| 74 |
In law, is there an agency (or group of agencies) with a legal mandate to address corruption? |
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74:
In law, is there an agency (or group of agencies) with a legal mandate to address corruption?
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| Score: |
YES |
NO |
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Comments: There are specialized units/divisions that deal with the corruption offenses inside the Prosecution Service of Georgia, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia and Ministry of Finance of Georgia. Those are:
1. Investigative Divisions of the Prosecution Service of Georgia;
2. Department for the Procedural supervision of investigations over the Office of the Chief Prosecutor of Georgia; 3. Department of Constitutional Security of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia; 4. Investigative Division of the Revenue Service of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia.
References: www.mof.ge
www.police.ge
[ LINK ]
Peer Review Comments: The Parliament of Georgia approved,at its final hearing, the draft law that envisaged the re-establishment of a semi-autonomous structure within the Financial Ministry in order to take effective measures against economic crimes. The new structure, under the name Investigative Service of the Finance Ministry, will start functioning on December 1, 2009, after the draft is law is approved with its second and third readings.
The President of Georgia will have the right to appoint or dismiss the head of the Investigative Service of the Finance Ministry. The new structure will be eligible to create a network of its own undercover agents.
The new structure will resemble the previous one, which existed at the ministry during 2004-2006 and was called the Financial Police.
The Financial Police, which was opponents' frequent target of criticism for its high-handed tactics, merged with the tax and customs departments of the Finance Ministry in January 2007. When President Saakashvili first announced plans to reform the Financial Police in August 2006, he said that the authorities' attempts to decriminalize financial relations between the state and entrepreneurs was a major motive behind the initiative.
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| 75 |
Is the anti-corruption agency effective? |
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75a:
In law, the anti-corruption agency (or agencies) is protected from political interference.
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| Score: |
YES |
NO |
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Comments: All these anti-corruption agencies are subdivisions of the Ministries, which are part of the executive authorities. Therefore, they cannot be independent from political influence.
References: www.justice.gov.ge
www.police.ge
www.mof.ge
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75b:
In practice, the anti-corruption agency (or agencies) is protected from political interference.
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| Score: |
100 |
75 |
50 |
25 |
0 |
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Comments: All these anti-corruption agencies are structural entities under the ministries, which are part of executive authorities. Therefore, they cannot be independent from political influence.
References: www.justice.gov.ge
www.police.ge
www.mof.ge
Peer Review Comments: To add to the comment, as we have one-party rule in the country at all levels, and the ministry staffs are also selected on the basis of loyalty rather than professionalism, independence is a pretty improper notion for them.
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75c:
In practice, the head of the anti-corruption agency (or agencies) is protected from removal without relevant justification.
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| Score: |
100 |
75 |
50 |
25 |
0 |
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Comments: The heads of these agencies are appointed and dismissed by ministers. Consequently, they are not protected from removal without relevant justification.
References: www.justice.gov.ge
www.police.ge
www.mof.ge
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75d:
In practice, appointments to the anti-corruption agency (or agencies) are based on professional criteria.
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| Score: |
100 |
75 |
50 |
25 |
0 |
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Comments: Appointments to the anti-corruption agency are more or less (depending on the specific agency) based on professional criteria.
References: www.police.ge
www.justice.gov.ge
www.mof.ge
Peer Review Comments: There are no reliable independent reports about whether the criteria of the appointments to the anti-corruption agency are observed. Thus, it is difficult to measure the indicator.
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75e:
In practice, the anti-corruption agency (or agencies) has a professional, full-time staff.
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| Score: |
100 |
75 |
50 |
25 |
0 |
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Comments: Anti-corruption agencies have a professional, full-time staff since it is a separate structural entity under the ministries.
References: www.police.ge
www.justice.gov.ge
www.mof.ge
Peer Review Comments: It is difficult to measure the professionalism of the anti-corruption agency staff, since reports about their performance evaluation are inaccessible.
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75f:
In practice, the anti-corruption agency (or agencies) receives regular funding.
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| Score: |
100 |
75 |
50 |
25 |
0 |
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Comments: All these ministries receive regular funding from the budget. Therefore, anti-corruption agencies under these institutions are provided with regular funding as well.
References: www.police.ge
www.justice.gov.ge
www.mof.ge
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75g:
In practice, the anti-corruption agency (or agencies) makes regular public reports.
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| Score: |
100 |
75 |
50 |
25 |
0 |
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Comments: Activities of these anti-corruption agencies do not include making regular public reports.
References: www.police.ge
www.justice.gov.ge
www.mof.ge
Peer Review Comments: The reports by these anti-corruption agencies are not issued regularly.
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75h:
In practice, the anti-corruption agency (or agencies) has sufficient powers to carry out its mandate.
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| Score: |
100 |
75 |
50 |
25 |
0 |
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Comments: The mandate of anti-corruption agencies is always limited, taking into consideration the fact that they are accountable to the ministers and do not enjoy any kind of structural and administrative independence.
References: www.police.ge
www.justice.gov.ge
www.mof.ge
Peer Review Comments: I disagree. The mandate of anti-corruption agencies is pretty strong. The problems are not created by the mandate, but rather by political motivation.
Peer Review Comments: The Parliament approved, with its final hearing, the draft law that envisages the re-establishment of a semi-autonomous structure within the Financial Ministry whose job will be to take effective measures against economic crimes. The new structure, under the name the Investigative Service of the Finance Ministry, will start functioning on December 1, 2009, after the draft is law is approved with its second and third readings.
The President of Georgia will have the right to appoint or dismiss the head of the Investigative Service of the Finance Ministry. Therefore, despite being granted a certain autonomy, the agency still remains under political influence given the political realities of Georgia.
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75i:
In practice, when necessary, the anti-corruption agency (or agencies) independently initiates investigations.
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| Score: |
100 |
75 |
50 |
25 |
0 |
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Comments:
References: These agencies are not authorized to independently initiate investigations.
Peer Review Comments: In law these anti-corruption agencies are not authorized to initiate investigations independently. However, the re-established "financial police" will have authority to do this.
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| 76 |
Can citizens access the anti-corruption agency? |
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76a:
In practice, the anti-corruption agency (or agencies) acts on complaints within a reasonable time period.
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| Score: |
100 |
75 |
50 |
25 |
0 |
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Comments:
References: It depends on the case. There is no information or statistics available in order to evaluate responsiveness of these agencies.
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76b:
In practice, citizens can complain to the anti-corruption agency (or agencies) without fear of recrimination.
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| Score: |
100 |
75 |
50 |
25 |
0 |
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Comments: The Law of Georgia on Corruption and Conflict of Interest in Public Service provides for the protection of whistle-blower . The special chapter concerning the issues was introduced into the mentioned law at the beginning of 2009.
References: Criminal Procedure Code Chapter 14I:
Regarding cases where reports of suspicions of corruption result in criminal proceedings and the person who reports such suspicions appears as a witness, legislation provides with comprehensive package of guarantees on witness protection.
There are no reports about violation of mentioned provisions by law enforcement agencies.
Peer Review Comments: Articles of law are no argument in this case.
There are well-known cases, particularly in the regions when people were under the fear of investigation because they reported corruption.
In addition to ordinary citizens, there was a judge (in Zugdidi) who was sanctioned because of her independently taken decision,in which she ordered an investigation. Within a month, she was fired by the disciplinary panel and put under investigation herself. Later, all charges against her were dropped, but she never got her job back. The case is pending before the Strasbourg court.
Peer Review Comments: However, in practice very few citizens in Georgia act as whistle-blowers.
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