Kleptocracy

Kleptocracy ('klepto' meaning 'theft' in Ancient Greek) is the ruling of possibly any kind of government that uses its power to steal from its people. This rarely-applied word was used by Charles Krauthammer, the nationally syndicated Washington Post columnist and political commentator on Fox-TV, on Saturday, March 2, and Sunday, March 3, 2014. He referred to Russia as a kleptocracy in a TV panel discussion about its influence in the revolution in the neighboring Ukraine in late February. His political column added another derivation of this word: kleptocratic.

"Kleptocratic" is used by Krauthammer in the following quote: "But surely the West has more financial clout than Russia's kleptocratic extraction economy that exports little but oil, gas and wisky."

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak had $731 million in his bank accounts when his party, Barisan Nasional, lost the 14th election to Pakatan Harapan, led by Mahathir Mohamad. The loss was partly due to allegations of Najib's involvement in the 1MDB scandal.

Kleptocracy Media

Montenegro's president Milo Đukanović was listed among the twenty richest world leaders according to the British tabloid newspaper The Independent in May 2010, which described the source of his wealth as "mysterious".
Demonstration banner with text in Czech: "Demokracie místo kleptokracie" (Democracy instead of kleptocracy); peace rally in Brno for Real Democracy NOW, Moravian Square[[]] [cs], Brno, Czech Republic
Najib Razak, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, faced allegations of involvement in a large-scale financial scandal related to the state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

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