Portugal number five in E&Y corruption survey

The latest Ernst & Young survey on corruption placed Portugal in fifth place behind Croatia, Kenya, Slovenia and Serbia, India and the Ukraine.

The survey interviewed 3,800 workers in 38 countries and showed that 83% interviewed in Portugal agreed that bribery in the country was widespread, unchanged from the 2015 result despite many high-profile cases hitting the headline this year.

Of the workers interviewed in Croatia, the worst performing country, 92% said bribery was endemic.

At the lower end of the scale, 34% of Belgians, 26% of Germans, 11% of Finns and just 4% of Danes said that bribery and corruption was widespread.

"In the last year and a half, Portugal has been plagued by corruption cases. Therefore, respondents will be more likely to respond positively" to questions about corruption and fraud, said Pedro Cunha of Ernest & Young.

Of the respondents in Portugal, 61% reckoned that company financial reports were fiddled and only 28% consider the ethics of their organisation were "very good."

However, 25% of respondents in Portugal believe that there had been an improvement in their company's business ethics in the last two years.

According to another report, this one being released by the Attorney General's Office last Friday, in the judicial years 2014/2015 and 2015/2016, some 3,360 investigations relating to crimes of corruption, abuse of power, crooked administration and money laundering have been launched.

The director of the Judicial Police, Almeida Rodrigues, said that corruption in Portugal had spread across all public service sectors and that there has been on average one arrest for corruption every three days so far this year.

"Corruption in Portugal has affected not only various sectors of the economy but also most public services," said the police chief, who said that  “corruption is endemic in the State apparatus.”

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