Justice?

I hate politics. I spent a summer covering congressional hearings for a D.C. radio station and was so disturbed by the process, I have a hard time trusting any politician or party.

What bothers me even more is how many in the church have engaged in the political arena over the past 20+ years. So, it will probably be a rare thing for me to write something here, that comes close to political commentary.

But on my way home the other day I heard this story. Basically, HSBC and Standard Chartered banks are accused of laundering, possibly, billions of dollars for Colombian and Mexican drug cartels as well as violating sanctions against countries like Iran.

Their punishment… admission of guilt and an out of court settlement of $2 billion. No one goes to jail.

The reason this bothers me so much is because of stories like this, which reveal that 60,000 people have been killed in the past six years in the drug war in Mexico.

Take a minute to let that sink in.

Still, I probably wouldn't have blogged about this if I hadn't heard this story a few days later. It’s about an Iraqi man living in the U.S. who sent money to his family back home, about $300,000 over nine years. The move violated U.S. sanctions.  He’s in jail.

Just to be clear, wealthy multinational bank managers knowingly violated the law by helping violent drug gangs clean billions of dollars. No jail time. A small business owner, trying to help his family in Iraq with bills... jail.

I realize the issues are more complicated than they appear, prosecution of the bank managers would be extremely difficult and costly and all the facts may not be revealed in the stories. 

Even so, the disparity of justice is shocking.

It is a dangerous step for a government to accept, what many in the world would call a bribe, to avoid prosecution. It’s sad that we have lost the will to do the right thing, even if it’s hard.