Corruption in Moldova stems from impunity, research

The majority of the population thinks that corruption persists in Moldova because the guilty people aren’t punished and because the problem isn’t tackled seriously by the government. This is the conclusion of the sociological research “Corruption in Moldova as perceived and experienced by business people and domestic households”, carried out by Transparency International Moldova, Info-Prim Neo reports. TI Moldova director Lilia Carasciuc declared that the state must undertake a large campaign to explain the implementation of its promises to prevent corruption in separate institutions and to punish severely those who take bribe. Only then society will support the fight against corruption. Lilia Carasciuc stressed the need for a large campaign to inform the people about what a conflict of interests means. The research shows that only half of respondents were able to explain what they understood as conflict of interests, this being one of causes of corruption in the country. The respondents said they mostly learned about corruption cases from TV or radio. Lilia Carasciuc is of the opinion that financial and material resources should not be spent on expensive conferences, but on funding ample mass media campaigns, which would be more useful. In the domestic environments, the phenomenon of corruption is perceived as specific to the fields of healthcare, education, to institutions such as police, customs, prosecutor’s offices and courts. Business people share this opinion, with the addition of fiscal inspectors to the list of corruptible officials. The majority of respondents chose the judiciary as the most corrupt branch of the state power. According to the survey, both domestic households and business people think money is the main unofficial way to solve problems with public officials. Kinship and friendship come in second place, followed by gifts. Compared to a similar research from 2008, the number of people who declare they would refuse to offer bribe has increased, while the number of those who say it would depend on the situation remains the same. However, the number of people who claim they would experience negative feelings should they need to offer bribe has increased. The research was carried out in partnership with CBS-AXA and with the support of the US State Department. The survey focused on two categories of respondents: from domestic households and business people. The sample was 1106 in the first category and 490 in the second. The data was collected between July 26 and September 10.