Transnational Corruption in Weapons Procurement in East Asia: A Case Analysis Hung-En Sung* John Jay College of Criminal Justice This case study analyzes the Lafayette scandal, which alleges that up to US$760 million in bribes and kickbacks was split among French, Chinese, and Taiwanese officiais for the 1992 sale of French frigates to Taiwan. The case was unique in its complexity, intrigue, and repercussions. This anaiy- sis focuses on the structural and institutional deficiencies in Taiwan and France that intersected to create opportunities for massive corruption. It aiso traces how Taiwan and France impiemented profound preventive reforms in the aftermath of the scandai. This landmark scandal highlights the need for further global efforts to establish legal frameworks and judi- ciai protocois to tackle corrupt practices that transcend national borders. On December 9, 1993, a male body was found floating off Taiwan's northeastern coast. The dead man was later identified as Captain Yin Ching-Feng ofthe Taiwanese Navy, whose mysterious demise was only the tip of the iceberg. When the involve- ment of underground multimillion-dollar transnational corruption was exposed years later, at least four lives had already been claimed, up to US$760 million in bribes and kickbacks had been expended, and suspicion and distrust were cast on the political establishment in two physically distant countries. Transnational corruption exists when officials from more than one country illicitly collude with multinational corporations to accumulate personal gain at the expense of the interests of the nation or people they are pledged to serve (Celentani, Canuza, and Peydro 2004; Sung 2006). It differs from local corruption in terms of magnitude, com- plexity, and participants' impunity. Since transnational corruption is usually facilitated by worldwide networks of multinational corporations and draws in high-ranking gov- ernment representatives, it is characterized by the mishandling and laundering of large amounts of money, intricate webs of contacts and connections, and the extreme diffi- culties encountered in unmasking the schemes and punishing the offenders. Unfor- tunately, given the accelerating rate of global integration and interdependence, transnational corruption is here to stay. * Research for this article was supported by grant No. 61074-00 39, awarded by the Professional Staff Congress of the City University of New York. Direct correspondence to Hung-En Sung, Department of Law and Police Science, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 899 Tenth Avenue, Room 422, New York, NY 10019. E-mail: hsung@jjay.cuny.edu; telephone: (212) 237-8412; fax: (212) 237-8383.