Environmental Intelligence Agency, October 2008. Environmental Crime - The Threat to Our Future,

Read excerpt from the report:

A CATALYST FOR CORRUPTION
In the same way that criminals perceive environmental crime as an easy option, so individuals in corporate or official positions of authority and power view environmental crime as a chance to cash in. Examples of this can be found in the case studies of this report: signing and forging import and export certificates; facilitating the transport of illicit goods and ‘turning a blind eye’ are all examples of the institutionalized corruption described. Far more serious, and yet just as common, is the complicit, longterm involvement of individuals from the police, army, government and intergovernmental organisations. Cocooned by familiar bureaucracies, weak legislation and poor enforcement, corrupt officials can thrive through environmental crime. Furthermore, corruption may be preventing the true cost and extent of environmental crime from being properly assessed or effectively addressed.

The United Nations Convention on Corruption seeks to identify the links between corruption, organised crime, money laundering and economic crime. All of these elements fester within areas of environmental crime and corruption presents a major hurdle to successfully combating it. [page 3]

The Yale journal Environment 360 has more.