Although corruption has existed for many years, it took time to be recognized as a problem. Today, it can be seen that corruption is being talked about more and more often, both in the media and in society. There is no official definition of corruption, but it is most often defined as the abuse of power for private gain. There are many reasons for corruption, from economic to moral. But the question arises of how to sanction corruption, and more importantly, how to prevent corruption in the first place, what are the anti-corruption mechanisms that contribute to the suppression of corruption and how citizens can contribute to the suppression of corruption. Corruption is also a social problem because citizens lose their trust to the government, which is considered the most important consequence of corruption. At the global level, international organizations such as the United Nations, the European Union, the Council of Europe have adopted various documents to combat corruption. In order to prevent corruption, it is necessary to have a good legislative framework, effective institutions that are capable to fight against corruption, an active citizenship, awareness of harmness and sanctions for the perpetrator of corruption. The situation in the Republic of Croatia is not very good, considering that it is among the most corrupted countries in the European Union, regardless of the fact that it has established a number of institutions and took a number of measures, all for the purpose of preventing and suppressing corruption.