Research Paper

Corruption in Republic of Moldova: Perceptions vs. Personal Experiences of Households and Business People

Chapter: Moldova | Year: 2019

Chapter details

About the chapter:

Transparency International – Moldova (TI-Moldova) was formed in 2000. The chapter publishes reports on the impact of corruption on the social, economic and democratic development of the country and works to raise public awareness about the causes and impact of corruption. TI-Moldova also works to strengthen the capacity of NGOs to carry out anti-corruption activities and to support the efforts of the government to fight corruption efficiently.

CPI Score: 33

CPI Rank: 117


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Partners

Global Partners:
U.S. State Department
National Partners:
Center for Sociological Studies

Theory of Change

Change Type:

Awareness

Abstract

With the support of the U.S. State Department and in collaboration with the Center for Sociological Studies, Transparency International Moldova carried out a study with the objective of analysing the perceptions and the experiences households and business people in the Republic of Moldova have made with corruption.

The results of the study were used to evaluate the impact of the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy in 2012.

The tasks of the study were the following:

  • Identifying the main sources of information about corruption and evaluating the credibility of information on corruption from mass-media;
  • Evaluating the awareness of the population on the threat of corruption in doing business;
  • Identifying the main causes of corruption and their evolution in time;
  • Evaluating the perception and the personal experience with corruption in 38 domains of public life;
  • Estimating the total amount of unofficial payments that have been given in various public institutions/services;
  • Evaluating the professionalism and credibility of the law enforcement staff members;
  • Evaluating the acceptability of corruption, unofficial payments and readiness to pay bribes;
  • Evaluating public awareness about conflicts of interest;
  • Identifying the most efficient measures to detect and combat corruption;
  • Calculating corruption risks indicators for law enforcement institutions.

Methodology

490 business people and 1106 household representatives over the age of 18 were randomly selected for interview. They were questioned on their perception and experiences with corruption. These results were then analysed using SPSS 15 (a software package used for interactive, or batched, statistical analysis) and were published in a report.

Findings

  1. Between 40 – 50% of respondents reported paying a bribe within the healthcare sector in the past 12 months
  2. The main reason for paying bribes was to speed up the process.
  3. It is estimated that households paid 238 million Leu (around 2.3 million USD) in bribes to healthcare institutions