Press release
TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL REVEALS BRIBE RATES IN MINISTRY OF INFORMATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Chisinau. Currently, bribes practiced in the Ministry of Informational Development structures vary between 51 and 305 US dollars, on the average, according to the findings of an opinion poll called “Measuring Corruption: From Poll to Poll”, carried out by the Transparency International Moldova.
According to Lilia Carasciuc of the Organization, its activists interviewed 106 persons in 4 days, and 36 of them confessed they had given bribes at least once. For instance, bribes for a smooth receipt of the internal identity card [aka domestic passport] and foreign-travel passport presently average US$51, a driver’s license – US$194, and a car registration – US$305.
According to the poll, over 70% of the bribe-givers offered the cash on their own initiative, 17.6% stated they had been demanded to pay bribes, and 11.9% gave bribes via go-betweens.
On the whole, nearly 85% respondents regarded the ministerial officials’ behaviour as polite one, over one-third of the interviewed people appreciated the ministerial specialists’ high professionalism, and over 90% voiced satisfaction over the high level of informing the applicants about documents needed to be submitted to the ministry.
Also, the Transparency International Moldova has carried out – by order of the World Bank – an opinion poll on the activities of the Moldovan customs and border services, having interviewed 218 persons. Most of them claimed that customs officers behave in a discriminating manner, but a quarter said the situation in that sphere has improved.
Judging by this poll, Moldovan customs officials behave better than their colleagues in Russia and Ukraine, but worse than officers in Romania.
“Only one-third of the respondents stated they do not pay bribes. Almost 39% believe the corruption level in the Moldovan Customs Service is high, 41% – that it is so-so, and 16.5% presume the corruption level is low”, said Lilia Cacasciuc.
Recently, the Transparency International Moldova issued its new editions: “Prevention of Political Corruption through Regulating the Financing of Political Parties and Election Campaigns”, “Transparency of Public Purchasing in Chisinau”, “Legal Culture and Corruption Prevention”, “Journalists against Corruption-4”, and “Artists against Corruption-8: for a Transparent, Democratic and Responsible Governance”.
