Transparency International: Ukraine's Judiciary Most Corrupt in the World

The Global Corruption Barometer 2010, published by Transparency International, shows that corruption is on the rise worldwide. To no one’s surprise, Ukraine scores among the worst in the former Soviet Union, and it's judiciary system is the most corrupt in the world, according to the Berlin-based corruption-fighting organization.

In the report, almost 92,000 respondents in 86 countries were asked to evaluate the state of corruption in their home countries. The results were far from optimistic. Overall, more than 85 percent of the respondents reported that corruption levels increased, or stayed the same. In Ukraine, this result reached 93 percent.

People were also asked the question of whether they personally gave a bribe “to receive attention” from customs, education, the judiciary, police and other public institutions. Worldwide, a quarter of all respondents reported giving a bribe at least once, while in Ukraine this percentage reached 34 percent, with only Azerbaijan and Moldova scoring higher among the FSU countries.

It’s worth mentioning that the result of Georgia, where giving bribes reported only 3 percent of respondents was not only the lowest in former Soviet Union, but also one of the lowest worldwide on par with Iceland and better than Canada and the United States.

The results of another survey question should ring as bad news for all the politicians around the world. Nearly 80 percent of all the respondents consider political parties to be “corrupt or extremely corrupt.” The interviewees showed just a little bit more trust towards public officials and civil servants, who are considered corrupt by 62 percent of people.

The situation in Ukraine is a bit different. While most of the respondents consider local politicians corrupt, they especially singled out the judiciary system, making it the most corrupt in the world, sharing the top position with Peru (both countries having 4.4 points out of 5), with Mexico and Bolivia following right after (4.3 points each).

Arguably, the most amusing results were shown by Norway, where only 1 percent of the population reported giving bribes. The local champions of corruption turned out to be religious institutions. On the contrary, the local police and the judiciary are among the least corrupt in the world.

Vlad LAVROV

9 December 2010 KyivPost