| Political corruption |
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| Concepts |
| Corruption by country |
Corruption in Cyprus is a salient concern for people in Cyprus: As of 2022, 94% considered that corruption was widespread in the country.
| Political corruption |
|---|
| |
| Concepts |
| Corruption by country |
Corruption in Cyprus is a salient concern for people in Cyprus: As of 2022, 94% considered that corruption was widespread in the country.
As of 2013, the government of Cyprus had in theory made some progress in fighting against corruption, for example with the amendment to its Criminal Code in 2012, which provides the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption[ citation needed ]. The supposedly strong and independent judicial system is neither strong or independent. Nor is it competent enough to uphold most of the legal principles it supposedly has adopted except for the protection of property rights. Critics would however argue that this display of competency is due to the reason that foreign investors do not consider corruption a pressing issue for doing business in Cyprus. [1] However, a whistleblower protection law is needed in the country in order to ensure an effective anti-corruption measure. It is also important to note that money-laundering remains a serious problem in the country. In addition, corruption scandals involving politicians from major political parties are not uncommon and when these get uncovered, little to no effort in taken to pursue them. The usual “defense” employed by accused politicians, involves official statements indicating that “they know too much” and if their case is pursued, they will uncover dirt involving other political party members. [2]
In Transparency International's 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index, which scored 180 countries on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"), Cyprus scored 52. When ranked by score, Cyprus ranked 51st among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. [3] For comparison, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), the worst score was 12 (ranked 180), and the average score was 43. [4] Transparency International's 2013 Global Corruption Barometer report shows that 72% of respondents believe that level of corruption increased in Cyprus over the previous two years [5]
As of 2022, 94% of Cypriots considered that corruption was widespread in the country. The so-called golden passport scheme allowed investors with a minimum of a 2 million EURO investment to get citizenship, a scandal which triggered an infringement procedure of the European Commission and which led to a gradual "phase out" of the program in November 2020. [6] As of 2023, persons entrusted with top executive functions in government did not undergo an integrity check for possible conflicts of interest. [6] Revolving doors is a problem in Cyprus, even though post-employment rules were adopted in 2007. [6] : 33
Since 2004, Cyprus is supposed to have two systems of financial reporting, one for the President, ministers and members of Parliament and one for publicly exposed persons, but the sysem is not working, data vague and data collection rare (only every 3 years). Also, as of 2023 information relating to spouses and children has not been published. [6] : 34
In November 2023, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Paper Trail Media and 69 media partners including Distributed Denial of Secrets and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and more than 270 journalists in 55 countries and territories [7] [8] produced the 'Cyprus Confidential' report on the financial network which supports the regime of Vladimir Putin, mostly with connections to Cyprus, and showed Cyprus to have strong links with high-up figures in the Kremlin, some of whom have been sanctioned. [9] [10] Government officials including Cyprus president Nikos Christodoulides [11] and European lawmakers [12] began responding to the investigation's findings in less than 24 hours, [13] calling for reforms and launching probes. [14] [15]
Le Monde is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including 40,000 sold abroad. It has been available online since 1995, and it is often the only French newspaper easily obtainable in non-French-speaking countries. It should not be confused with the monthly publication Le Monde diplomatique, of which Le Monde has 51% ownership, but which is editorially independent.
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner, a British army officer, and Rudolf Augstein, a former Wehrmacht radio operator who was recognized in 2000 by the International Press Institute as one of the fifty World Press Freedom Heroes.
Politiken is a leading Danish daily broadsheet newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 1884 and played a role in the formation of the Danish Social Liberal Party. Since 1970 it has been independent of the party but maintains a liberal stance. It now runs an online newspaper, politiken.dk. The paper's design has won several international awards, and a number of its journalists have won the Cavling Prize.
CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. Founded in 1941, CBC News is the largest news broadcaster in Canada and has local, regional, and national broadcasts and stations. It frequently collaborates with its organizationally separate French-language counterpart, Radio-Canada Info.
The Australian Financial Review (AFR) is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; owned by Nine Entertainment and has been published continuously since its founding in 1951. The AFR, along with the rest of Fairfax Media, was sold to Nine Entertainment for more than A$2.3 billion. The AFR is published in tabloid format six times a week, whilst providing 24/7 online coverage through its website. In November 2019, the AFR reached 2.647 million Australians through both print and digital mediums (Mumbrella).
L'Espresso is an Italian progressive weekly news magazine. It is one of the two most prominent Italian weeklies; the other is the conservative magazine Panorama. Since 2022, it has been published by BFC Media.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, typically abbreviated to TBIJ or "the Bureau", is a nonprofit news organisation based in London. It was founded in 2010 to pursue "public interest" investigations. The Bureau works with publishers and broadcasters to maximise the impact of its investigations. Since its founding it has collaborated with Panorama, Newsnight, and File on 4 at the BBC, Channel 4 News and Dispatches, as well as the Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph, and The Sunday Times, among others.
Corruption is perceived as a significant problem in Russia, impacting various aspects of life, including the economy, business, public administration, law enforcement, healthcare, and education. The phenomenon of corruption is strongly established in the historical model of public governance, and attributed to general weakness of rule of law in the country. Transparency International stated in 2022, "Corruption is endemic in Russia" and assigned it the lowest score of any European country in their Corruption Perceptions Index for 2021. It has, under the regime of Vladimir Putin, been variously characterized as a kleptocracy, an oligarchy, and a plutocracy; owing to its crony capitalism economic system.
The Philippines suffers from widespread corruption, which developed during the Spanish colonial period. According to GAN Integrity's Philippines Corruption Report updated May 2020, the Philippines suffers from many incidents of corruption and crime in many aspects of civic life and in various sectors. Such corruption risks are rampant throughout the state's judicial system, police service, public services, land administration, and natural resources.
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) is a global network of investigative journalists with staff on six continents. It was founded in 2006 and specializes in organized crime and corruption.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Inc. (ICIJ), is an independent global network of 280 investigative journalists and over 140 media organizations spanning more than 100 countries. It is based in Washington, D.C., with personnel in Australia, France, Spain, Hungary, Serbia, Belgium and Ireland.
In general, Belgium has a well-developed legal and institutional framework for fighting against corruption.
Corruption in Switzerland describes the prevention and occurrence of corruption in Switzerland.
In 2013, a report by Transparency International revealed that political parties, Parliament, the judiciary and the military are the most corrupt institutions in Portugal. Transparency International's 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index ranks the country in 33rd place out of 180 countries in the Index.
Corruption in the Netherlands in all major areas—judiciary, police, business, politics—as the country is considered one of the least corrupt within the European Union.
Distributed Denial of Secrets, abbreviated DDoSecrets, is a non-profit whistleblower site founded in 2018 for news leaks. The site is a frequent source for other news outlets and has worked on investigations including Cyprus Confidential with other media organisations. In December 2023, the organisation said it had published over 100 million files from 59 countries.
Transparency International defines corruption as "the abuse of entrusted power for private gain". Transparency International's 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index scored the United Kingdom at 73 on a scale from 0 to 100. When ranked by score, the United Kingdom ranked 18th among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 90, the worst score was 12, and the average score was 43. For comparison with regional scores, the highest score among Western European and European Union countries was 90, the average score was 66 and the lowest score was 42. The United Kingdom's score of 73 in 2022 was its lowest ever in the eleven years that the current version of the Index has been published.
iStories or Important Stories is an independent Russian website specialising in investigative journalism. The website was founded in 2020 by Russian journalists Roman Anin and Olesya Shmagun. IStories published a number of high-profile investigations. The office of the website is located in Latvia.
The Belarusian Investigative Center (BIC) is an independent media outlet specializing in analytical genres of journalism. The center produces five types of expertise - journalistic research, anti-fake, as well as analytical reporting, news programs and economic surveys.
Cyprus Confidential is a journalism project investigating financial services in Cyprus and their role in allowing avoidance of international sanctions, and implementation of Russian state goals. It is conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Paper Trail Media and 69 media partners including Distributed Denial of Secrets and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and more than 270 journalists in 55 countries and territories. Other media partners included Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, the Belarusian Investigative Center, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, CBC, Der Spiegel, the Guardian, Le Monde, Politiken, Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism, Ukraine’s Slidstvo and The Washington Post.
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