Kleptocracy, also referred to as thievocracy, is a government whose corrupt leaders (kleptocrats) use political power to expropriate the wealth of the people and land they govern, typically by embezzling or misappropriating government funds at the expense of the wider population. One feature of political-based socioeconomic thievery is that there is often no public announcement explaining or apologizing for misappropriations, nor any legal charges or punishment levied against the offenders.
Detail from Corrupt Legislation, painting by Elihu Vedder (1896)
Montenegro's president Milo Đukanović was listed among the twenty richest world leaders according to the British tabloid newspaper The Independent in May 2010, which described the source of his wealth as "mysterious".
Demonstration banner with text in Czech: "Demokracie místo kleptokracie" (Democracy instead of kleptocracy). Peace rally in Brno for Real Democracy NOW, Moravian Square [cs], Brno, Czech Republic.
Najib Razak, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, faced allegations of involvement in a large-scale financial scandal related to the state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB)
Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption may involve many activities which include bribery, influence peddling and embezzlement and it may also involve practices which are legal in many countries. Political corruption occurs when an office-holder or other governmental employee acts with an official capacity for personal gain. Corruption is most common in kleptocracies, oligarchies, narco-states, and mafia states.
A billboard in Zambia exhorting the public to "Just say no to corruption".
A political cartoon from Harper's Weekly, 26 January 1878, depicting U.S. Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz investigating the Indian Bureau at the U.S. Department of the Interior. The original caption for the cartoon is: "THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR INVESTIGATING THE INDIAN BUREAU. GIVE HIM HIS DUE, AND GIVE THEM THEIR DUES."
A 1902 cartoon depicts a police officer whose eyes are covered with a cloth labelled "bribes".
Petrobras headquarters in downtown Rio de Janeiro