BERLIN -- One in every four people has been asked to pay a bribe to the police, and political parties and parliaments are the most tainted by corruption, a Transparency International study released on Thursday shows.

The poor are targeted for bribes in both developed and developing countries, according to the watchdog’s Global Corruption Barometer 2007.

The study found that the countries with the highest level of petty bribery, with 30 percent of respondents reporting paying bribes, were Albania, Cambodia, Cameroon, Macedonia, Kosovo, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Romania and Senegal.By region, Africa experiences the most demands for bribes, the study found.

Transparency polled more than 63,000 people in 60 countries between June and September 2007.The Berlin-based organization also produces an annual ranking of countries perceived to be the most corrupt.

Poor hardest hit

The study “has made it clear that too often, people must part with their hard-earned money to pay for services that should be free,” said Transparency International Chair Huguette Labelle.

“And they do not see enough commitment when they look to their governments and leaders.”

The poor are hit hardest by petty bribery as they are more likely than those from a high-income bracket to pay bribes when seeking services.

And, Transparency said, that rule held true regardless of whether respondents were from richer or poorer countries.

Cops worst offenders

Telephone and gas providers were the least likely to demand bribes, while the police were the worst offenders.

Twenty-five percent of respondents who came into contact with the police were asked to pay a bribe and one in every six reported that they ended up paying a bribe.

Judges in many countries are happy to take a bribe in return for dismissing a case or influencing a verdict in a court case.In Pakistan, for example, 96 percent of those questioned reported corrupt practices in courts.

Basic right violated

“The police and the judiciary in many countries around the world are part of a cycle of corruption, demanding bribes from citizens,” Transparency International’s managing director Cobus de Swardt said in a statement.

“This troubling finding means that corruption is interfering with the basic right to equal treatment before the law.”

Labelle said however that Transparency had noticed some cause for hope.

“We are heartened ... that the public is increasingly demanding the accountability of the very institutions that most affect their lives, as this is a powerful driver of change,” she said.

Source: Agence France-Presse and the Philippine Daily Inquirer