Corruption in the Balkans can be reduced to a minimum over the next decade BTA - 2000/10/18
As international commitments are assumed to adhere strictly
to anti-corruption policies, the level of corruption in the
Balkans can be reduced to a minimum over the next decade,
according to Frederic Wehrle, Stability Pact Anti-Corruption
Initiative Coordinator of the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development.
He took part in a roundtable on corruption within the
South-East Europe Economic Forum which opened here on Monday.
The expert argued that good laws are not the only conditions to
curb corruption. He cited the example of Romania, where
corruption is punishable by 15 years' imprisonment, compared to
10 years in the US and France and 5 years in Germany. Wehrle
said that implementation of the law requires an institutional
framework and political will. Bulgaria is most advanced among
the countries of the region in anti-corruption legislation, the
expert said. In 1993 US companies lost 60,000 million dollars
from transacting with companies in Western Europe where
legislation is more lax to bribery of foreigners, said political
scientist Ivan Krustev of the Centre for Liberal Strategies. At
that time, in Germany and France bribes of foreign government
officials were allowed as tax-deductible expense. The major
corruption scandals, the ones in Bulgaria included, erupt around
small off-shore companies which take the upper hand of the major
foreign investors. "Those who win are not the ones who give the
largest bribe but those who know when and how to give it so that
it be accepted," Krustev said. He also called into question the
privatization method which prioritizes price. "Strategic
investors rarely offer the highest price, and the properties are
thus awarded to small offshore companies, he said. A couple of
weeks ago the World Bank concluded that the fight against
corruption can hardly be expected to produce an early result,
Krustev said. He does not think that such results can be
achieved by just lifting licensing, authorization and
registration requirements. According to Krustev, corruption in
Bulgaria has already turned into an "explanation" of the
transition - of how some people got rich in weeks and others got
poor in months. Bulgarians have come to perceive privatisation
itself as synonymous with corruption, the political scientist
said. He warned that fighting corruption could be used as a
pretext for a repressive policy or become an election campaign
issue. "When the State cannot guarantee security, the political
and economic class buys it on corruption money," Krustev said.
"If all transactions in a country are fraught with corruption,
nationalization lies ahead for that country," he added.
According to Tihomir Bezlov of the Center for the Study of
Democracy, the incidence of everyday-level bribery is decreasing.
"Fearing exposure, bureaucrats take less," Bezlov said. To make
up for it, a new form of corruption is emerging: bribe in
exchange for welfare benefits.