Most Outstanding Features of Links Between Corruption and Organized Crime (From Corruption in Central and Eastern Europe at the Turn of the Millenium: A Collection of Essays, P 181-191, 2000, Gorazd Mesko, ed. -- See NCJ-206402)

• NCJ Number: 206403
• Author(s): Eduard Sabopal
• Date Published: 2000
• Length: 11 pages
• Sale Source: Open Society Foundation
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: Slovenia
• Note: A paper from a conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia, September 17-18, 1999, entitled, "Corruption in Central and Eastern Europe at the Turn of Millenium."

Annotation

This discussion of the links between organized crime and corruption in Slovakia focuses on trafficking in drugs, trafficking in weapons and nuclear components, trafficking in stolen motor vehicles, and money laundering.

Abstract

Slovakia is both a transit and destination country for illegal drugs, and the consumption of a variety of drugs is increasing in the country. Domestic criminal groups involved in drug trafficking are mostly young people who are often unemployed. Prevention efforts have included education, drug treatment, border control, and the specialized enforcement activities of the police Antidrug Unit. Trafficking in weapons and nuclear components in Slovakia has been facilitated by the collapse of the former Soviet Union and the decline of its economy. Successor states inherited rich arsenals of weapons. Disarmament required a significant financial cost the new countries were not willing to pay. From the time of the Soviet Union's collapse, powerful organized criminal groups began trafficking in weapons and nuclear components while arming themselves with the most sophisticated weapons available. One of the most profitable areas of organized crime in Slovakia is trafficking in stolen motor vehicles, and it carries little risk. Organized criminal gangs gain the cooperation of citizens in transactions that involve stolen vehicles. The criminal enterprise is so organized and sophisticated that the police are often unable to detect either the origin or identity of the stolen vehicles. In Slovakia there were 7,682 car thefts in 1998, representing 12.16 percent of property crimes committed that year. Money laundering, the process of making illegal financial gain appear to be legal, is facilitated by the lack of relevant law and economic and financial regulations. This makes it difficult to detect and identify offenders and link them to their criminal activities. Police must be trained, financed, equipped, and given the legal tools to address the sophisticated and well-financed operations of organized crime.