The paper analyzes the correlation of political influence in the professional structures of public institutions with corruption risk. The goal is to determine, based on qualitative data, how favourable general political influence and political appointments in professional public institutions (as opposed to transparency and professional autonomy) are for the development and sustainability of corruption. Qualitative empirical research using the method of semi- -structured interviews was conducted with 60 participants from 10 countries, divided into two groups according to the Corruption Perceptions Index. Indicators of the presence of political influence in public structures are: participants’ experience on the mobility of institutional services, experience of the presence of political staffing in professional structures, and the experience of the possibility of predictable career management based on clear institutional criteria. The results of the interviews show that between societies which differ according to the perception of corruption there is an experiential difference in the presence of these indicators, and that the political influence of the professional structures of public institutions can be considered as a factor of corruption risk.