Corruption in Latvia


Corruption in Latvia is examined on this page.

Extent

According to several sources, the Latvian political system faces serious corruption. The influence of private interests involved in illegal political party funding undermines the efforts to combat political corruption. According to Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer 2013, 68% of surveyed households consider political parties to be corrupt or extremely corrupt—ranking as the most corrupt institution in Latvia. Furthermore, 55% of the surveyed households believe that the level of corruption has stayed same and 67% of surveyed households find government efforts in the fight against corruption to be ineffective Transparency International's 2017 Corruption Perception Index ranks the country 40th place out of 180 countries.
There is a widespread perception that politicians and businesses are too closely linked in Latvia. Business executives surveyed in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014 believe that public funds are sometimes diverted to companies, individuals or groups due to corruption, and the lack of sufficient ethical behaviour of companies with public officials, politicians and other companies is a competitive disadvantage for the country.

Reaction

The leading specialised anti-corruption authority of Latvia is the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau.. It was established in October 2002, following adoption of the Law on Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau on 18 April 2002.