Corruption remains to be a serious problem and public agents are generally not sanctioned for the lack of professional integrity and ethics. This opinion is expressed by the majority of the respondents participating in a sociological study for assessing the impact of the National Integrity and Anticorruption Strategy for 2017-2020 (NIAS), conducted by the Center for Social Research and Marketing “CBS-Research” and commissioned by UNDP, IPN reports.
According to the survey data, the estimated volume of bribe accounted in 2019 for 516 million lei (319.4m lei from the general population and 197.3m lei from economic units). In 2017, the respective indicator accounted for 405 million lei.
The survey was carried out based on a representative national poll for the following target groups: general population, business units, public agents from central (ministries, agencies), district and local public administration. The survey data are presented as a comparison against the situation registered in 2017, when the first NIAS Impact Monitoring Survey was carried out.
“We hope the survey data will be attentively analyzed by the responsible authorities and will be taken into account when working out and implementing anticorruption policies and measures. It is important that the policies and instruments for preventing and fighting corruption be designed and implemented taking into account the opinion and perception of the general population,” said Alla Skvortsova, programs specialist, Effective Governance, UNDP Moldova.
Vasile Cantarji, project manager at “CBS-Research”, noted that the data were collected during July – September 2019 and this interval influenced to a particular extent respondents’ perceptions. “The data of the study were collected in a very specific period, when the government was only changed, when all kinds of important political events took place. Remember just the long epopee for dismissing the prosecutor general,” stated Vasile Cantarji.
According to the survey data, over 70% of population and over 60% of business representatives (about 2/3 out of both categories in 2017) consider corruption to be a very serious problem, without any differences by the respondents’ gender.
The respondents were asked to choose three institutions that they consider the most corrupt. The top three places are taken by the police (36%), medical institutions (31%) and Parliament (29%). The respondents from the business sector mentioned primarily the courts of law (37%), the police (32%) and medical institutions (27%).
Also, 7% of the respondents from the general population and 4.7% of the business units admitted that they have offered informal payments during the last year. The average number of times a person from the general population offered a bribe is 5.4 times per year (as compared to 3.7 in 2017), and in case of a business unit – 3.5 times (as compared to 6.1 in 2017).
The survey data reveal that the general population (73% of the respondents) and business units (80%) are aware of the fact that bribing implies a punishment for both involved parties. On average, about 87% of the survey respondents stated that if encountering such situations, they would most probably/surely report the corruption acts to the anticorruption agencies through different means.
The main factors which would determine citizens to get involved in the activities to decrease corruption are the strong belief that they would be protected if they denounce a public agent for corruption, as well as the guarantee for an independent justice.
