Section One - Aspects of CorruptionThe United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has defined corruption as "the abuse of public power, office or authority for private profit, through corruption, extortion, influence peddling, nepotism, fraud, fast money or embezzlement (UNDP, 1999).” In some Asian countries, corruption can become a way of life when it is rampant and occurs at all levels. Corruption can also be large or small in nature. George Moody-Stuart (1997) defined grand corruption as “l 'abuse of public power by heads of state, ministers and senior officials for private and pecuniary profit.' In contrast, underpaid public employees who ask for bribes from the people to expedite their requests or perform other favors practice petty corruption For example, many civil servants in the Philippines are paid starvation wages and resort to petty corruption to supplement their meager salaries. The UNDP (2008) argues that petty corruption is a “misnomer” because it affects “the daily lives of large numbers. of people, especially the poor.” According to Amundsen (1999), the illicit or immoral nature of political corruption makes it even more “inaccessible to scientific research than most human behavior.” The hidden, under-reported and illegal nature of corruption “indicates the weakness of statistical methods in assessing its quantitative aspects. Measuring the true extent of corruption is problematic for four main reasons. First, it is difficult to collect data on bureaucratic corruption in government agencies because corrupt bureaucrats hide their activities to evade detection. Second, given the sensitive nature of bureaucratic corruption, survey research methods cannot be used to directly obtain... middle of paper... assurance that their laws comply with international regulations and standards, and are planning to change existing laws. laws or develop new laws. Furthermore, greater emphasis and attention has been placed on strengthening anti-money laundering systems and laws. The plethora of initiatives and actions serve to showcase the proactive responsibilities and propensity of Asian countries in cleaning up regional and national corruption. Countries are dedicating significant resources to strengthen capacity and improve knowledge within their law enforcement authorities to enable them to address the growing complexity of corruption and related crimes. As a result, there are no Asian countries on the Financial Action Task Force's list of non-cooperative countries. This significant achievement is a testament to the progress Asian countries have made in curbing corruption.