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Republic of Macedonia

State Commission for Prevention of Corruption

Republic of Macedonia

State Commission for Prevention of Corruption

Oslo Governance Centre, UNDP 27 – 29 October, 2009

Workshop on Country-Owned Assessment Tools and Monitoring Processes in support of

National Anti-Corruption Strategies

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State Commission for Prevention of Corruption - SCPC

SCPC is autonomous specialized body for prevention of corruption and dealing with conflict of interests, with legal competences and position, as prescribed in the UNCAC

SCPC has also indirect repressive competence (raising initiatives) and direct in pronouncing measures in conflict of interests cases and in instigating misdemeanor procedures

SCPC is not subordinated to the Government

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State Commission for Prevention of Corruption Legislation

The State Commission was established by the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia on November 12, 2002, according to the Law on Prevention of Corruption (Official Gazette No. 28 adopted on April 26, 2002)

(Amendments to the Law of Prevention of Corruption – Official Gazette No. 46/2004; 126/2006 and 10/2008)

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State Commission for Prevention of Corruption Legislation

Law on Prevention of CorruptionArticle 1

(1) The Law shall regulate measures and activities for prevention of corruption in exercising of power, public authorizations, official duty and policy, measures and activities for prevention of conflict of interests, measures and activities for prevention of corruption in performing matters of public interests by legal entities related to exercising public authorizations.

(2) For implementation of the measures and activities referred to in paragraph (1) of this Article, a State Commission for Prevention of Corruption shall be established.

Definition of corruptionIn terms of this Law, corruption denotes using of function, public authorization, official duty and position for the purpose to gain any benefit for oneself or for other person.

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State Commission for Prevention of Corruption Legislation

The State Commission is also responsible for the implementation of the Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interests, adopted in June 2007

According to the Law on Lobbying (adopted in 2008), the State Commission supervises the lobbying

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SCPC is composed of seven members appointed by the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia, with a term of office of five years, without right for re - appointment.

Parliament announces an competition for appointment of the members

The members of the SCPC perform their duties simultaneously with their own professional engagements, i.e. they are not professionally employed in the Commission

State Commission for Prevention of Corruption Status

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State Commission for Prevention of CorruptionStatus

Parliament

SCPC’sMEMBERS

Secretariat

With the amendments to the Law of Prevention of Corruption in 2004, the Commission has a status of a legal entity and Secretariat for implementing professional and administrative matters

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Secretariat of the State CommissionStatus

SECRETARY GENERAL

DEPARTMENT FOR PREVENTION OF CORRUPTION AND CONFLICT OF INTERESTS

DEPARTMENT FOR PROGRAMS, ANALITICS, INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND

ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS

UNIT FOR SUPRESSION OF

CORRUPTION

UNIT FOR MAINTAINING RECORDS OF AND MONITORING THE

PROPERTY SITUATION OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS

UNIT FOR NATIONAL AND

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS AND

ANALITICS

UNIT FOR PUBLIC RELATIONS AND

SESSIONS

UNIT FOR FINANCE, HUMAN RESOURCES AND

ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS

The INTERNAL ORGANISATION OF WORKING POSTS OF THE SECRETARIAT IS PREDICTED TO 35 with the status of civil servants.

Currently the Secretariat is filled with 14 employees. The process of employment of 5 civil servants is ongoing.

UNIT FOR SUPRESSION OF CONFLICT OF

INTERESTS

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Competences of SCPC

Pursuant to the Law on Prevention of Corruption, SCPC has thefollowing competences:

adopts a State Program for Prevention and Repression of Corruption and Action plan for its realization;

adopts annual programs and work plans for implementation of the State Program;

provides opinion on draft laws of importance for the prevention of corruption;

raises initiatives for instituting and conducting procedures before competent bodies for dismissal, assignment, removal, criminal prosecution or implementation of other measures of accountability of elected or appointed functionaries, officials and responsible persons in public enterprise and other legal entities disposing with state capital,

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Competences of SCPC

acts in a case of conflict between the public and private interest, in accordance with the law

maintains records and oversee the property situation and changes in property situation of elected or appointed functionaries and other officials in a manner defined by this Law,

cooperates with other state bodies (Protocol for cooperation 2007) and with corresponding national bodies of other states, and with international organizations active in the field of prevention of corruption,

undertakes activities in the area of education of competent bodies to detect and prosecute corruption and other types of crime. Also they can be target group for trainings

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Competences of SCPC

SCPC also implements the Law on Conflict of Interests, adopted in 2007 and is competent for:

adopting a State Program with Action Plan for Prevention and Reduction of the Conflict of Interests;

providing opinion on draft laws of importance for the prevention of conflict of interest;

considering cases of conflict of public and private interest determined with this or other law;

raising initiatives for implementation of measures of responsibility of the civil servant determined with this law in cases when conflict of interest occurs;

submitting a report on its work and measures/activities undertaken to the Parliament, and forwarding it to the Government and the media;

cooperating with other state bodies in the prevention of conflict of interest and undertaking activities in the area of education for identification of cases of conflict of interest in accordance to this or other laws; etc

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STATE PROGRAM for Prevention and Repression of Corruption

The State Program – creates, but also implements the efficient anti-corruption policy

The first State Programme for Prevention and Repression of Corruption, was adopted by SCPC in June, 2003. An Action Plan Matrix is a constituent part of the State Programme – it defines the measures and activities that should be implemented. (the Action plan was mainly directed towards drafting necessary legislation and strengthening the control mechanisms).

The second State Program and Action plan was adopted in May 2007. The Action plan contains activities and actions for improving the performance of the institutions and indicators for measurement of the performance. Improvement of the performance of the institutions leads towards narrowing the risks for corruption. In June 2007 the Government adopted Action plan for combating corruption extracted from the State Program. This express the strong commitment of the Government for the implementation of the State Program.

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STATE PROGRAM for Prevention and Repression of Corruption 2007

SCPC coordinated all activities in developing the Strategy

The Government allocates budgetary resources within the institutions for the implementation of the activities set in the State Program

Participatory approach: representatives from all institutions of the National Integrity System. This approach is more comprehensive but it gives better results and sustainability

The following areas (or pillars) were addressed:

o Political system, Parliament, Political Parties o Judiciary o Public administration and Local Governmento Law Enforcement Agencieso Economic and financial system and Private Sector;o Civil sector, media and unions.

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STATE PROGRAM for Prevention and Repression of Corruption 2007

The State Program encompasses a total of 34 problems and 140 activities with activity indicators to overcome those problems

The SCPC monitors the entire process of implementing the State Program and every six months collects data from the participating institutions and processes those data within the framework of the system for monitoring the implementation of the activities determined in the State Program

Annual Conferences on the assessment of the implementation – conclusions and recommendations

SCPC encourages the International Community to get involved in supporting of particular projects (donors conferences)

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Expenditures during the electoral campaigns

SCPC monitors the expenditures of the political parties during the electoral campaigns – recommends amendments to the Electoral Code

Parliamentary elections 2009 Work on 369 cases Institutions inquired opinions on spending

public funds during pre-election process (public procurements, constructions, employments)

Four initiatives submitted to the Public Prosecutor for bribing of voters

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Elected or appointed officials, submit Assets Declaration to the State Commission and the Public Revenue Office; reporting on their property and any change in their assets` status

Amendments to the Law from 2004 introduced an obligation for submitting an Assets Declaration following the termination of function

The Commission has received more than 3500 Assets Declarations and more than 500 Declarations for changes in assets

Amendments to the Law from 2006 introduced publishing of the data of the Assets Declaration on the WEB page of the SCPC, in compliance with the Law on Protection of Personal Data

SCPC developed and created database of assets declarations and established network connection with PRO

Requests for examination of the property status submitted to the Public Revenue Office

Assets declaration

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Work on cases - complaints filed by citizens and legal entities (repressive competence)

On the annual basis, the State Commission receives more than 700 complaints with allegations on corruption

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Initiatives raised by the State Commission

SCPC has submitted more than 150 Initiatives andrecommendations to the relevant state bodies:

to the Public Prosecutor Office for initiating a criminal charge for persons involved in criminal/corruptive cases;

to the Public Attorney for annulling contracts for privatization when there were indications of corruption;

recommendations to the Government and the Parliament to determine the liability of certain officials for abusing their positions, and recommendations for their dismissal;

Other (recommendations, suggestions).

A number of these initiatives resulted with criminal charges or removal of Public officials from their positions.

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Work on cases / statistics 2008

in 2008 the Commission acted on a total of 713 cases, as follows:

o corruption 567 cases; received complaints 767; o conflict of interests 29 cases; worked on 44 cases;o election related cases 117;

Other statistics: o received 357 assets declarations; o instigated 33 misdemeanor procedures related to assets declarations;o submitted 19 requests to the Public Revenue Office to instigate procedures for examining the assets; o submitted 27 initiatives for criminal prosecution to the Public Prosecution Office;

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Cooperation

Horizontal cooperation:o Precondition for effective combating and prevention of corruptiono Protocol for cooperation, signed in 2007

o Accelerated exchange of informationo deliver of the case to another competent institutiono working groups on drafting/amending lawso feed-back information on particular caseo cooperation (joint work) on complex cases

o Challenge: in practice – the manner how the cases submitted by SCPC are treated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office. PPO is the main in the investigation and in some cases SCPC inquires more in-depth investigation of suspicions o Cooperation with media and NGOs

The international cooperation among the anti-corruption agencies is very important – on bilateral level, and also during regional or international conferences or meetings for exchanging experiences Cooperation with international organizations

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Challenge

In the State Anticorruption Program it is assessed the situation of high (undue) influence of the political parties over the institutions and vital segments of the public life. This reflects over the results of fighting corruption

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PROBLEMS during the work on concrete cases

During the work or after announcing the findings on particular cases and decisions, there were some reactions by concerned political parties. They have made press conferences or press releases with comments on decisions and initiatives, even disqualifications on the work of SCPC / some members. (political pressure)

Pressure by some of the media, which are under the influence of some political parties / business interest groups, through diminishing the work of the SCPC or releasing incorrect articles

Lack of well trained and competent investigative journalists on corruption (project developed by UNDP Macedonia / SCPC)

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PREVENTIVE MEASURESDIFFICULTIES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PREVENTIVE MEASURES

1. General problem is insufficient financial resources for conducting

i. public awareness campaign ii. regular researches on corruption (in-depth, victimization

analysis and focus groups)iii. anticorruption / conflict of interests conferences,

seminars, trainings2. Direct approach to different registers and databases is

still not developed3. Sometimes the competent institutions do not react on

due time regarding initiatives of SCPC

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Next steps

SCPC has ability to perform the competences, but it lacks adequate resources for the capital projects

Need to cooperate with international organizations aimed to achieve the competences

Cooperation may be achieved in two ways SCPC develops / organizes the projects / events

supported by donors International organizations develops the projects

and invite SCPC to participate

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Next steps

SCPC is in the faze of maturity and can give support to other ACAs through study visits, trainings, exchange experiences.

Support of donors directed to SCPC is three way: Put more weight to the projects Supports insufficient budget of SCPC Donors benefits in the sustainability of the

projects by involving the state institution