Reports

Corruption risk assessments: country case studies highlight advantages and challenges of diverse approaches

Poltoratskaia, V., Fazekas, M. (2023). Corruption risk assessments: country case studies highlight advantages and challenges of diverse approaches. Bergen: U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, Chr. Michelsen Institute (U4 Issue 2023:2).

Our research on corruption risk assessments (CRAs) identifies three main approaches: centralised, decentralised, and transparency-oriented methodologies. Case studies from the Netherlands, Lithuania, Mexico, and Italy highlight the role of resource and institutional constraints in the choice of approach, and the importance of ensuring high-quality, complete, and accessible data. To ensure the …

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Overview of corruption and anti-corruption in infrastructure development

Adam, I. and Fazekas, M. (2023). Overview of corruption and anti-corruption in infrastructure development. U4 Helpdesk Answer, Transparency International. 

Roughly one-half of all fixed capital investment by governments is in the construction of public infrastructure – an essential component of economic growth and social development, especially in developing countries (Pyman 2021). Yet at the same time governments, citizens and funders are frequently dissatisfied with the outcomes of infrastructure projects as they often involve the waste or misallocation of precious state …

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Rolling Back State Capture in Southeast Europe: Implementing Effective Instruments for Asset Declaration and Politically Exposed Companies

Mineva, D., Fazekas, M., Poltoratskaia, V. and Tsabala, K. (2023). Rolling Back State Capture in Southeast Europe. Implementing Effective Instruments for Asset Declaration and Politically Exposed Companies. Center for the Study of Democracy.

Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine has intensified existing geopolitical tensions throughout 2022 and into 2023, exposing persistent rule of law deficiencies and other governance gaps in Southeast Europe (SEE-9: Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia). This in turn …

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Integrity Dividends: Procurement in the Water and Sanitation Sector in Latin America and the Caribbean

Adam, I.,  Fazekas, M., Hernandez Sanchez, A., Horn, P. and Regös, N. (2023). Integrity Dividends: Procurement in the Water and Sanitation Sector in Latin America and the Caribbean. Technical Note No 2608. Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC. http://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0004688

Public procurement represents a large portion of government expenditure, more so in developing economies. Inefficiencies in public expenditures thus place a heavy burden on society. The Water and Sanitation (W&S) sector is especially vulnerable to public procurement inefficiencies due to the capital-intensive …

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Study on the Extent and Costs of Corruption in the Education Sector in Uganda

Fazekas, Mihály; Adam, Isabelle; Nikulina, Olena; Dina Balabanova; Dávid-Barrett, Elizabeth; Hutchinson, Eleanor; Kirya, Monica; and Peiffer, Caryn (2021) Study on the Extent and Costs of Corruption in the Education Sector in Uganda. Inspectorate of Government, Uganda, Kampala.

The overall objective of the study is to generate empirical data on the cost and extent of corruption in the Education Sector Uganda that can be used for dialogue with stakeholders to inform anti-corruption policy formulation, strategies, and programs in the sector. The …

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Study on the Extent and Costs of Corruption in the Health Sector in Uganda

Fazekas, Mihály; Adam, Isabelle; Nikulina, Olena; Dina Balabanova; Dávid-Barrett, Elizabeth; Hutchinson, Eleanor; Kirya, Monica; and Peiffer, Caryn (2021) Study on the Extent and Costs of Corruption in the Health Sector in Uganda. Inspectorate of Government, Uganda, Kampala.

The overall objective of the study is to generate empirical data on the cost and extent of corruption in the Health Sector Uganda that can be used for dialogue with stakeholders to inform anti-corruption policy formulation, strategies, and programs in the sector. The …

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Study on the Cost of Corruption in Uganda

Fazekas, Mihály; Adam, Isabelle; and Nikulina, Olena (2021) Study on the Cost of Corruption in Uganda. Inspectorate of Government, Uganda, Kampala.

The report provides a detailed estimation of costs of corruption in Uganda for 2019. It considers both direct costs all those attributed to corrupt acts, and indirect costs all those that result from corrupt acts through a series of interactions in the longer term. The report also attributes the costs of corruption to different actors bearing the costs, such …

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Poland Public Finance Review – Public Procurement: Saving and Greening

Fazekas, Mihaly; Ziolkowska, Barbara; and Regos, Nóra (2022) Public Procurement: Saving and Greening. In World Bank (2022) Poland Public Finance Review, World Bank, Washington DC. Chapter 4.

Poland’s public finance management was prudent in the years preceding the COVID-19 pandemic and facilitated a swift, substantial, and frontloaded policy response to the crisis. Poland built fiscal buffers in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic through spending containment and improved tax collections, aided by robust growth. This created the fiscal space …

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Designing political integrity risk indicators: a how-to guide in 11 steps

Poltoratskaya, V., Fazekas, M. and Tóth, B. (2021). Designing political integrity risk indicators: a how-to guide in 11 steps. Transparency International.

The need for the development of specific indicators of corruption – direct or indirect – has grown over the last decade. This can be attributed in part to the increasing recognition of the significant role corruption plays in adverse governance outcomes, such as poor health and environmental degradation. The demand for indicators has also emerged out of frustration with …

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Countering Public Grant Fraud in Spain: Machine Learning for Assessing Risks and Targeting Control Activities

OECD (2021), Countering Public Grant Fraud in Spain: Machine Learning for Assessing Risks and Targeting Control Activities, OECD Public Governance Reviews, Paris: OECD Publishing, https://doi.org/10.1787/0ea22484-en.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, marked by a high volume of accelerated spending, fraud risks have become a pressing concern for governments worldwide. In this environment, public control and audit bodies play a vital role to ensure money is well spent and vulnerabilities are spotted and addressed quickly. In Spain, the General Comptroller …

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