One Belgian executive out of five has been confronted with fraudulent practice during the last two years, reports a survey conducted by the EY consultancy agency of which L’Echo published the conclusions Thursday.
Out of the 55 analyzed countries, only Ukraine (36%) and Kenya (26%) did worse than Belgium.
With this 20% ratio, Belgium stands far above the 11% average. Corruption is thus twice as high in Belgium as in Western Europe (10%). So, within six years, the general level of corruption in Belgium has doubled.
The survey also reveals that 12% of Belgian executives think that resorting to corruption may be justified if it helps a company to get out of a difficult situation. Almost all of the interrogated executives (96%), however, believe that their company must be capable of proving its integrity in business.
