“A relatively large proportion of the respondents express a distrust of the business community’s business practices. Seven out of ten believe that tax evasion and / or the use of compounds in public tender processes occur in the business community ».
This is stated in the report Global Corruption Barometer in Norway compared with the EU countries, which Transparency International Norway presented on Monday.
The general finding in the report is that Norwegians have high confidence in the public institutions, but Norwegians are still not as trusting in all the sectors around them.
– It is potentially gross corruption
Distrust of the business community
For the private business sector comes out quite poorly in the survey.
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The study presents the following findings:
- Almost three out of ten believe that companies often or very often pay or use connections to secure public contracts. In addition, 46 percent believe that it happens from time to time.
- 43 percent believe that large companies often or very often evade taxes. 35 percent think it happens sometimes.
- 11 percent believe that most business leaders are involved in corruption, while 84 percent believe that some are.
Global Corruption Barometer
The survey is a survey of the citizens’ perceptions of and own experience with corruption.
In Norway, the polling agency Kantar Norge has called around to a representative sample of 1,000 Norwegians in February 2021.
Correspondingly, a sample of a total of 40,000 inhabitants from 27 EU countries was interviewed in the autumn of 2020.
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Would like higher score
– Companies are an important part of local communities and large communities. In that sense, we would like us to score higher, says Nina Melsom, director of working life and negotiations at NHO to Børsen.
She says that NHO believes that small and large companies are important as community builders, and therefore trust in them is also crucial.
– This (the results in the report, journ.anm.) Shows us that it is important to be transparent. We, both NHO and the companies, work with, and have a strong focus on working against work-related crime and fight corruption, and through the work against work-related crime (Akrim), the parties in working life work together with the state actively for a serious working life, says Melsom, and continues :
– We are of little benefit from the fact that there are individual examples of both work-related crime and corruption. Then you quickly pull the whole business community with you. Reputation is fresh and we work with it every day.
Melsom says that one of the most important things for their members is that it should not be anti-competitive to operate seriously, and that the serious companies will therefore have a common front against the junk companies.
– Then we talk with a clear voice about what kind of business and working life we want. It is more of a clear prerequisite for us to have the social model we have, with a good welfare society, says Melsom.
Real estate agent sentenced to prison
– High trust
The rest of the report is more hilarious reading, especially for public authorities.
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“The people of Norway have a high level of trust in the authorities,” reads Transparency International’s conclusion.
If we compare ourselves with the rest of the EU, we come out very well.
“The proportion of the population who have great confidence in the authorities is significantly higher in Norway than in the 27 EU countries as a whole. The proportion who state great confidence is in the range of 48-77 per cent for the average of the EU countries, while the corresponding proportion in Norway is in the range of 61-91 per cent “, the report states.
Also compared with the other Nordic countries, Norway is consistently better off. The exception is the police, where people in Finland and Sweden rate the police as better than people in Norway, and in Denmark and Sweden the municipalities score slightly better than in Norway.
Perhaps Norwegians’ high confidence in the fact that there is little corruption in society can be traced back to the opposition to corruption they state in the survey.
“Zero tolerance for corruption is strong in the Norwegian population and many express that the individual can make a difference in the fight against corruption,” the report states.
94 percent of the respondents dissociate themselves from corruption by disagreeing with the statement that corruption is acceptable as long as the authorities deliver good results.
Accused of corruption
Warns
Transparency International nevertheless believes that there is reason to be vigilant when confidence in the business community is thin.
In addition, they also believe it is disturbing that every fourth inhabitant believes that the Norwegian authorities do not take people’s views into account when making decisions. The fact that almost half believe that the Norwegian government is largely controlled by a few who act in their own interest is not something to rejoice over either.
A small warning is also provided by TI Norway.
“At the same time, the high level of trust must not be a sleeping pad in the anti-corruption work. Blind trust and excessive belief that corruption takes place everywhere other than in Norway, in itself constitutes a risk of corruption. Critical vigilance is needed among all actors in Norwegian society to prevent corruption from gaining a foothold ».
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