of investigating suspected corruption involves a wide range of information gathering, interviewing and analysis.
The most common method for discovering corruption is through citizens reporting it. This can be done through a variety of mechanisms, including through whistle-blowing, which is often facilitated through hotlines or email addresses, and through citizen participation in programmes such as Vietnam’s M-Score, in which people can score the performance of their local government by text message. Some States also have laws and incentives to encourage citizens to self-report corruption, such as by offering penalty mitigation.
Corruption cases are often discovered by employees of organizations or governments, for example, when a vendor is caught taking bribes from the city mayor in exchange for business contracts or when a bank recognises suspicious items in its books. The handling of these reports is important as it can determine whether or not the alleged corruption is taken seriously and if others will be encouraged to report.
It is also important to note that grand corruption is rarely proven through a single piece of evidence. Rather, it is a case of piecing together multiple reports and documents, such as emails, financial records showing unexplained cash deposits and publicly accessible data (such as through freedom of information requests), like a jigsaw to build a strong evidence base that can be presented for prosecution.
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