site.btaReport: Corruption Deals Reach 15-Year High

Report: Corruption Deals Reach 15-Year High

Sofia, December 11 (BTA) - A corruption evaluation report by the
Centre for the Study of Democracy suggests that in 2014
corruption deals in Bulgaria reached a 15-year high. The report
was made public on Thursday.

In 2014, there were an average of 158,000 corruption deals each
month, the report indicates. The majority were initiated by the
public administration. In 2014, corruption susceptibility was at
1999 levels despite growing intolerance for corruption, the
Centre says. The business sector is relying increasingly on
corruption to tackle problems. The majority of businesses don't
trust public institutions and they don't believe that they
receive a fair treatment in court. Such an attitude is justified
as there is wasteful spending at all levels of management as a
result of which public debt has grown by 10 percentage points.

The rise and the fall of Corporate Commercial Bank suggest that
the seizure of the state by private interests has reached the
strongest law enforcement agencies such as the prosecution
service, the financial intelligence and the central bank. The
South Stream saga, however, has shown that corruption has spread
to the highest echelons of the state institutions in that
foreign interests have succeeded in dictating conditions to the
Bulgarian legislature and government at the expense of Bulgarian
and EU interests.

Increasing administrative and political corruption in 2014 took
place against the background of an ongoing inability by the
Supreme Judicial Council to face to the challenge to ensure that
the prosecution authorities and the courts will tackle
successfully corruption and state capture. The structure of the
judicial system still does not ensure a fast, fair and
transparent enforcement of laws, according to the report
findings.