Sofia, July 13 (BTA) - According to a survey on the public attitude towards counter-corruption this year, 41.5 per cent of the respondents would not submit a corruption alert if they have witnessed corruption or have information about it. Out of those who would, 45 per cent would submit the alert to the media, 20 per cent to the police, 13.5 per cent to the Counter-Corruption and Unlawful Assets Forfeiture Commission, 10.2 per cent to a control body, and 10.1 per cent to the prosecuting magistracy. The survey's findings were presented by the Transparency without Borders association and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation at a BTA-hosted news conference here on Friday.

The biggest share of respondents (71.2 per cent) think that counter-corruption should be focused on investigating corruption at the highest political level, followed by corruption in the local authorities (63.7 per cent) and in the central administration (58.5 per cent). A total of 19.7 per cent think that the fight against corruption should include information campaigns among the population.

Summarizing the survey's findings, Transparency without Borders head Kalin Slavov said that there is low readiness among citizens for the submission of corruption alerts and low trust in institutions. Bulgarians would submit alerts if there is unbiased investigation, preservation of their anonymity and guarantees for their protection against unfavourable consequences.

Vanya Nousheva, Programme Director of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, said that 36.4 per cent of the respondents expressed readiness to refuse a bribe so as to counter corruption; however, 36.2 per cent think that as ordinary people they cannot do anything to contribute to the fight against corruption.

The findings also show that 29.9 per cent of the respondents do not counter corruption out of fear of the consequences.

Political expert Antoniy Gulubov commented that if the Counter-Corruption and Unlawful Assets Forfeiture Commission manages to take up the role of a civic channel for putting into motion the institutions in charge of sanctioning and persecuting corruption, this could help reduce quickly the sense of social isolation that is one of Bulgarian society's biggest problems.