Measures to prevent corruption in local government authorities in Estonia (Twinning project) (2008)

The project was coordinated by the Finnish Institute of Public Managament (HAUS) in 2008. Its purpose was to 1) assess vulnerable areas of corruption in local government in Estonia, 2) create better tools and uniform working methods for police investigating corruption cases and dealing with the media, 3) draft a first model for a local corruption index of Estonia.

Main findings and outcomes of the project

•The vulnerable areas of Estonian local corruption are: constructing business, real estate, grant management and health care. At the county level, the Tallinn area and the surroundings of the bigger cities are more susceptible to corruption, due to the economic wealth and the larger number of opportunities when compared with the smaller counties in the countryside.

•The major part of the project was to train local level authorities and police to prevent corruption more effectively. The training took place in the major cities and it included the result of the research findings, the vulnerable points in the local government, Estonian and international corruption legislation, good practices of Finnish local government.

•A local government corruption index was created. It comprised various sources and variables from our qualitative and quantitative studies and statistics. The results of the index were presented in the final seminar of the project and it was submitted to Transparency International for commentary.