Citizens see the most corruption, after healthcare and the police, within judicial institutions, it was said during the presentation of Transparency International’s research in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) on the perception of citizens, during which it was emphasized that corruption is one of the three biggest problems of citizens, and only about five percent of the population prioritize national issues, when it comes to the most important topics.
Along with low wages and emigration, the citizens of BiH see corruption as one of the three biggest problems in the country, said Ivana Korajlic, executive director of Transparency International in BiH, during the conference on the occasion of the International Anti-Corruption Day. She presented the results of a public opinion survey on the perception of corruption, according to which only five percent of citizens see national issues as a priority.
According to the respondents, corruption is most prevalent in healthcare, the police and the judiciary, and almost ten percent of citizens support corruption in some form, while 80 percent of the respondents believe that the institutions that should fight corruption are ineffective – which is also reflected in their willingness to report that act.
“The data clearly tell us that the citizens believe that the authorities and institutions have not made any improvementwhen it comes to corruption, which is also evident from the data on the level of efficiency and trust in the institutions”, said Korajlic and added that “the citizens believe that it is not even worth getting involved in the fight and reporting corruption because they think that nothing will happen based on their reports”.
Branislav Borenovic, chairman of the Commission for the fight against corruption and kleptocracy, said during the panel discussion that life with corruption has become a model of behavior and that it is deeply rooted in society. He clarified that this commission is a new body of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH.
“We have enough work to try to breathe down the institutions’ necks in the coming period. I think we need the most rigid laws, because we are such a society, we will always look for an excuse for what has not been done,” Borenovic said.
As he pointed out, there are about 400 prosecutors working in the prosecutor’s offices in BiH, and in the past three years they have received more than three thousand reports, of which 92 reports refer to high level corruption. He added that in the course of three years, the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH filed only one indictment for high level corruption.
Senior inspector and investigator for financial crime and corruption of the State Agency for Investigation and Protection(SIPA), Semir Saric, said that SIPA conducts operational action on a weekly basis, regardless of the type of crime, and states that one of the problems is minimum sentences, Detektor reports.
E.Dz.
