I'm not sure about how things work in developed countries but that is what happens in third-world or developing countries, and the reason why these countries don't become developed is basically the extreme level of corruption.
Political players in government are criminals who are actually even more dangerous in a country and the average person in this kind of government will be protected and rarely be caught by the law.
So far, no country has been able to really control acts of corruption, except for countries that have very strict laws and even dare to take harsh penalties against any government criminals.
There is one country that has severe penalties for corruptors and with these penalties no one dares to commit corruption even if only in small amounts, namely North Korea.