The Corruption Perceptions Index, published at the beginning of this year. by the international organization Transparency International, Kazakhstan climbed 19 positions, but remains among the countries most susceptible to corruption.
In a survey compiled annually, Kazakhstan scored 38 points out of 100 possible. The country took 94th position, sharing it with Brazil, Ethiopia, Peru, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Suriname and Tanzania.
There is a lot of talk about corruption in our country. It is called one of the key problems in the implementation of state and economic policy.
We decided to talk about the problem of corruption, from the point of view of the subject of study of modern science, with the chief specialist of the Department of Prevention of the Regional Anti-Corruption Service Evgeniy Bedych
- To what extent is the problem of corruption relevant for other countries of the world? Is it a key agenda for developed and economically wealthy states?
- Nowadays, opening any newspaper on any day in any country, you will find materials about corruption. In 2013, the Gallup Institute conducted a survey in which nearly 70 thousand people from 69 countries took part, according to which corruption is the number one global problem. And although corruption, as a social phenomenon, undermines the authority of the authorities and makes state institutions work less efficiently, the international community has realized what destructive and dangerous consequences corruption has relatively recently, in the mid-1990s.
- Ie despite the fact that corruption has always existed, serious research about it appeared relatively recently?
- Exactly. For example, the use of mathematical research models began in the 70s of the last century, experiments describing the social behavior of participants in corruption began to be carried out in the 80s, and the most famous source of information on corruption in the world, the Corruption Perceptions Index, has been calculated only since 1995.
The study of the causes of the appearance and influence of corruption on other public institutions is a relatively "young" direction of science. And even if now scientific methods such as proxy approach, tracking, content analysis, etc. are increasingly used in research, experts in this field have yet to answer the key questions "why are some countries more corrupt than others?" and "are there better ways to fight corruption?"
- What are the key principles we can be guided by now, when assessing the level of corruption within the country?
- First, the state and society should agree on what exactly is considered "corruption." A gift to a teacher, sponsoring of political parties by large companies, giving preference to their acquaintances when hiring - these are examples of things, the discussion of whether to consider them corruption is still going on.
Secondly, it is worth recognizing that just as there is no universal way to combat corruption, there is no country that does not know this phenomenon. It was much more correct to say that "in different countries, corruption takes on one form or another, depending on a number of factors." For example, the whole world knows Russian "blat", Chinese "guangxi" or American "networking".
All that remains for society and the state is to openly discuss the adoption of one or another package of anti-corruption reforms and monitor their careful implementation.
- How are things with corruption in Kazakhstan?
- Over the five years, from 2016 to 2021, our country has improved its position in the Corruption Perceptions Index from line 131 to line 94.
According to the National Anti-Corruption Report for 2020, the number of cases of corruption registered by law enforcement and special state agencies decreased by 2.4% over the year, and in comparison with 2017 - by 10.6%.
Just recently, the head of the Anti-Corruption Service, Marat Akhmetzhanov, said that in 9 months of this year. 1.4 thousand criminal corruption offenses were registered in the country, which is 33.3% less than a year earlier.
All this speaks of a progressive movement towards strengthening preventive measures and the formation in society of the so-called "zero tolerance" to corruption offenses.
There is a long and interesting path ahead of us, at stake is the future and the welfare of our descendants.