RationalWiki's Chilling Tales of True Crime |
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Articles on illegal behaviour |
Busted |
“”Every dollar that a corrupt official or a corrupt business person puts in their pocket is a dollar stolen from a pregnant woman who needs health care; or from a girl or a boy who deserves an education; or from communities that need water, roads, and schools.
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—Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank, 2013.[1] |
“”This is the path that — in various forms, but with an unchanged essence — a variety of countries have walked in recent history: from Germany after National Socialism to the states of Latin America after military dictatorships, from the former socialist countries of Eastern Europe to post-apartheid South Africa. To prevent the return of evil, we must first comprehend, condemn and punish it — publicly and at the highest state level.
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—Vladimir Kara-Murza, journalist and currently a political prisoner in Russia[2] |
It is not unprecedented for former democratically-elected national leaders to be charged and even convicted of crimes. In democracies, and even flawed democracies, this can be a good thing because it assures that two of the fundamental tenets of democracy — 1) rule of law and 2) transparency and accountability — applies to all citizens, not just the masses.[3] This is not the case in authoritarian or semi-authoritarian countries where the rule of law is inconsistently applied and where politically-motivated criminal investigations are more likely.[4][5] Democracies generally give some level of protection to heads of state and/or legislators while they are still in office to reduce the likelihood of politically-motivated investigations.[4]
In some cases sitting heads of state (or people campaigning for the office) in democracies have even been criminally investigated:[6]
Former president and later vice president of Argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was found guilty of fraud during her tenure as president by a three-judge panel.[8] The verdict is likely to be appealed, and Kirchner had immunity from imprisonment while she held the positions of vice president and senator.[8]
Former chancellor of Austria Sebastian Kurz was convicted of perjury in 2024 and received a suspended sentence.[9]
Former president Fernando Collor de Mello, who was impeached in 1992 due to a corruption scandal. He was later acquitted by the Brazilian Supreme Court.[10]
After former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was convicted of corruption in 2017, the Brazilian Supreme Court overturned his conviction, ruling that the presiding judge had been biased.[11]
In 2023, former president Jair Bolsonaro was charged with abusing his power while in office.[12] Later in the same year, he was indicted for rape apology.[13]
Former Costa Rican president Rafael Angel Calderon was convicted of embezzlement in 2009 and sentenced to 5 years in prison.[14]
Former Costa Rican president Miguel Angel Rodriguez was convicted of bribery and sentenced to 5 years in prison.[15]
Former French president Jacques Chirac was convicted in 2011 of embezzling public funds and given a suspended sentence.[16]
Former president of France Nicolas Sarkozy's Paris mansion was raided by police in 2012 to gather evidence. Sarkozy was eventually convicted of corruption and influence peddling in 2021.[17]
Former prime minister of France François Fillon was convicted of fraud and misuse of funds in 2020 and sentenced to 5 years in prison.[18]
Former prime minister Giulio Andreotti in 1979 was sentenced to 24 years imprisonment for ordering the murder of a journalist,[19] but was later acquitted by the Supreme Court in 2003.[20]
Billionaire and former prime minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, faced numerous criminal charges over the years; he was convicted of tax fraud and of paying for sex with an underage prostitute.[5] He was banned from holding public office until 2019[21] but managed to be elected to the European Parliament in 2019.[22]
In 2003 while he was prime minister, Berlusconi claimed that the criminal investigations into himself and his Fininvest media company were a "witch hunt" and he falsely claimed that no other liberal democracy allowed heads of state to be investigated.[23]:159
Former prime minister Najib Razak was convicted of a massive theft (about US$4.5 billion) of from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund (1MDB), and sentenced to 12 years in prison.[24] Ironically, under Razak's tenure, 1MDB was even used to illegally produce the Hollywood film Wolf of Wall Street about the excesses and criminality of stock market traders.[25]
—Ed Málaga-Trillo, independent Peruvian Congressman[26] |
In October 2022, "prosecutors filed a 376-page criminal complaint against" President Pedro Castillo, charging him with corruption;[26] he was not arrested at that time due to his immunity from prosecution.[26] In December 2022, Castillo attempted to dissolve Congress but instead Congress impeached him from office in a 101 to 6 vote,[26] thus removing his immunity. Castillo was then swiftly arrested based on the October charges.[26]
On 2014, former Prime Minister José Sócrates was arrested in Lisbon, accused of corruption, tax evasion, and money laundering, becoming the country's first Prime Minister thus accused.[27] A few days later he was officially charged with corruption and tax fraud.[28] In 2021 however, a Portuguese judge dropped the corruption charges against Sócrates, still upholding lesser charges of money laundering and falsifying documents.[29]
South Africa's former president, Jacob Zuma, was sentenced to prison in 2021 for defying a court order to appear before a commission investigating his possible corruption.[30]
In 2018, former president Lee Myung-bak was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for embezzlement and bribery.[31]
Also in 2018, former president Park Geun-hye was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for accepting bribes.[32] Park was pardoned in 2021.[33]
In 2018, half of all living South Korean presidents were in prison,[34] meaning that only one living former president (Chun Doo-hwan) was not in prison.
In 2009, former president Chen Shui-bian was convicted of embezzlement and receiving bribes. He received a life sentence that was commuted to 20 years, but was released on medical parole in 2015.[5]
Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra ("Tony Woodsome"[35]) led the country during a period (2001-2006) when the country was not regarded as democratic, but was charged with and convicted (along with his wife and adopted brother) of corruption in 2008 when the country was regarded as a flawed democracy.[36] Despite his conviction, Thaksin managed to flee Thailand and so far has managed to escape justice, reportedly obtaining passports from multiple countries and even obtaining diplomat status from Nicaragua.[37]
Thaksin returned to Thailand from overseas in 2023 after a political party affiliated with him was given the position of prime minister due to entrenched royalists intervening in the selection of a new prime minister. Shortly after that the King commuted his sentence from 8 to 1 year in prison.[38]
“”But the Republican pearl-clutching over the current administration replicating the habits of autocratic regime elsewhere ignores the obvious counterexample — that it is normal for healthy democracies to investigate, convict and sometimes imprison their former leaders. Indeed, the principle that no one is above the law is a fundamental cornerstone of all democracies.
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— Ishaan Tharoor[5] |
Following the court-ordered FBI raid of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago (MAL) resort in 2022 to seize purloined government documents, and contrary to the above examples, several prominent Republicans raised the specter of the raid being somehow a deviation from democracy.[5] Florida Governor Ron DeSantis claimed that it was a "weaponization of federal agencies", alluded to a deep state ("the Regime"), and that it was undemocratic ("Banana Republic").[39] Florida Senator Marco Rubio likened the raid to those of "3rd world Marxist dictatorships",[40] and similarly, the House Judiciary GOP said tweeted, "This is what happens in third world countries."[41][42] Conservative talk radio host Buck Sexton even turned the issue on its head, stating "They are sending a message now to President Trump and to his supporters that THEY WILL COME FOR YOU if you stand against the machine."[41][43] In other words, if FBI can investigate a former president for theft of government property — hey, they might do that to you too!
A New York City grand jury indicted Trump in 2023 for paying hush money to a porn star using campaign funds.[44] Other indictments are likely coming forth.[45]
In 2023, Trump was indicted with 37 felony charges: conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a classified document, concealing a classified document and scheming to conceal a classified document.[46] By March 2024, Trump was facing a total of 88 felony charges in four different jurisdictions.[47] In May 2024, Trump was convicted of all 34 felony counts in the New York States case.[48]
Vladimir Putin with Cristina Kirchner, shortly after Putin's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014
Trump and Jair Bolsonaro in 2020
Categories: [Convicted felons] [Lists] [Living people] [Politics]