Independent watchdog Transparency International (TI) has issued its latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2010, which has seen Slovakia drop 5 spots in the ranking, slipping 0.2 points to a score of 4.2. This classes it as the most corrupt country of the Visegrad 4.
Analyst Gabriel Sipos from Transparency International Slovensko says the decline is the outcome of the former government of Robert Fico. He says this is chiefly down to the numerous non-transparent public tenders that took place under the former government, as well as the lack of will to plug loopholes in the law and in the judiciary. He also noted that the absence of anti-corruption measures were also to blame.
“For the former government combating corruption wasn’t a key issue,” said Sipoš, while also pointing out how the former government even attacked NGOs and the media for disclosing corruption issues.
Sipos praised the steps of the current government, pointing to how it has published contracts on the internet and is trying to open up the judiciary. He also pointed out that the media and NGOs are no longer being scorned.
The ranking was compiled from the data in 2009 based on the opinions of leading business people and experts, with the most favourable score being 10. Slovakia came in 59th place from 178 countries in total. New Zealand came out best with a score of 9.3, while Somalia scraped the bottom of the ranking with a score of 1.2.
You can download the full report in English from http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2010/press#reporthttp://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2010/press#report
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