What is corruption?

“A fight against corruption among civil servants and high-ranking government officials can help, but the decisive long-term factor in limiting corruption in a democratic society is the mobilization of democratic forces from the grassroots level and the increased power of the civil society.”

Everyday payments to civil servants and other officials so as to speed up the consideration of cases or to avoid punishment – these are usually seen as lower-level corruption.  The sums are not significant, but the payments are countless.  Studies show that over the course of just two years, 250,000 of Latvia’s residents made unofficial payments in the medical sector to express “thanks" for the treatment which they received.  In 130,000 cases, bribes to representatives of the Road Police helped people to avoid punishment. 

When resources are distributed in accordance with selfish interests, that means that the medium-level administrative system is organized in pursuit of the same interests.  People in Latvia are particularly skeptical about state and local government procurement, the Customs Service, a variety of administrative institutions, the courts, as well as law enforcement agencies.

When political decisions are taken not on behalf of the public good, rather in support of specific interest groups which have dishonestly influenced politicians on their behalf, that is an example of political corruption.  Direct signs of political corruption include unlawful donations to parties, excessive party spending during political campaigns, and violation of campaigning rules.  Transparency International Latvia takes a particularly critical approach toward incidents of political corruption, because politicians are supposed to act on behalf of the people, making use of the power that has been entrusted to them.  The reputation of politicians must be judged in accordance with the strictest criteria.  Even justified questions about a politician’s honesty should be reason for the relevant government official to resign from his or her post.

Latvia is the European Union’s poorest and second most corrupt member state.  Researchers of corruption and development all agree that these two problems are linked in Latvia.  It will not be possible to combat poverty as long as bribery does not allow goals to be reached with the planned resources.

Corruption creates doubts about construction, fire safety and consumer protection norms and the careful oversight of these norms on the part of the relevant government institutions.  This means that corruption can threaten any individual’s personal safety.

Corruption robs the national treasury, destroys the market economy, hinders honest competition, and ensures that people do not believe in the rule of law.  Questionable transactions and court rulings, unexplainable political decisions, unlawful administrative practices – these all create alienation between government and the public, and they must be seen as a threat against democracy.

In a corrupt system, there are no long-term winners, business is not predictable, and success is not ensured.  The “other side” can always have a thicker wallet or someone who is closer to those who take the relevant decisions.

When corruption ends up before the courts, that is usually only one of the crimes in a whole series of bribes, except that only one individual has been caught and convicted.  This is because participants in these crimes are all linked with one another and are all interested in hushing up the situation.