1. Governance
November 6, 2014

Hungary now has an app to track corruption

By City Monitor Staff

In 2010, a report from the European Research Centre for Anti-Corruption and State-Building asked “how corrupt in Hungary?” To spare you a read of the lengthy paper, let’s just say their conclusion was, well, “very”. On some estimates, the country’s black market amounts to almost a fifth of its GDP; businesspeople say that corruption fees or bribes make up anywhere between 3 and 25 per cent of any given transaction.

Luckily, these days you can build an app for everything. This piece on the world news site Pangea Today reports that a new Hungarian smartphone app allows residents to find out how expensive a civic project was, how much it cost, and where the money came from.

Users can browse a library of cases, and view specific projects as pins on a map:

The app was created by K-Monitor, a civilian watchdog organisation hoping to raise awareness of corruption in public funds spending. 

Indonesia’s government also introduced an anti-corruption app this year, though that one relies on games and educational materials. Users visit a virtual theme park where they are taught how to avoid paying or receive pribes; afterwards, they take a short quiz. Fun for all the family. 

According to a spokesman for the country’s corruption eradication commission, the app was inspired by the belief that many Indonesians aren’t aware of what constiutes corrupt business practices. He told The Guardian:

Content from our partners
The key role of heat network integration in creating one of London’s most sustainable buildings
The role of green bonds in financing the urban energy transition
The need to grow London's EV infrastructure at speed and scale

Many state officials and entrepreneurs are not aware that giving gifts and free services constitutes corruption and is an offence.

Presumably, though, the true extent of their knowledge is a little hard to measure. We’d probably feign ignorance if we were caught paying a bribe, too.

This article is from the CityMetric archive: some formatting and images may not be present.
Websites in our network