On October 13, 2011, Raj Rajaratnam, the founder of Galleon Group was sentenced to 11 years in prison, for insider trading, fined $10 million, and ordered to forfeit $53.8 million in profit. It was the longest sentence ever imposed for such an offense. After his trial, Rajaratnam, born a Sri Lankan, told reporters, “If this had been Sri Lanka, I would’ve got off and would be sitting with the judge in the evening having a drink.”
After the British Empire left the subcontinent in a mess, its institutions that remained were expected to retain the same integrity of the mother country. The High Court Judge in whose house money was found after a fire was last week transferred and barred from participating in court proceedings. He says he is being framed. The SC has ordered an inquiry and like the law, it will take its course. There are two kinds of corruption: moral and financial, both being kissing cousins. In December 2021, Ranjan Gogoi, the 45th Chief Justice was asked at a public function “Is there corruption [in] the Supreme Court?” Gogoi replied that judges “don’t drop from heaven.” Soon after, the BJP government appointed Gogoi to the Rajya Sabha. Retired Justice Markandey Katju declared, a “large number of judges at all levels have become corrupt,”— 50 per cent.
Overall justice is under siege worldwide. In China and Russia courts are puppet shows. In Asia and Eastern Europe, governments and money power control the judiciary. British judges are so influenced by ‘woke’ concerns that they give bizarre rulings like letting off a Pakistani man who raped a white girl, because in his country, he was taught rape was not a crime. Europe is the last bastion of judicial morality although there is the rare case of bribery. Before Donald Trump normalised corruption in government—bestie Elon Musk is earning billions from the federal departments even as he heads DOGE created to cleanse the government of excess calories—the media outed US Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas as perhaps the most corrupt judge in modern American history. He earned millions from wealthy conservatives, took at least 38 undisclosed destination vacations, a Bahama yacht trip; 26 private jet flights, eight by helicopter; two stays at luxury resorts in Florida and Jamaica; and one standing invitation to an super-exclusive golf club overlooking the Atlantic coast—all financed by his rich buddies. Coincidentally, most of his rulings have favoured them. The US Supreme Court formally enamelled corruption in recently: On June 26, 2024, the US Supreme Court ruled that “payments made to an official after an official act as a token of appreciation” is not bribery.
In a Franz Kafka story, a man seeking redress arrives at the Gate of Justice where he is stopped by a guard. He spends years waiting, cajoling the guard, trying to bribe him and even physically attacking him. “Even if you defeat me and cross this gate, there are more gates and guards ahead,” he is told. On his dying day the man gets a revelation. “Isn’t this the Gate of Justice? Why haven’t I seen even one other person coming here?” The guards laughs mockingly, “This gate is meant only for you.” There is no more powerful guardian of democracy than the judiciary. Rajaratnam would have had that drink had he been in the ‘right’ place, but political power is a poisoned chalice that paralyses justice. The Indian judiciary is still holding strong. But Indian politicians, not so sure.