On Thursday Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov took part in a summit in London, where leaders of 40 countries discussed fighting corruption. PR specialists of the event spread the news that the forum was unprecedented and it involved countries that had achieved significant successes in the fight against this social evil. The meeting was hosted by British Prime Minister David Cameron, who said in his speech that corruption was a cancer and core of many problems and announced that a center for global fight against it will be established in London. PM Borissov said that Sofia will be actively involved in the activities of this center.

"I have never seen so much self-criticism and determination," the Bulgarian Prime Minister said, describing the discussions at the forum. Borissov pointed out that years ago the international community took joint actions to combat terrorism and now joint actions were required against global corruption.

During his visit, Boyko Borissov held a discussion with David Cameron. He presented the efforts of the Bulgarian government to fight smuggling, which is linked to corruption. The two also discussed the situation with the refugee wave towards Europe and the tensions between the EU and Turkey resulting from this issue.

The summit in London is history now but some curious questions arise and answers could remind us of the saying "It takes a thief to catch a thief." The London meeting took place about a month after the Panama Papers scandal broke out. These papers revealed the schemes in which large companies and public figures from all over the world use offshore companies for the purpose of tax evasion. It turned out that British Prime Minister David Cameron had shares in the offshore company of his father. The British Virgin Islands are among the world’s financial havens and so it seems that the overseas territories of the United Kingdom create part of the global problem of corruption. The Panama Papers also contain the names of two hundred Bulgarian natural and legal persons.

Saying that leaders of countries that have significant success in the fight against corruption took part in the summit in London sounds just too diplomatic. Perhaps, it is more accurate to say that London had summoned the leaders of some of the most corrupt countries in the world. "We have got the leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain... Nigeria and Afghanistan, possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world." This was what a TV crew managed to pick up from a conversation between the Prime Minister and the Queen ahead of the summit. These words were discussed during the forum. President of Nigeria Mohammadu Buhari said the British PM said was shocking. Afghan MP Mohammad Sediqi said “the United Kingdom, United States and the international community had an important contribution to the spread of corruption" in his country. According to the latest report on corruption by Transparency International, Bulgaria is the most corrupt country among the 28 Member States of the European Union followed by Italy, which was represented at the summit in London by Italian Minister of Justice Andrea Orlando.

Some philosophers say corruption has existed since the invention of money. In other words, corruption is the eternal parasite on money and money rules the world. Let's hope, however, that the anti-corruption summit in London was not just throwing dust in the eyes.

English: Alexander Markov