Epress.am News from Armenia
People in Armenia refrain from reporting corruption incidents out of fear of retaliation, Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center program manager Varuzhan Hoktanyan announced at a press conference on Wednesday, adding that in the past people would refuse to speak out about corruption issues as they were assured that they would achieve nothing.
“Over the past years, there has been a disturbing trend of people becoming scared of reporting corruption cases. 41% of survey respondents said they never reported corruption because they were afraid of the consequences. Incidentally, in the past 68% of respondents wouldn't talk about corruption because they were convinced it wouldn't make a difference. This way of thinking has now fallen to 23%,” Hoktanyan announced, citing the findings of the social survey conducted by Transparency International in the period December 2015-May 2016.
The report, published by the international anti-corruption organization on Tuesday, ranked Armenia among the worst performing countries in Europe and Central Asia, saying that the country has serious corruption challenges – “corruption among members of parliament, high bribery rates and a negative social environment for engaging in anti-corruption actions” – in urgent need of being addressed.