site.btaCorruption Levels in Bulgaria Extremely High - Center for the Study of Democracy

Corruption Levels in Bulgaria Extremely High - Center for the Study of  Democracy

Sofia, June 2 (BTA) - Corruption levels in Bulgaria are
extremely high, with about 18 per cent of people aged 18 or over
admitting that they have offered a bribe and 28 per cent saying
they have come under corruption pressure, Ognian Shentov,
Chairman of the Board of the Center for the Study of Democracy
(CSD), said on Tuesday, presenting the findings of a corruption
survey. The presentation was attended by Deputy Prime Minister
and Interior Minister Roumyana Buchvarova.

There has been no clear trend since 1999 and no consistent
policy curbing corruption that would result in a downward trend,
said Shentov. The CSD used a Monitoring Anti-corruption Policy
Implementation tool to study corruption risks and the fight
against them in the Border Police service.

The national anti-corruption policies should be translated into
the language of the public organizations because although those
policies may be very good, they may not be implemented
effectively. It is important to find out if they are adequate
and if they target specific corruption risks, Shentov explained.

The specific areas of corruption risk or interest are identified
through interviews with experts. The final phase is to identify
the anti-corruption policies in a given organization and the
way they address the existing risks.

The theoretical possibility of corruption is 75 per cent, i.e.
three out of four types of corruption are possible. Corruption
pressure is strongly manifest. Border police staff say about 30
per cent of the public are inclined to break the rules; 50 per
cent say they have been offered bribes, and about 23 per cent
say their co-workers are susceptible to corruption.

The Border Police service has certain policies to counter
corruption pressure. Based on interviews with border police
officers, the CSD concluded that those policies are applicable
and hard to evade, the staff is familiar with them and they are
applied strictly. However, when the respondents were asked if
there is strict systematic control and if corrupt border police
officers are punished, the numbers dropped by half, CSD's
experts said, concluding that control of the anti-corruption
policies in the system is insufficient.

The CSD's main concern is whether the Border Police officers can
be sincere. The survey was conducted in two stages, the second
one being an anonymous online survey among 500 officers working
at various leadership levels. The findings show that the
corruption risk is highest at the border checkpoints and the
green border (the external land border outside border
checkpoints).

Staff rotation, video surveillance, sudden checks and disclosure
of the officers' property status are part of the measures which
address some of the corruption risks. The introduction of
electronic procedures could be a very effective measure.

Interior Minister Roumyana Buchvarova said corruption practices
are always one step ahead of anti-corruption measures, hence
prevention is very important. It is crucial to monitor the
dynamic of the corruption environment. CSD's project shows that
organization is key to the fight against corruption. It is a
very good solution to map out general and specific measures and
use them in measuring corruption levels. A trend is more
important than an absolute value in such studies, according to
Buchvarova. She commented that the findings were a month old and
that things had changed in the Border Police service since
then.