Public sector corruption soared in Italy to more than €4 billion in the first ten months of last year.
The shameful figure, a new record, was confirmed by Italy’s financial police.
It demonstrates that public promises to stop corruption have had little to no weight.
Rigged and inflated contracts, absenteeism, pension scams and unnecessary consultancy were among the most common ways in which public money was stolen last year, Corriere della Sera newspaper reported.
During the period some 4,000 people were charged with rigging public contracts while an additional 7,000 public sector workers, predominately in the health and pension sectors, are under investigation by the financial police.
Only last Wednesday Transparency International’s annual report said Italy was one of the most corrupt countries in Europe, ranking equally with Senegal, South Africa and Montenegro.
Although Italy’s performance improved (!) since the previous year, reaching 61st out of 174 countries, it is a pitiful performance for an advanced nation.
Portugal, Spain and Greece out-performed Italy, with Portugal in the lead. Its rank of 28 was ahead of Spain which ranked 36 and Greece sharing 58th place with Romania.
Denmark was considered the least corrupt country on earth, followed by Finland and Sweden. They were joined by Norway, Britain and Germany in the top ten least corrupt.
In Italy it appears that the public purse is viewed as a free-for-all by those in power.
Italy’s Court of Auditors reports that corruption costs the country a whopping €60 billion each year.
