Relatives in local government companies – Vilnius region among leaders in nepotism

Approximately, a fifth of employees in local government companies share family relationships, in some regions the proportion reaches up to 50 percent. – Special Research Service (STT) announced on Monday, who carried out a study on the risk of nepotism in local government companies.

According to STT data, in June from nearly 22,000 employees of companies managed by local governments, around 4,000 are their relatives.

On average, in local government companies, people connected by family ties account for about 19 percent of all employees, in individual companies – up to 50 percent.

Most employees who have kinship were established in the local governments of Druskininkai (35%), Neryngi (34%) and Vilnius region (23%). In Soleczniki region this ratio is 10 percent. Soleczniki, however, was in the top ten in terms of risk of external nepotism – 17 percent of employees of local government companies have relatives in the administration of this local government. In the Vilnius region it is 7 percent.

“Nepotism is one of the basic causes of corruption in local governments. Continuing to observe the risk of nepotism, we believe that this issue is point of issue not only in local government administrations, but also in the companies they manage. It is important to ensure that the risk of corruption is controlled, that relatives do not have direct relations between superiors and subordinates, there are no attempts to abuse the official position, transparency of decisions is ensured” commented STT deputy director Jovitas Raškevičius in a press release.