[fakedang]

Interestingly there was a similar case in Saudi Arabia a few years back, where McKinsey hired the sons of bureaucrats in Aramco and other government departments in exchange for all the lucrative consulting contracts. Goldman Sachs did the same with 1MDB and Libya and were caught. It's an open secret now that giving the kids the jobs is a foolproof route to getting contracts.

[jariel]

People are misunderstanding the nature of this stuff.

This is not corruption, it's just favours.

Nobody is awarding a major contract to get their kid an associate job at McKinsey.

The contract is awarded to McKinsey, if the person holding the purse has someone looking to get into such a role, then it's a nice thing that McKinsey can do in return.

My mother was a director of customer service and used to hire all of my friends in high school ... because they were my friends. It's normal.

It's technically not very above bar, but it's not necessarily corrupt. Most people get jobs through their networks, this is 'kind of' that.

[fakedang]

Except McKinsey didn't hire them after getting the contracts, but before, which clearly positions it to get many contracts. A few years back, it was clear as day that most of the govt business went to McKinsey in the Middle East, while BCG and Bain often received scraps.

Relevant article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-growing-saudi-business-mckin...

[jariel]

It's nothing. McKinsey is a huge outfit, hiring 8 analysts is nothing. In fact it will help McKinsey more than anyone else as it would help them develop closer relationships with House of Saud.

The Saudi government is not giving McKinsey huge contracts because so and so's kid got hired there - point blank.

Also remember these kids are already stinking rich they don't even need to work.

And it's also a part of the world where business is done on the basis of relationships.

When a firm is giving Ferraris as 'kickbacks' then it's corruption but not this.

[fakedang]

My oh my do you have a very narrow interpretation of corruption.

Hiring less than capable individuals while excluding more capable individuals, for the sake of obtaining contracts, in a region where ministers are changed on a regular basis (hence no guarantees of the connections staying forever) is exactly what I'd call a kickback.