Austria has a well-developed institutional and

legal system The contemporary national legal systems are generally based on one of four basic systems: civil law, common law, statutory law, religious law or combinations of these. However, the legal system of each country is shaped by its unique history an ...

, and most

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

cases under investigation by a

parliamentary committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

end with

judicial The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudication, adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and app ...

trials and effective judgments. However, there are several significant

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n corruption cases which have taken place during the past decade involving land and

regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

officials, high-level public officials, the central government and, in one instance, the former

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

. On

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...

's 2022

Corruption Perceptions Index The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index which ranks countries "by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys." The CPI generally defines corruption as an "abuse of entru ...

, Austria scored 71 on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"). When ranked by score, Austria ranked 22nd among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. For comparison, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), and the worst score was 12 (ranked 180). In most cases, corrupt practices were related to conflicts of interest,

abuse Abuse is the improper usage or treatment of a thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, crimes, or other t ...

of office, money laundering and influence peddling. The corruption

scandals A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...

have put into doubt the ethical standards of the political elite. This doubt is reflected in the findings of

Eurobarometer Eurobarometer is a series of public opinion surveys conducted regularly on behalf of the European Commission and other EU Institutions since 1973. These surveys address a wide variety of topical issues relating to the European Union throughout i ...

2012, where two-thirds of respondents perceive national

politicians A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

to be corrupt and also the most corrupt institution in Austria.

Extent

According to several sources, corruption is not considered a problem for doing business in Austria. According t
Investment Climate Report 2013
by the US Department of State 2013, corruption is not considered as a serious problem impeding business in Austria. The World Economic Forum's Global Competitivenessbr>2013-2014 report
notes that it is uncommon for companies to make irregular payments or bribes connected with imports and exports, public utilities, annual tax payments, and awarding of public contracts and

licenses A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

. Moreover, corruption is ranked as the twelfth most problematic factor for doing business in Austria. According to the Global Competitiveness Report 2013–2014, favouritism among government officials towards well-connected companies and individuals is a competitive disadvantage for the country. According t
Identifying and Reducing Corruption in Public Procurement in the EU 2013
officials involved in public procurement lack effective corruption screening. A study over the years 2013 to 2019 found that Austria had the highest rate of corruption in healthcare of all EU countries, with one in nine Austrian patients being asked to pay bribes.

Affairs in recent history

The following corruption complexes caused a great public and media stir in Austria's recent history, mainly due to the involvement of political functionaries: * ''AKH-Skandal'' ( AKH Affair), surfacing 1980, which revolved around the construction of Austria's largest hospital, the Wiener Allgemeines Krankenhaus (Vienna General Hospital) in the 1970s. *''Noricum-Skandal'' (

Noricum scandal The Noricum scandal, or Noricum affair was an Austrian arms export scandal centering on the illegal export of weapons to Iran, by VOEST subsidiary ''Noricum'' during the 1980s. It was named after the Roman geographical area Noricum. See also *No ...

) was an Austrian arms export scandal centering on the illegal export of weapons to Iran during the 1980s. *''Eurofighter-Affäre'' ( Eurofighter Affair), surfacing 2006, is referring to a procurement process for fighter jets. *''BUWOG-Affäre'' ( BUWOG Affair), surfacing 2009, which originated from a 2003 privatisation process around a large housing portfolio owned by the Republic of Austria. *'' Hypo Alpe Adria'', a complex of mismanagement and suspected corruption around a former state bank, surfacing 2009. *''Telekom-Affäre'' (

Telekom Austria Affair The Telekom Austria Affair (german: ''Telekom-Affäre)'' surfaced in 2011 and is one of the major corruption complexes in recent Austrian history. The affair has been the subject of numerous investigative and judicial proceedings. It consists of dif ...

), surfacing 2011, included share price manipulation, unauthorised election campaign donations, influencing the awarding of contracts, questionable sponsoring and unclear company takeovers between 2000 and 2007. *''Tetron-Affäre'' ( Tetron Affair), surfacing 2011, involves possible money laundering, illegal lobbying, party financing and commission payments in connection with the procurement of a new federal digital radio systems for authorities and emergency forces in the early 2000s. *''Ibiza-Affäre'' (

Ibiza Affair The Ibiza affair (german: Ibiza-Affäre), also known as Ibiza-gate, was a political scandal in Austria involving Heinz-Christian Strache, the former vice chancellor of Austria and leader of the Freedom Party (FPÖ), and Johann Gudenus, a deput ...

), which was triggered 2019 by the publication of a 2017 secretly recorded video of the Austrian Vice Chancellor.

References

External links

Austria Corruption Profile
from the

Business Anti-Corruption Portal The Risk & Compliance Portal (formerly The Business Anti-Corruption Portal) is a powerhouse for business anti-corruption information offering tools on how to alleviate or reduce risks and costs of corruption when doing business abroad. All the inf ...

Crime in Austria by type Politics of Austria {{Austria-stub