Corruption is the 5th worst problem faced by businesses and the 3rd for households, according to the sociological study “Corruption in Moldova: perceptions and experiences of business people and households”. The poll was commissioned by Transparency International – Moldova and conducted by the Center of Sociological Investigations and Marketing “CBS-AXA”.
Ianina Spinei, expert at Transparency International – Moldova, told a press conference at IPN that 46.5% of household representatives and 39.5% of surveyed business people said corruption had grown over the last 12 months. However, the figures are lower than in 2012. The main causes of corruption are the impunity of corrupt people and the lack of a serious approach from the government.
Households see corruption as plaguing mostly the education and healthcare systems, the judiciary, the police and the prosecutors. For business people, the most corrupt are the courts, the police, the customs service, the authorities in charge of issuing construction authorizations and the tax inspectorates.
Both households and business people think that money is the main tool to unofficially solve all problems with civil servants. Most household members have given bribes in educational institutions (43% of those who came in contact with them), when registering a vehicle or obtaining a driver's permit (40.2%), to prosecutors (40%) and medical staff (39.8%). The business people mostly offered bribes in order to obtain construction authorizations (27.9%), but also to customs officers (25.9%), to police officers (25.2%) and in courts (24.6%).
The highest average bribes paid by household members were for prosecutors (2780 lei) and judges (2120 lei). Meanwhile, businesses paid the most in courts (8809 lei on average), to win public tenders (7000 lei) and to lawyers (4075 lei).
Despite a high level of corruption in Moldova, most households (78.9%) and businesses (87.8%) are optimistic about chances to fight this problem. According to Ianina Spinei, Moldova must continue its European course for the people to feel a change in the fight against corruption. “It's important that the government keeps its promises”, she said.
The survey was conducted on a sample of 1106 natural persons and 457 businesses. The sample is representative for the nation, with margin of error of 2.9% for households and 4.4% for businesses. Overall, the amount of bribes paid by households is estimated at 899 million and that of businesses at 387 million lei.
