Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/620988
4 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 30 DECEMBER 2015 News 4 News 73% believe politicians abuse their power CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 In an- other revealing finding, 73% of businesses now believe that na- tional politicians either accept bribes or otherwise abuse their power. This is a significant 12% increase over the perceptions registered in March 2013, the second highest increase rate in Europe. Indeed it bucks the EU trend; EU companies as a whole are 5% less likely to say that pol- iticians abuse their power now than they were in 2013. 61% of businesses believe poli- ticians at the local level are cor- rupt, a 12% increase from March 2013. Elsewhere, 69% of Maltese businesses believe that bribery and connections are the easi- est way to obtain certain public services – up by 6% from 2013. 43% agree that the only way to succeed in business is to have political connections – a huge 9% increase over 2013, that is the second highest increase rate in the EU behind Croatia. 'Half believe corruption gets in the way of public tenders' 46% of the companies sur- veyed said that they had taken part in a public tender or public procurement procedure in the previous three years – a 16% in- crease from March 2013. However, 49% of the busi- nesses believe that corruption got in the way of their winning the tender – a 6% increase over 2013. 65% of businesses claim that public tender specifications are often tailor-made to suit partic- ular companies, 59% believe that conf lict of interest in the evalu- ation of bids is widespread. 57% of businesses see collu- sive bidding as a problem (up 9%), 48% think that emergency grounds are often used to jus- tify fast-track procedures (up 8%), and 49% think public con- tract terms are often amended after the bidder is announced (up 8%). Only 28% of the businesses surveyed think that corrupt people or businesses will be fined or jailed by a court, down by 12% from March 2013. tdiacono@mediatoday.com.mt Labour files protest against PBS over TVAM invitees In latest broadcasting spat, Labour files protest against PBS for 'imbalance' on yesterday's edition of TVAM, a day after PN filed a complaint with the Broadcasting Authority for imbalance in Monday's edition of the same programme THE Labour Party has filed a pro- test against PBS for yesterday's edi- tion of the daily breakfast TVAM show, for what it claims as a failure to present a PL viewpoint. The protest come a day after Na- tionalist MP Clyde Puli claimed that the same show had committed an act of broadcasting imbalance on Monday morning's edition, by not 'balancing' out a Labour jour- nalist with a Nationalist journal- ist invited for a 2015 review pro- gramme. Presenter Norma Saliba on Monday hosted a Labour journal- ist and an RTK journalist for her programme's review of the year in news, in what turns out to have been a two-part edition that continued yesterday, with the PN following the case with an official complaint to the Broadcasting Authority. In its statement the PL said that yesterday's programme was clearly a reaction to this protest which re- sulted in an "unreasonable imbal- ance". The party also added that during Monday's edition of the pro- gramme, a former PN official and a ONE journalist had taken part. "Today's (Tuesday's) edition lacked anyone with the PL's view point so the party felt a protest is necessary," the statement said, call- ing for remedial action. The statement adds that PBS has become more influential and in- dependent than before and that the PN was trying to put pressure on its newsroom, "which is run by a respected individual and which also employs former PN journalists among others". Sunny beginning to 2016 predicted THE New Year is set to continue where this year will have left off, warm and sunny. The MET Office at Malta International Airport has predicted a pleasant beginning to 2016, with light to moderate winds and mild temperatures expected. Overall conditions are not ex- pected to be severe and should not cause any disturbance to New Year festivities. Between 30 December and 1 January, daytime temperatures are expected to reach a maximum of 17°C to 18°C before dropping to a minimum of between 9°C and 10°C. The skies should be generally sunny to partly cloudy with little chance of rain, and humidity lev- els are predicted to be quite high at approximately 86%. Republic Street, Valletta next to the Courts PBS' Creativity Hub