Around one in four in Germany sees growing corruption according to a survey by the organization Transparency International.
In a survey carried out between October and December, 26.4 percent of the participants believed that the level of corruption in Germany had increased over the past year.
That comes from the Global Corruption Barometer 2021 published on Tuesday.
“These are perceptual values,” emphasized the chairman of Transparency Germany, Hartmut Bäumer.
The values did not reflect the actual extent of the problem in Germany.
His organization sees corruption as the abuse of entrusted power for personal purposes, which in the case of politicians could also include the purposes of their own party.
The survey was carried out before the affair about the procurement of corona protective masks, in which Union politicians are suspected of corruption, among other things.
In the survey, 3.2 percent of respondents said they had paid a bribe for a public service in the past twelve months.
Around one in five claims to have used personal relationships to maintain a public service.
A look at the federal government reveals a mixed picture.
It is true that 79.1 percent of those surveyed have fundamental trust in them.
At the same time, 61.6 percent have the impression that the government is largely controlled by some large interest groups.
More than one in three considers corruption to be a problem within the federal government.
The respondents had a high level of confidence in the police and the judiciary.
On the other hand, more than one in three suspects that all or most business executives are involved in corruption.
57.5 percent believe that companies use money or relationships to land public contracts.