Institutional Weapons That Work
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Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia 7th General Meeting, 25-27 June 2008, Tbilisi, Georgia ANNEX 6: PRESENTATION FROM THEMATIC SESSION 3 The Role of NGOs - Taking the Process One Step Further on Stormy Days Mrs. Laura Stefan, Romanian Academic Society, Romania Slide 1 The role of NGOs - taking the process one step further on stormy days A view from the Romanian Academic Society Laura Stefan, Tibilisi, June 2008 Slide 2 Institutional weapons that work • Freedom of Information Acts permanently monitored • Transparent and compulsory statements of assets and wealth • Transparent contracts for public works • Public exposure of corruption cases 208 Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia 7th General Meeting, 25-27 June 2008, Tbilisi, Georgia Slide 3 Two Romanian case studies The importance of NGOs Coalitions: • The power comes from working together • Efforts from individual NGOs bear less weight and can be more easily undermined • All decisions in the coalitions need to be agreed by all members Examples to be addressed • Coalition for a Clean Parliament – 2004 • Coalition for a Clean Justice – 2007 Slide 4 Romanian Coalition for a Clean Parliament 1. Building the civic coalition on behalf of the „losers‟ 2. Defining political integrity and agreeing with political parties 3. Monitoring political integrity 4. Putting pressure on parties to drop black listed candidates 5. Taking it to the media and the voters Slide 5 Coalition for a Clean Parliament criteria for MPs • Profit from conflict on interest; contracts of his business or family in connection with his official position • Tax arrears to state budget of his business • Prior investigations for corruption and mismanagement • Repeated transfer from one party to another to gain or keep office and other advantages 209 Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia 7th General Meeting, 25-27 June 2008, Tbilisi, Georgia Slide 6 Procedure • Obtain the candidate lists from the political parties • Draft an initial black list by applying the criteria on the candidates of the political parties • Negotiate with the political parties the withdrawal form the list of “grey” candidates • Publicize the “grey” candidates that the parties decide to keep on the lists Slide 7 OUTCOMES • Obligation to continue monitoring – the same mechanism was replicated for European Elections and for Local Elections • NGOs involvement in the new anticorruption strategy of Romania, new assets and interests disclosure forms, new procurement legislation • While some “grey” candidates were withdrawn, almost 100 black listed MPs still in Parliament. • Parties created internal screening mechanism for integrity Slide 8 After accession to the EU • Standards tend to go down after accession – see the case of Slovenia and Romania • Politicians see accession as the end of the road and tend to dispose of institutions and legislation that were put in place to fulfill pre-accession requirements • Post-accession monitoring mechanisms are crucial, though the EU has not find yet the best way to approach this challenge • External pressure needs to be replaced by internal pressure • After the accession to the EU, funds available for NGOs in the area of fight against corruption became scarce • NGOs faced with the challenge of redefining the priorities and alliances 210 Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia 7th General Meeting, 25-27 June 2008, Tbilisi, Georgia Slide 9 Pressure to reverse the progress in the area of fight against corruption • Attempts to dismiss high profile anticorruption prosecutors • Threats to the institutional stability of anticorruption institutions • Amendments to undermine the Criminal Procedure Code • Cut in the budget of public prosecution office • Prohibition for other state institutions to work with the prosecutors (tax inspection) • Strong reaction from politicians to protect other politicians under investigation Slide 10 Coalition for a Clean Justice • Mobilizing NGOs that are still active in the area of justice reform and fight against corruption • Types of reactions: – regular reports - pro-active – press releases and press statements - re-active • Pressure on the Government to refrain from undue conduct • Back-up from external actors – embassies, international organizations 211 Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia 7th General Meeting, 25-27 June 2008, Tbilisi, Georgia ANNEX 7: PRESENTATION FROM THEMATIC SESSION 4 Mr. Archil Bakuradze, Chairman, Anti-Corruption Commission of the International Chamber of Commerce – Georgia Slide 1 TRANSPARENCY AND INTEGRITY Business and Parliament Concept Slide 2 Business and Parliament Concept History Objectives To establish transparent and effective relationships between business and legislators in order to inform judgments on economic policy and legislation Geography: 15 Parliaments, including the European Parliament 212 Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia 7th General Meeting, 25-27 June 2008, Tbilisi, Georgia Slide 3 Code of Principles Neutrality, independence Non-Lobbying Cross party and non-sectoral Financial probity Slide 4 International Association Non-profit worldwide network Governance (Members, Patron) Seeks to foster good governance Accredits annually Supports through information and exchange Establishes new schemes/chapters Slide 5 Every B & P Chapter Managed by IABP or Partner organisations Agreement and willingness of the Parliament Board of MPs provides direction Programmes development Organisational development Integrity Management Company Attachments Round-tables, Inquiries, Pre-legislative reviews Legislative updates and economic research 213 Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia 7th General Meeting, 25-27 June 2008, Tbilisi, Georgia Slide 6 Transparency and Integrity Any interaction/programme is approved by Board Participant commits to abide by rules Time, confidential information, non-partisan Companies undertake Not to use the exercise for lobbying Sanctions Prevent misconduct and conflict of interest Secretariat responsible to make inquiry and report to the Board Slide 7 Transparency and Integrity Monitoring an evaluation Effectiveness Transparency and Integrity Funding Financed by company subscriptions Well-regulated and transparent Participation of the Parliament Slide 8 Alternative to Lobbying Informing vs advocating/lobbying Practitioner to practitioner approach vs professional representation Mechanism of transparency to cope with public perception 214 Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia 7th General Meeting, 25-27 June 2008, Tbilisi, Georgia Slide 9 Any Questions or Interest 14 Great College Street, London SW1P 3RX Phone: + 44 207 878 1036 Fax; +44 207 878 10 31 [email protected] www.iabp.org www.businessandpalriament.eu 215 Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia 7th General Meeting, 25-27 June 2008, Tbilisi, Georgia ANNEX 8: PRESENTATION AT THE ACN STEERING GROUP MEETING Slide 1 Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ACN) Olga Savran ACN Manager, OECD and Daniel Thelesklaf Basel Institute on Governance 7th General Meeting, 25-27 June 2008, Tbilisi, Georgia 1 Slide 2 Summary Draft report “Fighting Corruption in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: Progress and Challenges” Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan: Proposal for the second round of monitoring Recent publications and future thematic work 2 216 Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia 7th General Meeting, 25-27 June 2008, Tbilisi, Georgia Slide 3 Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan Launched in 2003 in Istanbul For Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Ukraine (special case of Russia) Participation of other ACN and OECD countries Peer reviews of anti-corruption legislation and institutions (completed during 2003-2005) First round of recommendations (completed during 2004-2007) 3 Slide 4 Draft summary report Level of corruption in the region Anti-corruption policy and institutions Criminalisation of corruption Prevention of corruption Role of the ACN/Istanbul Action Plan Based on review and monitoring reports 4 217 Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia 7th General Meeting, 25-27 June 2008, Tbilisi, Georgia Slide 5 Level of corruption CPI 2007 CPI 2003 Country Rank1 Score2 Country Rank3 Score Error! Reference source not found. Armenia 99 3.0 78 3.0 Azerbaijan 150 2.1 124 1.8 Georgia 79 3.4 124 1.8 Kazakhstan 150 2.1 100 2.4 Kyrgyzstan 150 2.1 118 2.1 Russia 143 2.3 86 2.7 Tajikistan 150 2.1 124 1.8 Ukraine 118 2.7 106 2.3 1. Country rank out of 179 countries covered by the survey. 2. Higher score indicates “cleaner” country, and lower score indicates “more corrupt” country 3. Country rank out of 133 countries covered by the survey. 4. Same as note 2 above. 5 Slide 6 Policies Anti-Corruption Strategies and Action Plans Research on corruption and statistical data Public participation in a-c policy and public education International conventions Anti-Corruption institutions 6 218 Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia 7th General Meeting, 25-27 June 2008, Tbilisi, Georgia Slide 7 Institutions Azerbaijan • Commission for the Combating Corruption, established in 2004, with the main task to develop and monitor the implementation of the Anti-Corruption Strategies, consists of 15 members (including 5 senior officials form each