I agree with you that the malady of corruption is widespread. we in private sector, at least do not get to indulge in such things (i.e taking bribes).
My point is the law to punish the corrupt needs to be stringent, it must be deterrent enough to put the fear in their minds - confiscation of property, long term imprisonment, heavy fines apart from recovery of all ill gotten money, and withdrawal of driving license, passport, life time bar on contesting any elections, etc. If such a law is present and punishment swift for anyone found indulging in corruption at any level, then automatically things will be controlled.