Serbian Anti-Corruption Policy. Welcome to Potemkin’s Village?

Abstract

Law enforcement in Serbia concerning the offence of corruption is similar to a camera obscura: opacity prevails. This does not instil much trust in the population: surveys carried out by or on behalf of the UN reveal that only politicians and doctors are more distrusted than judges and prosecutors. Corruption is a very underreported offence, as victims have the feeling that the authorities do not care about corruption: why report? An extensive statistical analysis of corruption cases handled by the prosecution and the court showed that the camera obscura metaphor had to be refined: apart from being opaque, the law enforcement institutions behave like a random box. Neither in the prosecution service nor in the courts could a policy be discerned. The outcome of the judicial system in terms of prosecution and sentencing appeared to be statistically at random. A qualitative analysis of the most serious corruption cases demonstrated to what extent these cases occurred in all layers of society. In such cases the government was non-responsive to complaints of its own institutions. Also in other matters the authorities demonstrated a lot of foot dragging. Despite the anti-corruption strategies one may wonder whether the government really cares.