Crime Doesn't Pay

However desperate the wish one cannot change or escape from one’s circumstances, especially at work. Just as one can choose one’s neighborhood but not the neighbors, in government service sometimes there is a choice of posting but not the colleagues. Right from the day I joined in the government service almost seventeen years ago and till recently, I had the experience of working with people who did not think twice before taking bribes and who thought that the salary they earned was not enough to lead a comfortable life. I worked with people who indulged in petty corruption and I also worked with people who were sophisticated when it came to making money by illegal ways. In the first few years watching these greedy people I had thoughts of quitting the job rather than work in such circumstances where corruption was not only accepted but sometimes encouraged.

But as the years rolled by I began to realize that I had an advantage very few people had. I was witness to a phenomenon that many talked about but did not know the details of. I had an insider’s view of corruption. I was in a position to witness the goings on in several government organizations. I was especially lucky in the posting where I was able to make detailed investigations in different departments and learnt enough to write a book about it. (Come to think of it, I might write one.) However I feel that I do not know everything about corruption. I’ve seen enough to know how the corrupt do it but only have little knowledge of the why. Of course, the basic motivation behind corruption is greed. But even after so many years of watching the corrupt people at work, my anger and loathing have not weakened. Every time I learnt of someone taking bribes quite openly and nonchalantly I wished they would be caught in the act. Last week that wish came true. Someone who worked as an assistant to me for about two years was arrested last Thursday.

Before being promoted and posted to Suryapet I was in the Head Office at Hyderabad, in a post that many coveted. My posting in that seat caused a lot of surprise and, heartburn. I heard that many people who aspired for my post did not understand how I was posted in that seat. In fact, I myself was quite mystified by my boss’s decision to post me there. Anyway, I soon found out why there was such a clamor for the seat I was occupying. It was a post that was lucrative. I handled files dealing with issue and renewal of licences. I knew that some of my bosses, my assistants made a lot of money through bribes. But I was not able to do anything about it in the absence of complaints or clear evidence. I could only watch helplessly. I had five assistants and one of them was very aggressive about it. He was known to be corrupt and did not mind the least about his image. He got promoted and managed to get into another lucrative posting by virtue of being an office bearer of some association. He had a lot of contacts with politicians and officers who he kept in good humor. But all that did not come handy when he was arrested along with another lady clerk for accepting bribes.

However, it did not come as a shock to me. As soon as I read in the papers about the arrest of two persons in my former office I knew right away who it was. My hunch proved to be right when another assistant confirmed that it was indeed the same person. I felt a bit upset but then, he deserved it. But the regular arrests of corrupt employees do not seem to deter others from taking bribes. A day after my former assistant was arrested I read that a lady employee was arrested in the Secretariat, where I am posted now, after being caught red handed accepting bribes.

Today I came to know that my former assistant was still behind bars. I hope at least in jail he would realize that crime doesn’t pay.