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Extent
Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer 2013 indicates that corruption remains a serious problem in Slovakia. High-profile corruption cases have plagued the country, including the “Gorilla” case that surfaced at the end of 2011. In this case, secret wiretap recordings between 2005 and 2006 were leaked to the internet, bringing to light millions of Euros in bribes paid by a private equity firm to Slovakian government officials in exchange for privatisation and procurement deals.
According to Global Corruption Barometer 2013, political parties rank as the third most corrupt institution in Slovakia, after the judiciary and public servants, and 56% of surveyed households believe the level of corruption in the country has “increased a lot” in the past two years. In order to combat corruption in the country, Slovakia has initiated several corruption reforms in recent years, including the creation of a central contract registry and publishing online all government contracts.
Business
Corruption is ranked as the second most problematic factor for doing business in Slovakia, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014, after inefficient government bureaucracy. Surveyed business executives report that public funds are often diverted to companies, individuals or groups due to corruption, and the lack of ethical behaviour by companies in their interactions with public officials, politicians and other companies represents a serious business disadvantage for the country.
Companies consider the occurrence of irregular payments and bribes to be fairly common in connection with imports and exports, public utilities, annual tax payment, and awarding of public contracts and licences or obtaining favourable judicial decisions.