Corruption still rampant, says survey

TIRANA, March 28 – In another activity held the same day the Institute for Development, Reeaserch and Alternative issued a survey it had made following funding from the USAID. The report presented the results from five opinion surveys conducted in Albania across four different samples and two points in time.
In the cities, of the 17 institutions and groups evaluated with respect to how corrupt they are, the perception of the following improved in the 2004- 2005 period: members of parliament, ministers, judges, NGO leaders, prosecutors and customs officials. However, the overall perception for these groups is still negative. With the exception of NGO leaders (37.6), they all score more than 60 point on the scale of corruption perception. Public officials rated judges and NGO leaders less favorably compared to the national sample. With one exception, all of the institutions evaluated for their contribution to the fight against corruption receive mean scores below the midpoint of the scale (50), suggesting that their performance in the anti-corruption fight is considered unsatisfactory. The one notable exception is the media, which receive mean scores in the 50s range in all samples. The institutions that are cited as the worst are the courts and General Prosecutor’s Office. The media fare worse among public officials compared to the general public. Transparency remains a challenge for public institutions. With the exception of the Armed Forces, all institutions score below the mid-point on the “not transparent” part of the spectrum. Courts are perceived to be the least transparent.
Local government, Parliament, the High State Control, and the central government are seen as more transparent by public officials than among the general population. The Armed Forces retain the highest level of trust in all four samples; political parties and trade unions maintain the lowest level of trust. Trust in public institutions is low even among those who serve in them. There is a negative correlation between the ways in which a respondent falls prey to corruption and political system support; support declines as victimization increases. This negative relationship between corruption victimization and political system support holds even after controlling for sex, age, and income. This suggests that corruption corrodes the support for the political system. Awareness of anti-corruption initiatives undertaken by civil society in urban centers drop markedly in 2005. Nationally, awareness is slightly lower than in cities in 2005.
The idea that civil society and the government should cooperate to combat corruption is widely supported across all samples. Citizens use television as the primary source of information about corruption cases. In all four samples, more than 70 percent of the respondents cite this source. Confidence in the judicial system’s ability to deliver justice to crime victims, while already low, drops even further in urban areas, though nationally it fares slightly better. A mean score of roughly 35 in three samples indicates that Albanians have little faith in the justice system. Slightly more than half the judges surveyed agree that corruption in the Albanian court system is a serious problem and that lawyers approach them outside of court to influence decisions. Judges approve of the quality of training at the Magistrates School; which receives a score well above the midpoint of the scale (71 points.) Of seven possible factors important to the daily work of judicial officials, judges are most satisfied with the quality of personnel they work with and least satisfied with the pay of their employees. A large number of judges cite training as the factor that would help them improve their performance. A salary increase is the next most cited factor. A majority of judges feel that continuing legal education is the most important type of training that judges need in order to keep abreast of newly passed laws.
Public officials feel that political influence in the hiring and promotion of officials is most prevalent in the education system and less prevalent in the local administration. Among public officials, bribery is seen to be more prevalent in influencing decisions about obtaining public services and contracts than in altering laws and regulations. Payment of bribes to obtain public services is seen to be most widespread in the medical system and least widespread in the local administration. Payment of bribes to public servants is seen as most prevalent in the public sector and among local businessmen. It is perceived to be far less widespread among foreign investors and international organizations.