Kathryn Westmore 16 December 2021
The Summit for Democracy was notably silent on the threat that fraud poses to trust and confidence in democracies around the world.
The focus of the Summit was firmly on the impact of corruption on democracy. In the week of the Summit, the White House issued its much-lauded United States Strategy on Countering Corruption, which included a focus on illicit finance and holding corrupt actors to account. But very little attention has been paid to the impact of fraud on democracy. When fraud is considered, the discussion is usually about the looting of overseas public funds by kleptocrats and their associates, or issues related to election fraud – or at least the perception of it.
