The FINANCIAL — On numerous occasions, the former Prime Minister of Georgia, Bidzina Ivanishvili, has spoken about the corruption levels in Georgia and the success achieved by the Georgia Dream coalition government with respect to alleviating the problem. “The corruption in our country has almost been nullified even though we had elite corruption just a couple of years ago [during the office of the previous government],” stated Mr Ivanishvili on 5 September 2016.
FactCheck took interest in this issue.
There are several indicators which assess corruption practices in public structures. We shall look through each of them and assess the situation in Georgia.
In 2006, William Neukom founded the World Justice Project on the initiative of the American Bar Association. The Rule of Law Index is one of the products of the World Justice Project and it describes the perception of the rule of law by citizens in various countries. One assessment category of the index is the absence of corruption (Table 1).
As the table reflects, the average index assessment for Georgia in 2012-2013 was 0.63 which was the equivalent of the 30th position in the wider ratings. In 2014, the average index indicator worsened and equalled 0.6 with Georgia conceding one position in the ratings. In 2015, the indicator increased again to 0.65 which meant that Georgia moved up in the ratings to occupy the 29th position. It should be noted that according to the World Justice Project, the absence of the corruption indicator itself in 2012-2013 was 0.77, worsening in 2014 to 0.71 and improving again in 2015 to 0.73; however, it failed to achieve the high of 2012-2013.
At the same time, according to the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) by Transparency International, Georgia’s indicator was 52 in 2012 and worsened to 49 in 2013. The index came back to the level of 2012 in 2014 and showed no traces of change in 2015. Hence, the corruption perception level in Georgia has not improved for the past three years but it has not worsened either.
The Global Corruption Barometer is another important indicator which has published the results of its most recent study in July 2013. According to the study, only 4% of those surveyed in Georgia confirmed that they had paid bribes in the past 12 months which is quite a low level as the average indicator worldwide equalled 27%. However, it should be noted that the 2013 study reflects the situation of 2012 and before whilst the latest data can be found in the study published by Transparency International Georgia at the beginning of May 2016.
A total of 2 032 people participated in the study conducted by the Caucasus Research Resource Centre during March 2016 at the request of Transparency International Georgia. About 40% of those surveyed believes that the abuse of power by public servants designed to further their personal interests is widespread and this indicator has increased by 15% and 28% as compared to the data of 2015 and 2013, respectively. The situation in terms of corruption at the lower levels is quite different. In 2016, only 1% of those surveyed stated that they had paid bribes in the previous 12 months. This is similar to the results recorded in 2015 and 4% less as compared to the data of 2013.
In terms of its Tax Simplification Project in 2012 and the Georgian Investment Environment Facilitation Project in 2016, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation conducted two business environment studies which were based upon the perceptions of 1 029 and 800 (respectively) respondents (owners of companies, managers, financial managers) from Georgia’s business environment. One of the aspects of this study comprises the actions of public structures perceived by businesses as being corrupt. About 0.11% (one respondent only) in 2012 and 0.13% (also one respondent) in 2016 thought that corruption was a problem in terms of business development in Georgia which is a very low indicator in itself. In 2012, about 6% stated that they had heard about such facts from others, which the study considers to be a very slight manifestation of corruption, whilst in 2016 this indicator has dropped even further to equal only 0.75% which the study assesses to be the near absence of corruption. According to the 2016 study, about 0.03% of those surveyed said that they themselves had encountered actions which they perceived as corrupt whilst the 2012 study does not offer such an indicator at all.
Conclusion
FactCheck concludes that Bidzina Ivanishvili’s statement is MOSTLY FALSE.
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