Most of us know it already, or have faced the issue at some stage of life. Corruption is known as "the abuse of entrusted power for unmerited private gain".It means such conduct on the side of public sector representatives (politicians, government officials or any persons related to them) by which they - in an unlawful and illegal way - gain a profit, abusing the powers entrusted to them. A different approach defines corruption as an offer, a promise, or a provision of any sort of unmerited advantage in exchange for a certain reward. Such reward does not necessarily have to be in monetary form (bribing); it may take a form of providing insider information, clientelism, nepotism, neglect of duty in property management, conflict of interest, machinations in public procurement, or fraud.The most common type of corruption is “petty corruption”, practised by (often poorly remunerated) public officials. Yet if left unchecked, small bribes get bigger and start fuelling the corruption spiral. Petty corruption complicates everyday life while closely reflecting more serious forms of corruption at higher levels. Corruption symbiosis of political elites with powerful economic groups presents the biggest risk for democratic systems. Negative impact of high-level corruption includes undermining of public institutions' legitimacy (weakened trust in the rule of law), and the establishment of parallel, non-elected and non-democratic power structures. Ineffective allocation of public funds (resulting in the economic growth slow-down), distortion of competition, and excessive transaction costs of business activities cause major economic damage. Social costs of corruption include degradation of human resources and deepening of social inequality; and corruption may also become a tool of organised crime. In the long term, high level of corruption in a given country damages its reputation abroad.
