Squeaky-clean Europe is more corrupt than you think
Scandals and scams are rife. The EU’s clean-up isn’t working fast enough
“IT WAS RETRO style,” laughs Ruta Kaziliunaite, the co-ordinator of Lithuania’s Special Investigation Service (STT), the country’s anti-corruption police. Last November the former leader of the Liberal Movement party was convicted of taking bribes from an executive at MG Baltic, a trading and real-estate conglomerate. It was not a matter of hidden transfers to shell companies, but of old-fashioned wads of cash: the STT found €242,000 ($269,000) stashed in the MP’s house and car. (Both men are appealing.)
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Dirty sponges”
From the September 14th 2024 edition
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