Local government is a hotbed of corruption, claims Transparency International

Transparency International Polska (TI), a non-government organization dealing with monitoring the transparency of public institutions, has written a report on corruption in Poland for the period covering between September 1, 2000 to October 1, 2001. One of its conclusions is that over half of cases of corruption registered in Poland by TI, occur in the offices of local governments and councils. "We have included 600 cases of corruption in the report and the majority of case relate to the actions of local authorities," said TI chairperson Julia Pitera. She added that although successive governments have declared the need to fight corruption, their promise to fight corruption turned out to be empty slogans used in electoral campaigns to win popularity, but once elected the issue was largely ignored. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 32, 33). M.T.