Sierra Leone, Liberia Rank High: Bribe Paying Survey Samuel Rubenfeld Wall Street Journal. A massive survey by Transparency International found more than a quarter of people have paid a bribe in the last 12 months. The 2013 Global Corruption Barometer is the eighth edition of the survey, which collected responses from more than 114,000 people in 107 countries. This survey is different from the group’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index: It measures the views of everyday people, rather than experts weighing other surveys to determine the perception of graft. Transparency International found that 27% of respondents have paid a bribe over the past year. In Liberia and Sierra Leone, for example, more than 75% of respondents reported paying bribes over the past year. However, two-thirds of the overall survey respondents said they refused to pay a bribe when asked. “Bribe paying levels remain very high worldwide, but people believe they have the power to stop corruption and the number of those willing to combat the abuse of power, secret dealings and bribery is significant,” said Huguette Labelle, chair of Transparency International, in a statement. The survey found police and the judiciary are the most prone to bribery: Overall, nearly one-third said their contacts with police included paying a bribe, and 24% said the same for the judicial system. The situation is even worse in countries where police and judicial corruption is a known problem. In the 36 countries that view police as the most corrupt, an average of 53% of people were asked to pay a bribe by police, the survey found. And in the 20 that countries view the judiciary as the most corrupt, an average of 30% of people were asked by people in the judicial system to pay a bribe, it found. More than half of those surveyed said corruption has increased over the past two years. When asked on a five-scale, where “corruption is a very serious problem” scores a five, the average score across all countries was 4.1, the survey found. People’s views on corruption are worst in Liberia and Mongolia, which each scored a 4.8. Respondents in more than 50 countries reported that political parties as the most corrupt institution. Moreover, people have less faith in their leaders to solve the problem than in recent years: In 2008, when the global financial crisis happened, 31% said their government’s efforts to fight corruption were effective; this year the number dropped to 22%.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Jul 2013 14:02:00 +0000
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