CORRUPTION in Slovakia goes practically unpunished, claim the experts of the non-governmental Transparency International Slovensko (TIS) based on their recent analysis.
TIS analysed rulings of the Specialised Criminal Court in 239 corruption cases in 2012-2014 and found that every year, perpetrators in corruption cases cumulatively worth about €120,000 are punished, “even though the estimates of the occurrence [of bribes] in Slovakia are a thousand times higher”.
As many as 48 percent of all bribes that end up before the courts amount to less than €20, TIS claims, while bribes higher than €100 make up only about one quarter of cases that the court rules over. Only 5 percent of the analysed rulings dealt with serious cases of corruption connected with public procurement, EU funds or elections.
Furthermore, as many as three quarters of court sentences for corruption do not provide proper reasoning, as they are concluded with the so-called agreement on crime and punishment between the prosecutor and the charged. That makes the role of the prosecution in revealing corruption cases even more important, TIS wrote in it press release.
Source: TIS press release
Compiled by Michaela Terenzani from press reports.
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information
presented in its Flash News postings.
