New plan to tackle corruption

  • 2007-08-23
  • By TBT staff and wire reports
TALLINN - The Estonian Justice Ministry has proposed the establishment of a national anti-corruption strategy to run 2008-2012.

The goal of the strategy is to fight corruption in the private sector as well as the public sector in order to increase the public's trust in business and international organizations, the Justice Ministry said.

Since prevention of corruption in the private sector will be one of the goals of the strategy, a representative from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry will be included in the work group drafting the strategy.

Other members will come from the Ministry of Economy and Communications, Ministry of Finance, State Chancellery, Public Prosecutor's Office, Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Social Affairs, along with experts from Tartu University and the association Corruption-Free Estonia.

The anti-corruption strategy effective now, titled Honest State, was devised for the years 2004-2007 and is due for renewal.

Estonia's reputation is already among the best in Europe as far as the extent of corruption is concerned. According to the annual survey by the Berlin-based organization Transparency International, Estonia ranks joint 24th worldwide in its list of the least corrupt countries. Neighboring Finland is deemed the least corrupt country of all, with Lithuania joint 46th, Latvia joint 49th and Russia joint 121st. TI believes that the world's most corrupt country is Haiti.