The Dark Side of Power: Corruption and Bribery within the Energy Sector

As the Panama Papers, Bahamas Leaks and Paradise Papers scandals have recently demonstrated corruption is rife in our societies. Although corruption has always constituted a plague for human civilization and has also penetrated into unexpected sectors of our communities, such a criminal phenomenon has traditionally been wildly rampant in the energy sector, and its effects have proved to be extremely dramatic. This chapter introduces the topic of corruption and analyses the reasons behind the fact that, almost unexpectedly, over the course of the last decades, it has gradually moved from the margins to the centre of the international political stage. The chapter then tries to explain why corruption has proved to be particularly invasive in the energy sector. Finally, the chapter offers a vivid depiction of a recent tale of dishonesty, which is emblematic of the way in which corrupt practices are commonly perpetrated within the energy industry.