Rotten to the core?

Unfortunately, corruption is endemic. For example, take the excavation contractor who was paid by the truckload for carting spoil off site; payments to the gatekeeper meant that half-full trucks could be signed off as full loads.

American inspectors in a southern French shipyard were provided with a bottle of scotch at the start of their two-hour lunch - and the shipyard presented for work inspection in the afternoons, when the inspectors’ critical faculties were dulled.

A project manager took back-handers from Filipino labour agencies and flooded a Saudi project with Filipino labourers. The result: up to six tile fixers at once working in a house bathroom.

On another Saudi project, management staff was supplied through a US-based company under a confidential multi-million dollar agreement. The MD of the construction company was the majority shareholder of both companies. When the Saudi company went bust, the MD still had a nice nest-egg waiting for him in the US.

A Greek nuclear physicist told me that if you needed anything done quickly in Greece, a small “present” of money always speeded the process. It looks as if that lesson has been forgotten in the construction of the Olympic facilities.