Phehomenon of corruption in Albania: towards cigarrete smugling

Abstract

The phenomenon of cigarette smuggling and corruption has become a very sensitive topic for responsible law enforcement authorities and reporting entities. The issue needs to be addressed effectively and systematically regardless of the overall economic, financial and fiscal situation in the country. Preventing and mitigating the constant threat posed by criminal activities is of particular importance. In this context, financial institutions and non-financial professions are required to comply with applicable legal and regulatory requirements. The article deals with the extent of corruption prevalence and reasons for prosperity in Albania, as a Western Balkans country, which has been little studied in the scientific literature. Albania is characterized by very high levels of perceived corruption, which manifests itself at all levels of government. Both petty and grand forms of corruption are prevalent in the country, while political corruption affects the quality of the democratic processes. The health sector, customs and tax officials are often referred to as the most corrupt institutions, followed by the police and the judiciary. Other problem faced by Albania is the illegal trade of tobacco considered as one of the major issues for Albanian law enforcement; it poses a multitude of challenges and issues beyond the ones discussed for legal tobacco consumption. The method of a representative quantitative survey was chosen for the empirical research, interviewing 1000 respondents from the age of 18 and more. The main findings and results of the research have been found: the scales of cigarette smuggling as well as the links between cigarette smuggling and corruption, money laundering and organized crime have not been evaluated, but macroeconomical analysis has shown that these phenomena are closely linked and feed each other. In Albania the public are beginning to realize that namely they tolerate the illegal phenomenon and, as a result, suffer from poorer economic well-being of their families.

Corruption perception trends: European Union countries

“…The studies are applicable both to the EU as a whole and to individual European countries and regions, for example: "Institucional and legal basis of counteracting corruption: experience of the European Union and Ukraine" -whichallowed to distinguish three groups among the countries of the European Union: 1) highly developed countries, which have a high quality of life and low levels of corruption; 2) highly developed countries which provide high quality of life, but corruption is highenough; 3) countries with a high level of corruption and a relatively low level of qualityof life (Blikhar et al 2022); "Romania's Justice and Anti-Corruption Reform: A Stubborn Divergence from European Norms in Pursuit of Personal Gains" -the priority attached by the EU to the rule of law and justice reform can hardly eliminate the fundamental incentive for political corruption. A selfserving political elite remains unable to genuinely commit to the implementation of substantial anticorruption reforms (Martin-Russu et al 2022); "Phehomenon of corruption in Albania: towards cigarrete smuggling" (Raistenskis et al 2023); "The European Union's Anti-corruption Policy Advice in Ukraine Between Grand Visions and (Geo)political Realities" (Richter 2023); "Conditions for application of criminal liability to the board of a company in the legal system of the Republic of Latvia" (Teivans-Treinovskis et al 2022).…”