Corruption 40% of Italy large-scale public works contracts

(ANSA) - Milan, June 16 - Corruption makes up an estimated 40% of the overall value of large-scale public works contracts in Italy, a think tank on corruption said Thursday.
    "Italy ranked 61st in Transparency International's 2015 worldwide corruption rankings and came in second-to-last after Bulgaria in the European rankings," said Professor Emanuele Fisicaro, chief of the Anti-moneylaundering and Anticorruption Research Center think tank, at a conference on combating corruption organized by the city of Milan and the national accountants' guild.
    "A 2013 Eurobarometer survey shows 97% of Italians believe corruption is rampant in Italy while 42% said they are personally subjected to corruption in their daily life," he added.
    Fisicaro made an example of high-speed rail construction, whose costs differ depending on the segment.
    "Costs vary from 47.3 million euros per kilometer between Rome and Naples, to 74 million between Turin and Novara, to 79.5 million between Novara and Milan, reaching 96.4 million per kilometer between Bologna and Florence," he said.
    This compares to 10.2 million euros per kilometer to build high-speed rail links between Paris and Lyon, 9.8 million euros between Madrid and Seville, and 9.3 million between Tokyo and Osaka.
    "We can infer that one in two public contracts could be corrupt," Fisicara concluded.