"It is easy to exaggerate corruption we have today. In India, public figures are considered to be corrupt unless they prove to you otherwise. A blind man will tell you how he saw 'with his own eyes' a bribe being given and accepted", Bhagwati said delivering the Hiren Mukherjee Memorial annual Parliamentary lecture.
Corruption is found in several countries. "It is the same play; actors are different," Bhagwati said in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his junior in Cambridge.
The Columbia University Professor of Economics and Law said the problem in India is that "nobody gets punished. In America, if you are caught, even God can't help you," he said.
Published 03 December 2010, 04:12 IST