I don't know about government officials but I can tell you that the plastic industry where I work is highly corrupt, here are examples:
1. some domestic suppliers are faking numerous plastic products such as nylon, they makes low quality pellets from recycled plastic or low grade industrial refuse that would not pass international standards, then they bag them and put Dupont on the bag and sell it as an original import and charge a lot of money for it, then the crap-quality injected product gets sold to the argentine consumer and we all suffer the consequences of breaking parts in cars, motorcycles, hospital equipment, etc. they accomplish these feats by bribing regulators and inspectors. Same goes with safety in the manufacturing sector, small and big companies bribe health officials to put check marks upon their visits even though there is machine oil leaking into the environment, fuels absorbing into soil and bad electrical wiring risking the safety of employees, often times causing fires.
2. AFIP guys collecting bribes from companies who should have been shut down due to not paying income taxes but still afloat because they were buying the officials off with cash. Sometimes AFIP even fight among themselves, competing for those bribes. They aren't shy about asking for cash either, they say it's normal and acceptable.
3. the judiciary is also corrupt when it comes to cases where employees sue the companies because the judges take money and close the case or sway it in the opposite direction if the accuser pays more, everything is pre-arranged with the secretary and both lawyers without even seeing the judge, there is no transparency anywhere and no way to dispute unless you are wealthy and know someone with influence. Blackmailing is a common tactic when someone in the judiciary feels threatened, they even threaten fresh graduates who want to enter the law environment and do things right, basically dissuading them from taking up judging positions.
4. the workers unions are collecting bribes as well, at least the plastic ones, they come in and say: "we know that you've got 10 employees working under the table, we can shut you down tomorrow but if you pay me you can go on..." and there is no transparency about who paid income taxes and who didn't, and no third party verification system to monitor whether companies really are complying with the rules and whether the inspections were compliant with all the regulations.
5. the police are corrupt as well, working with pimps and illegal gamblers making money on the side, accepting bribes, the entire system is well established and well oiled, that's why macri wanted to overhaul the police but couldn't really do it due to lack of resources. very similar to how it is run under putin's russia, he accepted to mafia as an integral part of the economic system and they support him for that.
6. municipalities are probably corrupt too because everything is broken and abandoned, and highly inefficient, they do not rotate employees, people with special connections get the positions and the whole machine keep on rolling while the roads remain destroyed, parks in poor shape, public facilities in disrepair and no enforcing mechanism in place to collect taxes from people who refused to pay them. Not mentioning the leaky water pipes and smelly leaky gas pipes that could be repaired if the city held those companies responsible and stayed on top of the game.
Overall the situation is grave because everybody got used to cheating and not paying, they think that paying up is optional and that repairs and organization should be left for wealthy capitalists, there is no concept of what it means to run a city or a province on a budget in an efficient way, instead they bring huge 70s tractors to collect dry branches from the side of the road while the huge diesel trucks are idling for no reason for the entire day, workers then take too many breaks and waste public resources, no supervision, no accountability.
Waste along with selfish complacency is what got this country into a hole and will probably put an end to argentine identity once and for all once one of the regional powers decides to intrude politically and militarily. Personally i would embrace any foreign invasion of argentina knowing that sovereignty is worth nothing unless corruption is kept in check and the rule of law is respected.
