Pronab Adhikary was a low-level government official near Calcutta, India. His salary was $173 a week. Neighbors said he lived frugally, buying inexpensive food at the local grocery store and riding his motorcycle to work.
Private building contractors complained that Pronab’s office was harassing them for bribes before he would approve their building plans, so police investigated. Pronab’s six-room house contained money hidden under the floor, in the ceiling, the cupboards, under the bed, and even stuffed in an (unused) toilet. The man earned under $10,000 a year but police discovered $31 million in his humble house.
Apparently this is not unusual in India. The year before, a city engineer’s house near Delhi contained $15 million. Government jobs are always the best.
Corruption in America doesn’t quite measure up. Back in 2014 an IRS agent was arrested for accepting a bribe from a medical marijuana storeowner in Washington state. The agent told the owner he would cut him a deal that would save him a million dollars in taxes. In return, the owner could slip him $20,000 to pay off his student loans.
The owner went to the police, who rigged him with a wire, and the agent was arrested. There is no word on how much tax the store owner ended up paying.
Corruption can be lucrative. The Bible’s description of Zacchaeus was that “he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.” Those who study ancient tax collection say that is a redundancy – high officials in that business always made a lot of money. Zacchaeus’s promise to give away half his wealth was very generous but his vow to pay back anyone he had cheated four-fold (the highest penalty for this crime in the Old Testament) may have been even more expensive for him. He had found something that was far more valuable to him – eternal salvation through Jesus.
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Adapted by Rev. David Holwick from these articles: “House of cash: police find $31m inside home,” 19 August 2015; < http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-33984185 >, and “IRS Agent Arrested for Accepting Bribe,” by Michael Patrick Leahy, 24 Sep 2015; < http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/09/24/irs-agent-arrested-accepting-bribe/ >.