Almost a quarter of citizens were asked for a bribe

Results of the research conducted by TIBiH, as well as the work of the Legal Advice Centre, show that the citizens consider corruption to be one of the major problems in BiH society, along with the unemployment, which can be proven by the fact that the citizens address TIBiH mostly for the problem of corruption in the employment procedures

Banja Luka, 15th February 2016 – In 2015 Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) acted in more than 200 cases reported by the citizens, while more than 800 citizens dialed free telephone number for reporting corruption 0800 55555 and thus were given a legal advice.
The largest number of the reported cases, as in previous years, referred to the public administration sector, and the citizens mostly reported corruptive employment practices which make more than half of the total reports. The reports of the citizens also referred to the irregularities in the work of institutions and other areas, such as: practice of judicial institutions, education, health care, banking operations, property-legal relations, public procurement, etc.
During 2015 TI BiH won 24 disputes against institutions processed before the competent courts for violating the Law on Free Access to Information. It filed 10 new lawsuits only in 2015. The goal is to make the affirmative court practice and to use it to create an environment in which public institutions immediately provide information of public importance. TI BiH filed three lawsuits against the Banking Agency of the Republic of Srpska, and it is preparing the fourth one which is to be submitted for not acting in accordance with the Law on Free Access to Information related to the requested documentation in case of Pavlovic Bank.
Along with those results of the Legal Advice Centre, TI BiH also presented the results of the research on the corruption perception of the citizens in BiH.
• Results of the research show that the citizens consider corruption to be one of the major problems in BiH society, along with the unemployment, which can be proven by the fact that the citizens address TIBiH mostly for the problem of corruption in the employment procedures
• Institutions/sectors defined by the citizens as the most prone to corruption are political parties, followed by the police and health care system.
• In the same way they define the professions mostly related to giving a bribe. In their opinion these are doctors, politicians and police officers. Among the institutions which should have the leading role in combating corruption the most prominent are the judiciary, then the executive power, followed by the police, parliament and Agency for prevention of corruption. It is interesting that the increasing number of citizens find civil society and TI BiH as an organization to be the key factors in the fight against corruption, compared to the role of local self-government or specific law enforcement agencies.
• A quarter of citizens indicated that they found themselves in a situation to be asked for a bribe, but the fact that 51% of the citizens emphasized that they would report the officials who asked for a bribe is encouraging. At the same time, the citizens believe they themselves are responsible for the lack of the fight against corruption – as the main obstacles they indicated fear 58% and inactivity, followed by the lack of political will and inappropriate legal framework for the fight against corruption.

Press rls – 15 2 2016 doc ENG