Corruption in Slovakia is a serious and ongoing problem.
Extent
Transparency International’s 2021 Global Corruption Barometer indicates that corruption remains a problem in Slovakia: 19% of Slovaks surveyed thought corruption had increased during the previous year, and 11% had paid a bribe to a public sector worker.[1] High-profile corruption cases have plagued the country, including the “Gorilla” case that surfaced at the end of 2011. In this case, secret wiretap recordings between 2005 and 2006 were leaked to the internet, bringing to light millions of Euros in bribes paid by a private equity firm to Slovak government officials in exchange for privatisation and procurement deals.[2]
The 2021 Global Corruption Barometer asked Slovaks if most or all of the people in specific public, private and NGO institutions were corrupt. The public servants pointed out by the largest percentage of survey respondents (41%) as corrupt were members of parliament, followed by judges and magistrates (34% of survey respondents), national government officials (31%) and the prime minister (30%).[1] In order to combat corruption in the country, Slovakia has initiated several corruption reforms in recent years, including the creation of a central contract registry and publishing online all government contracts.[3]
On Transparency International's 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index, Slovakia scored 54 on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"). When ranked by score, Slovakia ranked 47th among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector.[4] For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), the average score was 43, and the worst score was 11 (ranked 180). Slovakia's score rose each year between 2020, when it scored 49, and 2023.[5] For comparison with regional scores, the highest score among Western European and European Union countries [Note 1] was 90, the average score was 65 and the lowest score was 42.[6]
Transparency International wrote of Slovakia in 2023:[7]
In Slovakia [...] previous progress in the prosecution of corruption is tainted by the government’s controversial dismissals in the justice sector.[8] This was swiftly followed by legislative measures aimed at closing the special prosecutor’s office responsible for combating corruption[9] and reducing criminal sanctions for corruption. If adopted, these changes would significantly undermine the rule of law and democratic stability, fostering an environment of impunity for corruption.
In August 2019, the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) urged Slovakia to make more progress on the effectiveness of its legal framework and policies to stop corruption among employees with top executive positions and the police force.[10]
Areas
Business
Corruption is ranked as the second most problematic factor for doing business in Slovakia, according to the World Economic Forum’s,[11] after inefficient government bureaucracy. Surveyed business executives report that public funds are often diverted to companies, individuals or groups due to corruption, and the lack of ethical behaviour by companies in their interactions with public officials, politicians and other companies represents a serious business disadvantage for the country.[12]
Companies consider the occurrence of irregular payments and bribes to be fairly common in connection with imports and exports, public utilities, annual tax payment, and awarding of public contracts and licences or obtaining favourable judicial decisions.[13]
