The problem is that if the country that owns the original artifact is corrupt, then when the artifact returns, it will be stored in some high-ranking official's home forever, whilst what is stored in Western countries' museums can still be viewed by the public.
If a thief's gotta steal, go to the corrupt official's home (Western country's official or not) and donate to the museum that makes sure the artifact will never fall into private hands once again. Stealing from a museum that already displays the artifact to the public, then putting the artifact in a corrupt high-ranking official's home, is a worse loss to the entire human race than just letting the artifact stay there.
You clearly don't know anything about geo-politics. In order to maintain western hegemony, those countries that you complain about having corruption are corrupted BY DESIGN courtesy of the western powers. And regardless, does not change the fact that they were stolen to begin with. I suggest you study geo-politics. The rabbit hole is far deeper than what you've written.
I mean, the corrupt leader can always try not to be corrupt and slowly clean the country within, and then transform into a democracy with high constraint, like many countries are seeing the democratic transformation successfully. Like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and many former Soviet Bloc eastern countries, all went from corruptive dictatorship to full democracy with relative high ranking on HDI and low on Corruption Perceptions Index.
One of the countries that is currently seeing this transformation is Vietnam, so it is not by design, but by the choice of the leader and his cronies.
If a thief's gotta steal, go to the corrupt official's home (Western country's official or not) and donate to the museum that makes sure the artifact will never fall into private hands once again. Stealing from a museum that already displays the artifact to the public, then putting the artifact in a corrupt high-ranking official's home, is a worse loss to the entire human race than just letting the artifact stay there.
One of the countries that is currently seeing this transformation is Vietnam, so it is not by design, but by the choice of the leader and his cronies.