The Customs Service tops the rankings of Moldovan institutions where bribes are paid most often. The Public Health Centers rank second, being followed by courts of law and the Police. These are the results of the national survey to assess economic agents’ perceptions and experiences of corruption in the Republic of Moldova, which was presented by the Center for the Analysis and Prevention of Corruption and was carried out by Data Inteligente (iData) IPN reports.
In a news conference hosted by IPN, iData deputy director Veronica Ateș said the results of the survey show that most of the economic agents face corruption in public procurement processes (over 31%), when obtaining licenses, permits and permissive documents (over 28%) or during inspections carried out by competent state institutions (over 26%).
According to the survey, this year the most bribes were paid at the Customs Service (about 27%), which is followed by the Public Health Centers (24%), down from over 31% in terms of corruption in 2017, when it was in first place The integrity of the Police also increased this year. The institution ranks third with over 21%, compared to 26% in 2017, when it was on the second place in the rankings of corrupt institutions.
Veronica Ateș stated that a positive trend is observed. An increasing number of economic agents realize that it is not good to give bribes. But there are still 10-15% of respondents for whom giving and taking bribes is a norm, something natural. “I just helped”, or “It’s just an honorarium!”, they say.
To the question “To what extent does corruption hinder business development in the Republic of Moldova”, 14% of the economic agents surveyed this year said that it “hinders a lot”, compared to about 27% in 2017.
In conclusion, the iData deputy director noted that that economic agents should allot more time for collecting information, documents, for working out internal documents, guidelines or should participate in seminars. Things can only be changed through education.
The national survey to assess economic agents’ perceptions and experiences of corruption in the Republic of Moldova was conducted between June 27 and August 2, 2024 and covered a sample of 530 SMEs. It has a sampling error of 4.2%.
Note: IPN Agency offers the right of reply to persons who consider that they were targeted in the articles produced based on the statements of the organizers of this press conference, including by facilitating the organization of another press conference in similar conditions.
