The portal Corruption °C, maintained by the Centre for Public Policy Providus from Latvia, has recently made available statistics on trials for offences committed in the public service in Latvia. The data has been collected by Providus and covers the period from 2004 to 2011.
The statistics show the trend in total number of trials, convictions and acquittals over the selected time period (see graph below), and also provides an overview of the distribution of cases according to the department or agency of the public officials involved. They also show in detail the amount of bribes associated with each criminal case. The portal highlights the relevance of the conviction of officials from the Development Department of Riga City Council, which was considered the most important corruption case in 2011 and involved a gross amount of bribes of about EUR 1,000,000, the largest amount of bribes in a criminal case with a verdict of guilty since the restoration of Latvia’s independence.
In addition to these statistics, Corruption °C also offers a series of reports on corruption, written by top Latvian experts as well as international authors. The portal, initiated in 2005, follows and analyses key trends in the area of corruption and anti-corruption policy in Latvia, and tracks flows of corruption-related news, identifying and providing in-depth analysis on the most important developments in the country. The website also focuses on placing Latvia’s developments into the European context.
