Justice is the most corrupt branch of the power, according to businessmen. This is followed by the legislative body. The domestic households consider that Parliament is the most corrupt body, followed by justice. The data are contained in the sociological survey “Corruption in the Republic of Moldova: perceptions and own experiences of businessmen and domestic households – 2015”, which was presented by Transparency International-Moldova in a news conference at IPN.
According to the study, most often the businessmen offer bribe to customs employees, prosecution bodies and in courts of law, while the domestic households – to the police, prosecutors and doctors. The average bribe offered by businessmen is over 6,000 lei for tax inspectorates, 4,600 lei for customs and 2,600 for labor inspectorates. In the case of households, the largest bribe, of 5,000 lei, is given in courts of law. They also offer 1,600 lei bribe to the police and 1,300 lei bribe to representatives of education and health facilities.
“The sample was used to estimate the total volume of bribe. We ascertained that the frequency of bribery has decreased lately. Our estimates show that the bribes given by domestic households in 2015 total over 850 million lei, a decrease of 5% on last year. The businessmen offered bribe of 380 million lei. It is about usual corruption that does not include all the illegal transactions in Moldova,” said Lilia Carasciuc, director of Transparency International-Moldova.
The poll shows that the number of businessmen who are not willing to give bribe rose almost three times over the last ten years. In 2015, 35% of those polled said they would give bribe to none of the bodies.
According to the survey, the number of businessmen who consider that the state prevents them from developing their businesses has considerably increased over the last year. In 2014, these represented 31%, while this year - 37%. The number of businessmen - respondents of the poll who believe that the tax inspectors have a correct behavior during inspections has raised. Ten years ago, only 41% of the businessmen had such an opinion, while in 2015 their number doubled.
The respondents said the main causes of corruption are the pressure exerted by relatives and friends, the pressure on the part of the state, the low salaries and the low level of culture of the population. “Among the main causes of corruption the respondents mentioned the fact that the state bodies are controlled by oligarchs, that the corrupt persons are not held accountable, while the authorities simulate the fight against corruption,” said Transparency International-Moldova expert Ianina Spinei.
The survey covered a sample of 1,099 persons older than 18. It was carried out with the support of the United Nations Development Program within the project “Strengthening the corruption prevention and analysis functions” that is co-financed and implemented by UNDP Moldova.