Organizational Integrity by Carsten Stark

Author:Carsten Stark
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9783319940878
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

3.2 Level of Corruption in Germany

The actual level of corruption in Germany is very hard to assess. Seeing that both givers and takers of advantages are liable to prosecution it is, basically, a “delict without a victim”. The party damaged by corruption, i.e. the public sector or, ultimately, the tax payer, does not feel the damage immediately. Hence, in the case of corruption matters the question always arises as to what way is chosen to report the offences. In the wake of the introduction of Internet-based anonymous informant systems and various other methods, for instance ombudsmen, around half of all complaints are meanwhile lodged by external witnesses (BKA 2016). The remaining information mainly concerns other investigation proceedings, especially tax fraud or misappropriation. Extremely little information is still coming directly from the organizations concerned. Informants from within the administration (whistleblowers) obviously fear disadvantages when they contribute to elucidating corrupt matters in their own office or municipality or when they supply the decisive information (Schweitzer 2017). Every other year, the Federal Criminal Police Office publishes a federal status report on the theme of corruption, which describes the development of corruption matters or criminal proceedings in Germany. The figures show that the number of investigation proceedings strongly depends on the investigation behavior or individual more comprehensive proceedings. Hence, the number of corruption offences in Germany is subject to strong fluctuations. It is to be expected that individual corruption scandals, which attract a lot of media attention, increase the population’s readiness to act as informants. Furthermore, more facts are usually revealed in these contexts. In 2015, 8644 cases of corruption were recorded by the police in Germany. Most offences refer to the bribery regulation. Accepting an advantage, i.e. accepting rewards or gifts without involving an action that violates official duties, is reported far less frequently. The monetary advantages granted, i.e. the sum of bribes, amounted to 140 million euros in 2014, and to 74 million euros in 2015 (BKA 2016). The greatest part of granted advantages was given in cash (77.4% and/or 93.3%). It is not possible to make any estimations with regard to the so-called dark field. Literature always points out that the actual extent of corruption is far higher. Nevertheless, the facts unveiled alone clearly show how important it is in Germany, too, to take further efforts to stem corruption.

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