FEATURES » Corruption in Italy - some statistics
Corruption in Italy - some statistics
According to the Italian Justice Minister Paola
Severino corruption in Italy is as bad as it was 20 years ago, when the “Tangentopoli”
(Bribesville) scandal broke out in the early 1990s.
A few days ago “Libera”, “Legambiente” e “Avviso
pubblico” made public their report on corruption, “Corruzione, le cifre della
tassa occulta che impoverisce ed inquina il paese” which also takes into
account the most recent data of Eurobarometer 2011.
According to the report 12% of Italians have been asked
to pay a tangent in the last year. The results exceed by 4% the European
average which is 8%.
The World Bank reckons that every year in the world
1000 billion dollars are paid in bribes and about the 3% of the world’s PIL goes
wasted because of corruption.
If we apply this percentage to Italy we find that every
year 50 to 60 billion Euros go wasted because of corruption as if it was an
unspoken tax paid by Italian citizens.
Particularly alarming is what “Libera”, “Legambiente”
and “AvvisoPubblico” call “corruzione ambientale”, “environmental corruption”.
From January 2010 to today there have been 78 inquiries about corruption
related to activities with a strong environmental impact.
Illegal activities such as illegal waste trafficking or
illegal building, perhaps covered with the release of illegal concessions, are
accompanied by a systematic bribery of public officials, politicians and
officials responsible for issuing permits or checking activities.
The numbers speak for themselves: from 1st of January 2010 to the 30th
of September 2012 there have been 78 investigations related to incidents of
corruption concerning activities with a strong environmental impact.
The surveys analyzed concerned the illegal waste cycle (from the illegal
traffic of waste to the concession of contracts for the gathering and
distribution of waste and the reclaiming of land which has been contaminated); the
illegal cement cycle (from the division into lots to the licence to build, to
the public contracts given without a legal competition) and also the
authorization of wind power systems and photovoltaic plants.
Environmental corruption with all its consequences on
the natural heritage concerns the whole the Country.
From January 2010 to today there have been 78 enquiries
by the public prosecutors on environmental corruption. 1.109 people have been
arrested. 224 people in Calabria; 210 in Piedmont; 209 in Lombardy; 154 in
Tuscany and 130 in Campania.
Giulia Lombardo
