37% of Moldovans reported paying bribe in the last year

Corruption has increased over the last three years, say six out of 10 people around the world. One in four people report paying bribes in the last year. These are the findings of the 2010 Global Corruption Barometer of Transparency International. In Moldova, 37% of the population paid bribe in the last 12 months, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the Barometer, the police is the most corrupt institution in Moldova. The police are followed by the judiciary, political parties and public servants. The religious bodies, NGOs and the mass media are the least corrupt in Moldova. Transparency International-Moldova president Lilia Carashchuk said globally, political parties are judged most affected by corruption, with the EU topping the rankings by this index. The EU is also the first as regards corruption in the religious bodies and the media. Though there are corrupt areas in the EU, the Europeans do not resort to bribe, said Lilia Carashchuk. Only 5% of the EU’s population admitted to paying bribe in the last year. According to the survey, the most corrupt public servants are in Russia, the most corrupt army and education system are in Armenia, while the most corrupt private sector is in Moldova. Lilia Carashchuk also said that Moldova lags behind in preventing and combating corruption in all the public institutions. The Ukrainians, Moldovans and Russians said the steps taken by the authorities to prevent corruption are insufficient. Only the Georgians (77%) consider the state takes efficient measures to combat corruption. Lilia Carashchuk stated that almost half of the respondents who reported paying bribes said they did it in order to avoid problems, while 25% said they paid bribe in order to accelerate processes. The shortcomings in the legislation and poor involvement of the media lead to increased corruption. Lilia Carashchuk said that in order to reduce corruption, the monitoring and reporting functions should be clearly divided. The 2010 Barometer captures the experiences and views of more than 91,500 people in 86 countries and territories, making it the only world-wide public opinion survey on corruption.