This project is funded by the European Union

Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) Civil Society Facility (CSF)

The views expressed in this presentation do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission

A project implemented

by a consortium lead by

the Center for the Study

of Democracy

Examining the Links between Corruption

and Organised Crime

Content

• Objectives and context of the study

• Methodology of the study

• Organised crime and corruption

• Country clusters

• Institutional aspects

• Policy recommendations

• Take stock of existing studies on the link

• Identify the factors that bring about the use of

corruption by organised crime within the public and

private sectors

• provide a framework for future assessment of the

trends in the how corruption is used by organised

crime

• provide a framework for future assessment of the

effectiveness of the various preventive and

repressive measures

Study Objectives

EU Context

• The Hague and the Stockholm Programmes

• Europol’s efforts: OCTA reports

• The EC Staff Working paper: An examination of the

links between organised crime and corruption

• Lisbon treaty

• Domestic political agendas

Research methods

Data

sourc

es

Institution

s:

-Police

-Judiciary

-Customs

-Political

156 interviews

(law-enforcement, judiciary, private sector, academics, journalists, anti-corruption

authorities)

Semi-structured

interviews

6 country studies

(FR, NL, EL, BG, IT, ES)

Literature

review

Statistical data:

105 indicators /

indexes

Cluster / neural

network

analysis

Illegal

Markets:

-Cigarette

s

-THB

-Car-theft

-Extortion

MS

clusters

Private

sector Data

analy

sis

Use of corruption

by OC Institutional

effectiveness

Institutional setup

Political history

Immigration

Social stratification

Type of illegal market

Culture / informal

social relations

Business culture

Economic factors

Grey economy

Defining the link between corruption and OC

Statistical evidence: country clusters

Statistical evidence: country clusters

Cluster 1: Denmark, Finland, Sweden

Cluster 2:

Austrian, Belgium, Germany, Ireland,

Luxembourg, Slovenia, Spain,

UK

Cluster 3: France

Cluster 4: Estonia, Latvia,

Lithuania, Portugal

Cluster 5: Czech

Republic, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Malta,

Slovakia

Cluster 6: Italy

Cluster 7: Bulgaria, Poland, Romania

Weak link b/w

corruption &

OC

Strong link b/w

corruption &

OC

-50,0

0,0

50,0

100,0

150,0

200,0

250,0

300,0

IR NL AT SE DK UK BE FI DE FR ES IT EL SI CY CZ MT PT SK EE HU LT LV PL RO BG

GDP PPP per capita Corr Control Bribes

Corruption and GDP

• Police

• Judiciary

• Political corruption

• Customs administration

• Other institutions (depending on OC activity)

• Tax administration

• Museums (antiquities market)

• Ministries of agriculture / forest services (illegal logging)

• Ministries of economy / trade (arms trafficking)

Institutions and corruption

Recommendations to EC: independent

corruption monitoring

Corruption

monitoring

mechanism

Independent EU agency

Independent

information

collection

Data collection

tools

Benchmarking

indicators

Collect data on

anti-corruption

units

Alternative sources of informatio

n

• Move closer to a common definition of corruption

• Harmonise statistics on institutional corruption

• EU Survey to assess the level and impact of crimes

against business

• Increase funding support for empirically based

research on corruption

• Developing practical anti-corruption training

programmes (through DG JLS grant instruments)

Recommendations to EC

• Conduct impact evaluation of anti-corruption

policies

• Sharing information with the public

• Institutional monitoring mechanisms

• Increasing internal institutional detection

capacities

• Improve OC awareness of anti-corruption bodies

• Training and awareness raising amongst public

servants

• Working with the private sector

Recommendations to Member States

This project is funded by the European Union

Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) Civil Society Facility (CSF)

The views expressed in this presentation do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission

A project implemented

by a consortium lead by

the Center for the Study

of Democracy

Thank you !

BACK UP SLIDES

Scope: defining ‘organised crime’

Use of corruption by OC to target institutio

ns

General level of corruption in

country

Culture / informal social

relations

Regional specifics

(pressures)

Anti-corruption unit

Anti-corruption measures

Institutional setup (powers)

Economic factors (salaries)

Size / types of criminal market

Institutions and corruption

• Unreliable data (no index on ‘organised crime’)

• Data on corruption measures primarily perceptions /

petty corruption

• No explanations to describe the nature of the

relationship

• (many factors are not / are difficult to measure statistically)

• Difficult clustering (unclear boundaries between

clusters; single-country clusters)

Issues with statistical evidence and clusters

Use of corruption by OC to target

police

General level of corruption (judicial / political

corruption)

Culture / informal

social relations

Regional specifics

(pressures)

Immigration & OC

Internal affairs

unit s

Anti-corruption measures

Economic factors

(salaries)

Policies on illegal

markets

Size / types of criminal

market

Police corruption

Use of corruption by OC to target

politicians Local level corruption

Parliament corruption

Corruption in government

Political instability

Society / public perceptions

Political culture: patron-client

relations Secret societies

Class

Political cycles

Politisized administratio

n

Political corruption

Private sector corruption: illegal market

business cycle

• Notaries

• Bank employees

• Gambling facility employee

• Exchange bureau employee

• Retail store managers

• Dance club employees (security staff)

•Transport companies

•Security staff at ports

•Service staff at airports

• Cigarette factories managers

• Car-factory / dealer employee

• Museum workers

• Chemical plant workers Production

/ Procureme

nt

Trafficking

Laundering of

criminal proceeds

Distribution

Use of corrupti

on by OC

Government policies (taxes,

illegality)

Culture / informal

social relations

Regional specifics

(pressures)

Volume of trade / infrastructure

Type of illegal market Anti-

corruption measures

Effectiveness of law-

enforcement

Economic factors

(salaries)

Grey economy

Illegal market / OC activity and corruption

Trafficking in human beings and corruption

Recruitment

• Law firms – arranged marriages;

• Work/travel agencies

Transport

• Border Police

• Counselor services - visa applications

Exploitation

• Police officers – protection and non-interference

• Local authorities – licensing of premises, prostitutes

Laundering

• Stores, transport companies,

• Financial: change bureaus;

• Car-dealers

Type Grid Group Description MS observed

Donkeys Strong Weak work characterised by both isolations and

subordination: individual deviance of lower

level officer

All EU

Hawks

(rotten

apples)

Weak Weak a lot of freedom, distance from organisation,

individual deviance (example: higher rank

officers or officers working on highly

confidential material)

FR, ES, UK,

IT, SL, SE, NL,

AU, BE, EI,

DE

Wolves Strong Strong strong group identity creates a subculture

that facilitates organised deviance; group

protection against external controls

FR, ES, IT,

RO, CZ, BG,

PT

Vultures Weak Strong freedom to aggressively seek exploitable

situations, using the cover offered by the

group

BG, EL, RO,

CZ, LT, LA,

CY, PO

Police corruption

This project is funded by the European Union

Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) Civil Society Facility (CSF)

The views expressed in this presentation do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission

A project implemented

by a consortium lead by

the Center for the Study

of Democracy

Thank you !