{"title": "Government Holds Leading Place for Corruption","content": "<div class='descr'>Bulgaria is 63rd in the world for corruption in institutions, the survey of the international organisationTransparency International revealed. The results of the survey were announced by the organisation'sBulgarian representation last Tuesday. The corruption index, which is a large-scale sociological survey,conducted by eight independent organisations, places Bulgaria at the same position as Ghana, Egypt,Macedonia and Romania. Bulgaria is preceded by such countries as Zimbabwe, Morocco, the Philippines,Zambia etc. Bulgaria's corruption index is 3.3, which places it in the second half of the chart, whichincludes a total of 99 countries. Denmark is rated the most corruption-free country with and index of 10,followed by Finland and Sweden with an index of 9.8. Lawyer Dimitar Kyumyurdzhiev thinks that there isno difference in the rating of Bulgaria as compared to last year, when Bulgaria was rated 67th.Transparency International is the most authoritative world organisation which follows the spread ofcorruption, and the surveys of which are used by investors, businessmen and risk analysts. A day after Transparency International announced Bulgaria's standing, Bulgaria's corruption tendenciesfollowed by the monitoring system of Coalition 2000 and the Vitosha Research agency, were announced.The survey was conducted between September 11 and 25 this year. For the first time in two years, thegovernment is included among the first three for the spread of corruption in state institutions. It ispreceded by the traditional leaders in bribe acceptance - the customs and the judicial system. Theprofessions that come first are customs officials, tax inspectors and policemen. Despite the fact that thedata from the survey were ready before the local elections, they were not released, so that they wouldnot influence the voting, representatives of the coalition explained. The 1,110 questioned Bulgarians over 18 years of age think that corruption is wide spread in thepresidency. The survey of Coalition 2000 revealed another fact as well - corruption is one of the threemajor problem of Bulgarian society. It is preceded only by unemployment and low incomes. Poverty andcrime are behind it. Sociologists explained these shifts with the wide spread debate and the drawingattention to corruption by the media and in society. At the same time, the general acceptance of receivingbribes decreased by one point as compared to the survey, conducted in February 1999. The director ofVitosha Research, Alexander Stoyanov, said that the strong tendency for a decrease in tolerance ofcorruption practices is present.</div>"}