Prague, Nov 16 (CTK) – About 9 percent of Czechs gave a bribe for some public service in the past year, according to a poll commissioned by Transparency International (TI) and released on Wednesday.
Most Czechs consider corruption a serious problem, believing that the government does not combat it well.
The Czech Republic assumed the middle in the standings of 42 countries in the survey of corruption in Europe and Central Asia.
Czechs said corruption of parliament members was a medium-risk problem.
Most are of the view that bribes are not quite common in the Czech Republic, but it is not usual to tip the police about it.
“Corruption is changing its form, as influential groups no longer need to breach the law. They themselves have the rules of the game changed, keeping the mask of legal character,” Czech TI branch head David Ondracka said.
“People sense it, resenting the double standards and impunity of the chosen ones,” he added.
“They have the feeling that they cannot change much,” Ondracka said.
The best places went to Germany, Sweden and Switzerland in the survey of corruption.
Russia, Serbia and Ukraine scored the worst results. The Czech Republic is roughly on the same level as Belarus and Latvia.
The survey was conducted on almost 60,000 respondents from 42 countries.
The worst situation was recorded in Tadjikistan, in which one half of the population conceded that they gave a bribe.
