Corruption in Lithuania describes the prevention and occurrence of

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

Summary

The

Freedom in the World ''Freedom in the World'' is a yearly survey and report by the U.S.-based non-governmental organization Freedom House that measures the degree of civil liberties and political rights in every nation and significant related and disputed territ ...

2020 report by

Freedom House Freedom House is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. It is best known for political advocacy surrounding issues of democracy, Freedom (political), political freedom, and human rights. Freedom House was founded in October 1941, wi ...

notes that corruption remains an issue in Lithuania, but gives high scores for the main related areas: strong and effective safeguards against official corruption (3 out of 4), government openness and transparency (3 out of 4), and an

independent judiciary Judicial independence is the concept that the judiciary should be independent from the other branches of government. That is, courts should not be subject to improper influence from the other branches of government or from private or partisan inte ...

(3 out of 4). The ''European Research Centre for Anti-Corruption and State-Building (ERCAS)'' notes that while Lithuania has a comprehensive anti-corruption legal base established, the law enforcement institutions are weak. In the Public Integrity Index 2019, published by the Centre, Lithuania ranks 30th out of 117 countries. According to the ''Flash Eurobarometer 482: Businesses' attitudes towards corruption in the EU'', published by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

in 2019, only 15% of business executives noted corruption as a problem when doing business. The Lithuanian Map of Corruption 2019 report, published by the STT, notes that the percentage of businesses that paid a

bribe Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official duty, to act contrar ...

has been gradually decreasing over the last decades, with only 9% of business paying it in the last 5 years and 5% in the last 12 months. According to the '' Global Corruption Barometer of the European Union in 2021'' (GCB EU 2021), 48% of Lithuanians think that the government is doing badly in fighting corruption while 42% think it's doing well, nearly matching the EU average of 49% and 43% respectively.

Extent

According to the ''GCB EU 2021'' report, people consider that the most corrupt institutions or individuals are: members of parliament (33%), business executives (27%), local government representatives and mayors (21%), judges and magistrates (21%). The report notes the most common cases of bribery in the last 12 months by service: healthcare institutions (19%), identity documents (6%) and police (4%). ''Lithuanian Map of Corruption 2019'' report, published by STT, provides an overview based on the surveys of the population, company executives and public servants. According to the survey of people, the most common forms of corruption are:

nepotism Nepotism is the act of granting an In-group favoritism, advantage, privilege, or position to Kinship, relatives in an occupation or field. These fields can include business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, religion or health care. In ...

political patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

and

bribery Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or Offer and acceptance, acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official ...

. The most common cases of corruption were perceived to be in: healthcare institutions, the courts, the parliament, municipalities and political parties. According to a ''Baltijos tyrimai'' poll in 2019, the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

were trusted by 69% of people, the Constitutional Court of Lithuania by 62%, and the STT by 55%. However, only 39% of people trusted the prosecutors and 33% trusted the courts. A survey conducted by ''Vilmorus'' in 2020 showed that the most corrupt areas perceived by the respondents were: healthcare (47%), the courts (37%) and the parliament (30%). The same survey notes that Lithuanians regard corruption as the fourth most acute problem in the country. Only 3% of the people surveyed admitted to giving bribes in the previous year.

International rankings

According to

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil s ...

's 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, Lithuania ranked 32nd among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. The Index scores countries on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean") and then ranks the countries by score. Lithuania's 2024 rank was based on a score of 63. For comparison with regional scores, the highest score among Western European and

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

countries was 90, the average score was 64 and the lowest score was 41. For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), the average score was 43, and the worst score was 8 (ranked 180).

Anti-corruption mechanisms

Special Investigation Service (abbreviated as STT, ) is the main law enforcement institution in Lithuania to combat corruption. Other law enforcement institutions also play a major role in combating corruption. In particular, the Financial Crime Investigation Service (abbreviated as FNTT, ) investigates

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

and major financial fraud activities. National Audit Office of Lithuania () is the supreme audit institution which also supervises the lawfulness and effectiveness of management and use of state funds and resources. In 2019, the Law on Protection of

Whistleblowers Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...

entered force, providing legal protection as well as remunerations and other measures for those who report corruption or other infringements.

Lobbying Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agency, regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by va ...

in Lithuania is regulated by the Lobbying Act 2001. According to the EU Members' Research Service report from 2016, Lithuania is one of the few EU countries which has a code of conduct and a mandatory register for lobbyists.

Anti-corruption conventions and organizations

Lithuania participates in: * The

Group of States against Corruption The Group of States against Corruption (, GRECO) is the Council of Europe's anti-corruption monitoring body with its headquarters in Strasbourg (France). It was established in 1999 as an enlarged partial agreement by 17 Council of Europe member ...

(GRECO) (founding state; 1 May 1999) * UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (ratified on 9 May 2002) *

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ratified on 8 March 2002) *

Civil Law Convention on Corruption (ratified on 17 January 2003) *

United Nations Convention against Corruption The United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) is the only legally binding international anti-corruption multilateral treaty. Negotiated by UN member states, member states of the United Nations (UN) it was adopted by the UN General Ass ...

(ratified on 21 December 2006) *

International Anti-Corruption Academy The International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) is an international intergovernmental organization based in Laxenburg, Austria, that teaches government officials and professionals about anti-corruption measures. Membership to the organization i ...

(IACA) (ratified on 22 March 2013) *

OECD Anti-Bribery Convention The OECD Anti-Bribery Convention (officially the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions) is an anti-corruption convention of the OECD that requires signatory countries to criminalize ...

(ratified on 16 May 2017)

Notes

References

External links

Transparency International - Country data - Lithuania
{{Europe topic , Corruption in Crime in Lithuania by type

Law of Lithuania Economy of Lithuania Government of Lithuania Politics of Lithuania Society of Lithuania