Republic of Macedonia State Commission for Prevention of Corruption

1. Republic of MacedoniaState Commission for Prevention of Corruption Bratislava 30 June – 1 July, 2009 Workshop on Programming in Support of Anti-Corruption Agencies Vladimir Georgiev State Adviser SCPC www.dksk.org.mk

2. Contents of the presentation • Introduction • Legislation • The Status of the State Commission for Prevention of Corruption (SCPC) • Competences of the SCPC • Achievements / difficulties • Recommendations / next steps www.dksk.org.mk

3. UN Convention against Corruption • Article 5 - Preventive anti-corruption policies and practices • Article 6 - Preventive anti-corruption body or bodies • 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 is not subordinated to the Government www.dksk.org.mk

4. 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; No. 126, 2006 and No. 10, 2008) www.dksk.org.mk

5. State Commission for Prevention of Corruption Legislation Law on Prevention of Corruption Article 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 corruption In 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. www.dksk.org.mk

6. State Commission for Prevention of Corruption Legislation • The State Commission is also authorized to implement the Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interests, adopted in June 2007 • Pursuant to the competences set in this Law, SCPC adopted the State Program for Prevention and Reduction of Conflict of Interests in May 2008 • According to the Law on Lobbying (adopted in 2008), the State Commission supervises the lobbying www.dksk.org.mk

7. State Commission for Prevention of Corruption Status • The State Commission 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. • The Parliament publishes the public announcement for appointment of State Commission members in the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia” as well as in the daily newspapers. • The candidates must have university degree either in law or economy, to be respected in profession and must have minimum 8 years of working experience. www.dksk.org.mk

8. State Commission for Prevention of Corruption Status • The Commission for Election and Appointment in the Parliament drafts a list of candidates from all candidates that have applied and submits this list to the Parliament of Macedonia for the approval • The members of the SCPC elect a President for a term of one year • The members of the SCPC perform their duties simultaneously with their own professional engagements, i.e. they are not professionally employed in the Commission • Dismissal of the members www.dksk.org.mk

9. Secretariat of the State Commission Status With the amendments to the Law of Prevention of Corruption in 2004, the Commission has a status of a legal entity and its own Secretariat for implementing professional, administrative and technical matters www.dksk.org.mk

10. State Commission for Prevention of Corruption Budget • BUDGET of the SCPC (in 1000 eur) www.dksk.org.mk

11. Competences of the State Commission • SCPC has mainly preventive competences, but also indirect repressive function www.dksk.org.mk

12. Competences of the State Commission Pursuant to the Law on Prevention of Corruption, SCPC has the following 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, www.dksk.org.mk

13. Competences of the State Commission • considers conflict of interests cases, • 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 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. www.dksk.org.mk

14. Competences of the State Commission 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 www.dksk.org.mk

15. ACHIEVEMENTS:STATE PROGRAM for Prevention and Repression of Corruption • The State Program – creates, but also realizes 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 enforced. (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. www.dksk.org.mk

16. STATE PROGRAM for Prevention and Repression of Corruption 2007 • SCPC coordinated all activities in developing the Strategies. • Participatory approach: representatives from all institutions of the National Integrity System. The following areas (or pillars) were addressed: • Political system, Parliament, Political Parties • Judiciary • Public administration and Local Government • Law Enforcement Agencies • Economic and financial system and Private Sector; • Civil sector, media and unions. www.dksk.org.mk

17. STATE PROGRAM for Prevention and Repression of Corruption 2007 • The State Program is structured in six pillars of the national integrity system, which 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 the 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 www.dksk.org.mk

18. Prevention through legislation • SCPC has given opinions on draft laws of importance for the prevention of corruption : • Law on Money Laundering Prevention • Law on Public Prosecutors’ Office • Law on State Audit • Law on Public Procurements • Law on the Courts / Law on Court Council • Law on Financial Police • Law on Construction • Law on changes and amendments on the Law on criminal procedure, etc. • The State Commission has actively participated in creation of judicial reforms and amendments in the Constitution in that respect • Participation in preparing of draft laws • Law on Financing of Political Parties • Law on Free Access to Information of Public Character • Code on Elections • Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interests www.dksk.org.mk

19. Expenditures during the electoral campaigns • SCPC monitors the expenditures of the political parties for the electoral campaigns – proposes amendments to the Electoral Code www.dksk.org.mk

20. Assets declaration • 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 • SCPC developed and created database of assets declarations and established network connection with PRO www.dksk.org.mk

21. Strategy for Promotion of the Public Relations • SCPC developed and adopted SPPR (2009) • Aim: to become more visible to the public • Now to achieve the aim • Enrichment of the model of communication to the public • Strengthening the communication and cooperation with other institutions • Strengthening the awareness of the public about the role of SCPC and negative effects of corruption and conflict of interests • Organizing public debates • Holding trainings for specific target groups • Surveying and analysis of the public opinion • Supported by USAID WL www.dksk.org.mk

22. Work on cases - complaints filed by citizens and legal entities (repressive competence) • On the annual basis, the State Commission receives more than 600 complaints with allegations on corruption www.dksk.org.mk

23. Initiatives raised by the State Commission SCPC has submitted more than 150 Initiatives and recommendations 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, protection). A number of these initiatives resulted with criminal charges or removal of Public officials from their positions. www.dksk.org.mk

24. Work on cases / statistics 2008 • in 2008 the Commission acted on a total of 713 cases, as follows: • corruption 567 cases; received complaints 767; • conflict of interests 29 cases; worked on 44 cases; • election related cases 117; • Other statistics: • received 357 assets declarations; • instigated 33 misdemeanor procedures related to assets declarations; • submitted 19 requests to the Public Revenue Office to instigate procedures for examining the assets; • submitted 27 initiatives for criminal prosecution to the Public Prosecution Office; www.dksk.org.mk

25. Cooperation • Horizontal cooperation: • Precondition for effective combating and prevention of corruption • Challenge: clear distinction of competences and responsibilities • Birth pains: the cooperation with other relevant state bodies is efficient, although at the beginning SCPC has been faced with allegations from some state bodies for interfering in their work when the Commission requested to be informed on their activities on the cases initiated by the Commission; • 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 www.dksk.org.mk

26. PREVENTIVE MEASURESPOSITIVE EXPERIENCES • During the process of preparation of the State Program for Prevention and Repression of Corruption and The State Program for Prevention and Reduction of Conflict of Interests, institutions fully cooperated with SCPC. (Government, Parliament, State Audit Office, Judiciary, Public Revenue Office, LSG units, media, NGOs). Also they participate in evaluations of the implementation of the recommendations set up in the Action Plan • The Government allocates budgetary resources within the institutions for the implementation of the activities set in the State Program • SCPC encourages the International Community to get involved in supporting of particular projects (donors conferences) www.dksk.org.mk

27. Trainings / education / conferences • Annual Conferences – State Anti-corruption Program • SCPC has organized and conducted a large number of trainings on corruption and conflict of interests • Since December 2008, 6 trainings for judges and prosecutors (more than 200 participants) • In September/October – 10 trainings with Majors and representatives from LSGUs • June 2009 – training on investigative journalism • This activities are often supported by partner institutions or international organizations • Regional Meetings – 2008, 2009 www.dksk.org.mk

28. SCPC – coordinates and initiates • SCPC fosters other institutions and coordinates anti-corruption projects • Protocol for cooperation on fighting corruption and conflict of interests 2007 • IPA 2010 www.dksk.org.mk

29. Public awareness • Video spot “If only corruption didn’t exist” – project with UNDP Skopje • Campaign “Blow out corruption” – video spot, brochures, posters – project with USAID WL www.dksk.org.mk

30. PROBLEMS during the work on concrete cases • Calls / messages during the work on specific 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, releasing incorrect articles, photos, even “shadowing” members. (*examples) • There was a lack of cooperation between State Commission and Public Prosecutor in respect of submitted initiatives, which is now being overcame. • Lack of well trained and competent investigative journalists on corruption (project developed by UNDP Macedonia / SCPC) www.dksk.org.mk

31. PREVENTIVE MEASURESDIFFICULTIES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PREVENTIVE MEASURES • General problem is insufficient financial resources for conducting • public awareness campaign • regular researches on corruption (perception, victimization analysis and focus groups) • anticorruption / conflict of interests conferences, seminars, trainings • Direct approach to different registers and databases is still not developed • Occasionally the competent institutions do not react on due time regarding initiatives of SCPC (case “Kermes”) www.dksk.org.mk

32. RISKS and SHORTCOMINGS (Why and when does the Preventive Anti-Corruption Body fail) External causes: • Lack of political will for strengthening of the capacity of AC Body • Insufficient cooperation with other relevant institutions • Limited budget to perform competences stipulated by the Law (the budget is eventually approved by the Minister of finance) • Insufficient staff and technical equipment of the Secretariat (the employment of new staff is also eventually approved by the Minister of finance) • Political and business influence over some media to release information which shall diminish the efficiency of AC Body or to allege meager results of its work Internal causes: • Lack of transparency in the work of the ACA • Insufficient communication with the media and civil society • Insufficient public awareness campaigns and support • Lack of initiatives for prevention and combating of corruption www.dksk.org.mk

33. Next steps • SCPC has ability to perform the competences, but it lacks adequate resources • Need to cooperate / we are fond of the cooperation / 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 www.dksk.org.mk

34. Next steps • Memorandums for cooperation: • Significant instrument for the higher safety of ACA’s – they give steadiness and support in their work depending of faze of their development • SCPC is in the faze of maturity and can give support to other ACAs through study visits, trainings, exchange / conveying experiences. • Support of donors directed to SCPC is three way: • Gives more heaviness to the projects • Supports insufficient budget of SCPC • Donors benefits in the sustainability of the projects by involving the state institution www.dksk.org.mk

35. Thank you www.dksk.org.mk