Africa and International Corruption : the Strange Case of South Africa and Seychelles

This article traces the development of corruption in one part of Africa - Seychelles - in a global context. It demonstrates how the ease with which capital can be transferred and commodities bought and sold and the speed of modern communication in general have been given considerable impetus to the linking of corrupt practices across borders, and that this process of transnational corruption was considerably encouraged by the Cold War. After independence in 1976 Seychelles was subject to intense international diplomatic and military activity, often of a covert nature, due largely to the islands' strategic location, which made them an asset both in US-Soviet rivalry in the Indian Ocean and in the more localized patterns of conflict stemming from South Africa's drive to assert its hegemony in southern Africa. This led to attempts to subvert or influence the islands' government by bribery and by force, while more powerful governments and business interests associated with political parties as far afield as Italy manipulated Seychelles' status as a sovereign State in order to perform various transactions of dubious legality. There is some evidence also that the islands were used for financial transactions by arms dealers and as a staging post for drug trafficking. Notes, ref