BRATISLAVA, February 23, (WEBNOVINY) – Over the past year, one in five Slovaks gave a bribe, but only in ten percent of the cases the bribe was requested. Bribery is most spread in health care, at courts, prosecution, ministries and tax offices. On the other hand, corruption in education sector has dwindled. These are results of a survey conducted by Transparency International Slovensko (TIS) in cooperation with Focus pollster this January. Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, TIS‘ Matej Kurian said that people do not offer bribes because they are asked to do so, but because they think it is common practice.
In a 1999 survey, forty percent of those polled confessed they give bribes. In 2009, it was only 27 percent. TIS points out that in spite of a decline in low-profile corruption in everyday life, as much as 88 percent of respondents opine that corruption among politicians and businessmen is on the rise. The survey was carried out after the Gorilla graft case hit the headlines.
Among EU countries, Slovakia is the fifth most corrupt country. The agency evaluates outgoing Cabinet of Iveta Radicova as the most intensive fighter against corruption since 1994.
SITA