89 per cent of people in North Cyprus see widespread corruption – survey

About  89 per cent of people in North Cyprus, believed that bribery and corruption exist in the country, while 56 per cent think the situation got worse in 2017.

Some 48 per cent said that diverting public funds to companies, individuals or groups due to corruption was very common or common.

When asked if there was a tradition of payment of bribes to secure contracts, only 14 per cent said this was very rare or rare.

These are some of the results of a new survey published by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and presented at the Home for Cooperation on Tuesday.

The survey is the first comprehensive research on corruption perception in the northern part of Cyprus and researchers Omer Gokcekus and Sertac Sonan hope to make comparisons over the years in future by replicating it yearly. By using an international corruption perception index they will be able to compare the scores with countries on international lists.

The researchers sampled 366 business people holding executive positions from different types of companies as these were more likely to encounter officials, and former public officials.

Both the business community and former bureaucrats share the view that corruption is widespread.

Politicians (67 per cent) and political parties (62 per cent) were seen as the two groups which were most deeply involved in the practice, followed by high level civil servants. Only one third of the business people, who were chosen as interviewees as they have direct contacts with officials viewed low level civil servants as corrupt.

Cyprus Mail