Sakker El Dekkene published its first report related to 1600 bribes reported by citizens on its online plateform (SAKKERA) covering 22 ministries and public administrations in all regions. The report showed about 3,5 billion LBP spent these bribes. According the Vice-President of the NGO, Doctor Carole Alsharabati: "52% of bribe reports concern the Ministry of Interior, 27% are associated to the Ministry of Finance, and 6% to the Ministry of Justice. In total, there are 825 cases of corruption reported in the Ministry of Interior, 415 cases of corruption in the Ministry of Finance, 92 cases in the Ministry of Justice, 48 cases in the Ministry of Labor, 38 cases in the Ministry of Energy and Water, and 27 cases in the Ministry of Education. Yet, while the Ministry of Interior has the highest number of bribe reports, the Ministry of Finance jumps far ahead in total amount reported with 995 million LBP. Next is Ministry of Interior with 575 million LBP, then Ministry of Energy and Water with 327 million LBP, Ministry of Public Works with 298 million LBP, and Ministry of Justice with 296 million LBP."
According to data collected by Sakker El Dekkene and testimonies of citizens, corruption concerns primarily administrative formalities which are common in the daily lives of Lebanese citizens. Thus, it is in their most basic relationship with the public administration that citizens face corruption. In the Ministry of Interior, 24% of bribes were primarily reported at the Civil Registration Office, 21% in Municipalities, 18% at the Mecanique, 14% at the Vehicle Registration Office (registration and driver's license), and 11% at the Internal Security Forces.
Lebanese citizens have to resort to bribery to have a civil status extract, to register their car, to get their driving license or have their administrative formalities completed on time.
Within municipalities, corruption concerns the most common procedures (stamps, administrative formalities, registration of a contract ...) and the more complex procedures (taxes, advertising, building permits...) In the Ministry of Finance, bribes are distributed as follows: Cadaster 87%, Customs 12%, and Directorate of Revenue 1%.
And Alsharabati added: "Computing total amount of bribes, Cadaster is the champion with a total bribery score of 699,000,000 LBP, followed by Municipalities (294,800,000 LBP), Judiciary (279,800,000 LBP), Urban Planning (264,100,000), Customs (123,200,000), ISF (86,200,000), Vehicle registration (13,900,000 LBP), Mecanique (13,800,000 LBP), and Driving License (12,300,000 LBP)."
Lebanese citizens have reported bribes mainly in the capital and in major cities. The first place in the bribery race goes to Beirut with 325 out of 1561 bribe reports, which is equivalent to 20% of the total.
Doctor Alsharabati concluded saying that the NGO was able to compute the price of corrupt products as follows:
Do you have a formality at the Cadaster? You will need 2,600,000LBP.
A Civil Registry Extract will cost you 10,000 LBP.
Getting a Driving License requires 170,000 LBP.
Pass the test of Mecanique? You will need 140,000 LBP.
If you want to Register your vehicle, it requires 170,000 LBP.
The analysis of the 1600 bribes, mainly gathered through SAKKERA APP, exposes four main areas of corruption related to the daily lives of citizen and determined by the number of reports:
1-Cadastre
2-Personnal Status
3-Municipalities and urban planning
4-The judiciary and public prosecution
In this regards, the president of the NGO, Rabih El Chaer presented a 6-points plan to fight corruption in Cadastre which figured on the top of the list of most corrupt administrations. He said that "the minister of finance Ali Hassan Khalil has initiated the campaign against corrupt cadaster administrators and we value this initiative. However, at Sakker El Dekkene, we believe that this campaign is not sufficient and will only have effect for a limited period of time. The corruption problem in cadastre is due to the estimation power given to public servants which leads to underestimations by about 20%of the real estate value in exchange for a bribe which is itself about 20% worth the underestimated value. This will lead to corruption which costs the State about 200 million US dollars and to a bribe market estimated at 50 million US dollars for the benefit of cadaster civil servants, experts, and lawyers, and maybe political leaders who cover them up". Chaer added that "Sakker El Dekkene hopes that his Excellency Minister Khalil will consolidate his plan to fight corruption in cadaster with the six following points:
-Creation of committees appointed to estimate the value of real estates. A system of rotation among the members will prevent fraud. Also, the syndicate of real estate brokers should cooperate with the Syndicate of Engineers in order to produce scientific indicators for the prices of movable and immovable property in all regions, in coordination with municipalities to continuously control prices.
-The use of an automated system which already exists in the cadastre in order to run accurate and routine statistics that show the extent of manipulation of real estate estimations by cadastre secretaries,and in order to control their work and hold them accountable. We strongly recommend the immediate use of this approach.
-The development of automation to shorten the procedures and limit the citizens'contact with Real Estate Secretaries. According to Sakker el Dekkene, this system is ready to be applied in the ministry and just needs a political decision. The system also has to insure the link betweenreal estate and the housing procedures for Banks, and to determine the rental value for municipalities. No purchase of a property should to be allowed unless the check is recorded on the Sale Contract at the public notary and unless the fees are paid electronically.
-The declaration of all the properties of previous Real Estate Secretaries as well as the properties of their wives and minor children, as a way to prepare for the law on Illegal enrichment that allows not only to hold public officials accountable but also to recover the illegally acquired assets. This proposal is within the reach of the judiciary who already made a first step towards it.
-The clarification of the criteria of designation of the local Real Estate Secretaries and the disclosure of their financial interest and their properties, as well as their associates.
Sakker El Dekkene Operation Manager Jihad Nammour said in his turn that the Sakker El Dekkene network includes the "Kabse" car which turns around the country to collect bribe reports, stopping principally in front of the most corruption administrations. In light of these reports, the Cadaster is on top of the Kabse destinations list. To be more specific, the next Kabse visit will be related to corruption in Cadaster formalities in Baabda. He added that "the more people report bribes, the more representative the analysis, the more refined the information, and the more powerful the implications. In addition, as data becomes more precise and refined, it will become possible to derive strategic advice with regards to change and reform. The objective of Sakker El Dekkene is definitely not to name and shame, but to highlight the weakest departments and areas in public administration, and pinpoint solutions."
To conclude, the Sakker El Dekkene team assured that they will send this report to every minister and every higher administrative executive. Decision makers are accountable for their administration's lack of integrity, and invited to take concrete actions to address the issues highlighted herein. Sakker el Dekkene will then follow up with the accountable persons and request a response from every one with an action plan. In the meantime, the Dekkene car will be here to remind our decision makers of the importance of addressing the corruption viral disease and the urgency of drastic measures to build transparency, integrity, and accountability in our country.
Citizens should not forget to report bribes on the website (www.sakkera.com), mobile app (sakkera), and hotline (76 80 80 80). Sakker El Dekkene's power starts with each and every citizen reporting bribes and corruption.
