9 out of 10 institutions provide the employees with an opportunity to report possible corruption, illegal or unethical actions at work. However, one out of four institutions (25 out of 95) does not allow to do so in a safe manner. Three out of four (71 out of 95) institutions have not received such reports in the past two years. These are the findings of the review of 105 public sector institutions conducted by Transparency International Lithuania.
In 2019 – 2020 institutions received a total of 406 reports via their internal reporting channels.
The reports in five institutions account for 90 percent of all reports received (365 out of 406). AB “Kelių priežiūra“ (147 reports), the Lithuanian Post(121), The Prison Department under the Ministry of Justice (47), Ignitis (36), The Lithuanian railways (14). In total 22 institutions declared that in the past two years they received at least one report.
8 percent (32) of the received reports were forwarded to other responsible authorities.
Two out of three institutions (67) state they impose sanctions on employees who do not ensure or violate data protection rules. Almost half (45) of these institutions state that received reports are stored in a specialised manner (eg. protected premises, encrypted computers, etc.), one fifth of them (25) – that the data is destroyed following a specialized procedure. Only 17 institutions indicate they have all of these data protection measures in place.
27 out of 95 institutions collect information on the reporting person such as their name, surname, e-mail, postal address, phone number, personal identification number and residential address. 78 out of 95 institutions collect at least some parts of this data. 8 authorities save a recording of the telephone conversation.
“Public sector institutions should do a better job implementing the Law on Protection of Whistleblowers. There is a particular cause for concern at the municipal level. A quarter of municipalities either do not have an internal reporting channel or did not answer our query at all. On the other hand, I am happy to see more and more inspiring examples from our public sector. Our public sector leaders understand it essential to learn about your employees’ concerns firsthand,” said Sergejus Muravjovas, CEO of Transparency International Lithuania.
Only eight institutions indicated that they have a separate budget line for the implementation of the provisions under the Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers.
105 out of 117 institutions responded to the questionnaire by TI Lithuania. 9 municipalities (Molėtai county, Plungė county, Rietavas, Skuodas county, Švenčionys county, Tauragė county, Telšiai county, Trakai county, Ukmergė county) and one other institution (The State Security Department of Lithuania) stated that they do not have internal reporting channels within the institution.
5 municipalities (Anykščiai county, Biržai county, Kaišiadorys county, Kazlų Rūda and Radviliškis county), 3 ministries (Finance, Culture and Foreign Affairs), 2 contracting authorities (Panevėžys and Šiauliai Hospitals), 1 state-owned enterprise (Center of Registers) and 1 other institution (Central Electoral Commission) did not respond to the questionnaire.
The Law on Protection of Whistleblowers entered into force on January 1, 2019.
A short overview of the results can be found here (in Lithuanian), the study can be found here (in Lithuanian).
More information: Sergejus Muravjovas, sergejus@transparency.lt, +370 5 212 69 51
This review was carried out in collaboration with representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania.
This project is part of the Active Citizens’ Fund, funded by the EEA Financial Mechanism.