AU3367

## Lecture: Organised Crime and Corruption
**Presenter:** Dr. Kartikeya Tripathi  
**Contact:** [k.tripathi@ucl.ac.uk](mailto:k.tripathi@ucl.ac.uk)  

### Structure of the Lecture

- **Definitions**
  - Organised Crime (OC)
  - Corruption
- **What factors facilitate the OC-corruption link?**
- **Why does OC like corruption?**
  - Why does OC invest in business?
  - Where does it invest?
- **The role of the state**
- **Case study: Real estate market in Mumbai**
- **Challenges in studying the OC-corruption link**

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### About the Presenter

- **Position:** Lecturer
- **PhD:** Train Drivers’ response to reports of suspicious items (possibly IEDs) on urban commuter trains
- **Research Interests:** 
  - Cybercrime against older people
  - Sexual harassment on public transport
  - Police response to runaway children
  - Recording crimes in informal neighborhoods
  - Theft of mobile phones
  - Tiger conservation in national parks
- **Education:** MSc in Criminal Justice Policy, University of Oxford
- **Professional Background:** Journalist with The Times of India in Mumbai covering court cases against organized crime and terrorism suspects

### Definitional Issues

**Organised Crime (OC)**
- Characteristics: Continuity, Coordination, Hierarchy
- Range: Street gangs to Oligarchs
- Business Nature: “Essentially business” (UK Parliamentary Research Paper, 2007)

**Corruption**
- Definition: ‘Abuse of entrusted power for private gain’ (Transparency International)
- Forms: Bribes, Nepotism, Influence
- Perspective: A moral issue or an everyday pervasive fact of life

**Market Model**
- Regulation: Subvert or use regulation as an opportunity

### OC-Corruption Link

**Simple Explanation**
- Facilitates OC operations
- Removes obstacles and hassles
- Ensures 'business as usual' and impunity
- Reduces business costs
- Enriches officials and politicians
- Example: Beggars’ mafia in Mumbai

**Complex Explanation**
- Enables OC to achieve larger goals, not just survival
- Path to legitimization and continuity
- Provides legal protection
- Example: Evolution of OC in Mumbai

### Factors Facilitating OC-Corruption Links

- **Weak states and economies**
- **Historical regulation issues**
- **Neo-liberalism and Globalisation**
- **State policy issues:** Myopic and over-regulated
- **OC's role in survival commodities**
- **Client-patron relationships in local communities**
- **Political corruption and elections**

**Notable Figures:**
- **Karim Lala:** Gold, Silver, Electronics
- **Vardarajan Mudaliar:** Illicit liquor, Settling disputes

### Why Does OC Invest in Business?

- **Concealment of activities**
- **Profit maximization**
- **Territory control**
- **Building social consensus**
- **Money laundering**
- **Cultural reasons**
- **Path to politics**
- **Diversification**

**Notable Figures:**
- **Haji Mastan:** Smuggling
- **Dawood Ibrahim:** 'D Company' - Real estate, Narcotics, Bollywood

### OC Investment Areas

- **Protected markets:** Government tenders, railways
- **‘Grey businesses’:** Traditional, low tech, labor-intensive
- **High-risk, high-profit sectors:** Bollywood, Real estate

**Notable Figures:**
- **Haseena Parkaar:** Fresh vegetables

### The Role of the State

**Simple Explanation**
- Weak and compromised state institutions
- Endemic corruption
- Low Transparency International ratings (India: Ranked 81 out of 180)
- Frequent public scandals

**Complex Explanation**
- State maintains overall pre-eminence
- Occasional hard hits on OC (e.g., 'encounters')
- Legislative changes (e.g., MCOCA)
- International cooperation
- Anti-corruption actions, though often limited to transfers

**Notable Figures:**
- **Chhota Rajan:** Real estate

### Case Study: Mumbai Real Estate Market

- **Overview:** Booming market with land scarcity
- **Issues:** Over-regulation, problematic redevelopment policies
- **OC's Role:** Entrenched in slums, informal neighborhoods
- **Transition:** Shift from smuggling to real estate post-economic liberalization
- **Tactics:** Threats, violence, bribes, union and squatter influence

**Notable Figures:**
- **Arun Gawali:** Real estate, Gambling
- **Sujata Nikhalje:** Real estate through Khushi Developers Private Limited
- **Iqbal Kaskar:** Real estate

### Challenges in Studying OC-Corruption Link

- **Definitional issues**
- **Data scarcity**
- **Perception as a 'victimless crime'**
- **Operational complexity**

**Notable Figures:**
- **Abdul Karim Telgi:** Counterfeiter, Fake stamp paper

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### Thank You for Your Time

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