“This project will contribute to the fight against corruption. Corruption is recorded everywhere, but it has different levels in each country. Recently we observe how corruption harms country, citizens and companies. The problem is that corruption and bribery has no boundaries, it is accompanied by negative consequences in each country. Events in the Middle East are evidnece to this,” Kobia said.

She said corruption creates a very serious problem, contributing to inflation and influencing on political and economic stability of the countries.

The memorandum was signed in the Azerbaijani capital during an official visit to Baku of the Prosecutor General Darius Valys of the Republic of Lithuania and the Director of the main anti-corruption body in Lithuania, the Special Investigation Service (STT).

‘I am glad that starting from July 2009, while implementing the EU funded Twinning project „Support for the Anti-Corruption Department with the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan“, STT have built a professional, trust-based relationship with ACD officers and that our law enforcement experience contributed to the reforms of the anticorruption sector in Azerbaijan.  Further cooperation between the two bodies institutions is particularly important and both parties agree that this work has to be pursued after the Twining project is completed’, said Director Žimantas Pacevičius.

In opinion of Mr. Pacevičius, the laws signed by the Azerbaijani President giving ACD a possibility to launch operational activities as well as the decisions made by the decree of the President increasing the number of staff of ACD are very important and necessary steps. He also believes that it is very important that the opinions of the of Lithuanian officials were shared by the Azeri officials in charge of the necessary reforms. As a result they implemented the changes suggested by the Lithuanian experts.

The Twinning  project will continue until 23 December 2011. The goal of the project is to contribute to the on-going activities of building capacities in the Anti-Corruption Department with the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan (ACD) and to share the EU and Lithuania‘s experience in combating corruption.

The delegation will visit Azerbaijan in accordance with the Prosecutor‘s General of the Republic of Azerbaijan Zakir Garalov invitation to discuss the questions concerning EU funded Twinning Project „Support for the Anti-Corruption Department  with the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan“ and the further cooperation.

Officers are planning to sign cooperation memorandum between Anti-Corruption Department with the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan and  Lithuanian Special Investigation Service.

The delegation is expected to meet with the Prosecutor General,  the Chairman of High Court and the Chairman of Constitutional Court of the  Republic of Azerbaijan.

For full press release, please click here

Azerbaijan authorities have declared combat against administrative corruption in main public management sectors – the traffic police, customs, education system (especially, in universities) and healthcare area. Cross-cutting measures were taken in order to reduce the arbitrariness of public servants.

In the opinion of ambassador Kęstutis Kudzmanas, actions taken over a short period of time give reason to believe that combat against this phenomenon will be a long-term campaign. Azerbaijan’s actions aimed at efficient solving of the corruption problem are supported by the EU, OSCE and other international institutions.

Officials from STT and the Prosecutor General‘s Office of the Republic of Lithuania provide regular advice to Azerbaijani colleagues: provide expert advice, organize training and seminars for officials of the Anti-Corruption Department with the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the improvement of legal acts, methods of investigating criminal cases, recovering property, improvement of skills for prosecutors, operational activities, international cooperation, legal assistance while investigating corruption cases.

This work has been performed since 2009 after the Twinning project “Support for the Anti-Corruption Department with the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan“ started.

The Embassy of Lithuania in Azerbaijan draws attention to the fact that it is the Anti-Corruption Department in Azerbaijan which is currently being essentially strengthened – through drafting legal acts on conferring greater authority upon the Department, preparing to increase personnel and technical capacities.

As stated by the ambassador, in Brussels this project is considered to be one of the most efficient Twinning programme projects under the EU Eastern Partnership as compared to results achieved.

The main objective of the Twinning project initiated by the European Commission in 1998 is to help beneficiary countries improve capacities of their institutions aimed at implementing requirements of the EU acquis or approaching them. The Programme is one the most important tools of the European Commission for developing capacities of public administration institutions.

On February 11 three trained experts from ACD arranged pilot training session „Detection of corruption and effective cooperation between agencies and the Anti-Corruption Department“ to the staff of local Azerbaijani prosecutorial offices and internal security units from other law enforcement agencies in Baku.

Elnur Musayev, Senior Prosecutor of Anti-Corruption Department of the General Prosecutor’s and Resident Twinning Advisor (RTA) Counterpart welcomed more than 30 session participants in ACD premises. The head of the internal investigations division Rauf Zeynalov also took part in the event.

The quality of two pilot training seminars presented by Nazir Guliyev, Taryel Alakborov and Rashid Mahmudov as well as arranged discussions was evaluated by the experts from project Member State partners from Lithuania – project component 4 leader Gerimantas Bakanas and Short Term Expert Rysard Burda.

This training session was the last step of the EU Twinning project “Support for the Anti-Corruption Department with the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan” component “Development of training capacity of the ACD Designated staff (“Train-the trainers”). With support from the Member State partners from Lithuania, the ACD developed training toolkit necessary for the delivery of training to other law enforcement and executive agencies in Azerbaijan. This special training toolkit includes a comprehensive training program, methodology, materials for education and distribution. According to this toolkit trained 9 trainers from ACD after the project will continue their work. They will deliver training to other Azerbaijani law enforcement agencies on questions related to fight against corruption.

The Director of BAK, Andreas Wieselthaler, welcomed the representatives of the Anti-Corruption Department (ACD) of the Office of the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General and presented the BAK’s structure and fields of responsibility. In his address, he emphasized the 4-pillar approach in the fight against corruption (prevention – education – law enforcement – cooperation) and explained the legal foundations and objectives of the BAK. Subsequently, the Bureau’s departments and their tasks were introduced to the guests, including practical matters such as investigation techniques, issues relating to witnesses, as well as the cooperation between different authorities. Main focus was the delimitation of responsibilities between the police and the judiciary as well as the cooperation with the Austrian Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office against Corruption. The following presentations dealt with corruption prevention and international cooperation.

External lecturers, such as the Director of the Austrian Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office against Corruption, Walter Geyer, other representatives of this body, as well as Gerhard Levy from the Bureau for Internal Affairs of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance contributed to the success of this event, which aimed to promote the transfer of knowledge, methods and experiences concerning the prevention of and fight against corruption.

According to the  Austrian officers, due to the different national structures and responsibilities, the discussions with the representatives of the ACD proved to be extremely interesting. The Deputy Director of the ACD, Ilgar Abbasov, presented his unit, which was founded in 2005 by the order of the Office of the Prosecutor General and is composed of public prosecutors and investigators.

The study visit was rounded off by visits to the International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) located in Laxenburg in 15 km of Viena and the special police task force “Cobra” in Wiener Neustadt.

ACD officers was acquainted with the detailed information about the IACA planned activities, programs, degrees, seminars, trainings, application procedure, certification, employment and etc. During the meeting was noted, that Mr. Kamran Aliyev, the director of the Anti-Corruption Department with the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan, has participated in the Academy’s Inaugural Conference on 2-3 September 2010, when the agreement for the Establishment of IACA as an International Organization was signed by 35 United Nations Member States, the European Public Law Organization.

In “Cobra“ the colonel Detlef Polay and his colleagues  gave presentation about the establishment of the unit in 2005, its three departments, their tasks, activities, trainings and etc. After the presentation the questions session and  introduction on the area was organised.

Source: BAK  (www.bak.gv.at) and ACD information

The lecturers have reviewed the Lithuanian Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes, discussed specific and practice of court proceeding of resonance/high profile corruption cases and adequate presentation of evidence in court, analyzed how effectively uphold charges on behalf of state. Also the protection of whistleblowers and other parties of the proceeding in Lithuania were presented.

During the seminars and trainings the experts from Lithuania have presented different types of intelligence activities. The lecturers introduced the methods and functions of analytical work, the specifics of the use of analytical products in corruption prevention and criminal investigation. Audience was also introduced the intelligence priorities planning and resources assessments in Lithuanian Special Investigation Service (STT) and how these activities influence the work of institution.

„These trainings will let our colleagues avoid the mistakes officers from Lithuania faced investigating sensitive and challenging corruption related cases. We’ve shared useful experience and believe that it will help Azerbaijani prosecutors’ and investigators’ in their daily professional work“. – says expert from Lithuania, Resident Twinning Advisor Vytas Rimkus.

According to V. Rimkus, material for seminars was prepared regarding the analysis of needs of prosecution service.

This activity was part of Twinning project “Support for the Anti-Corruption Department with the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan” 3 component implementation Enhancement of skills and basic knowledge of ACD prosecutors and investigators.

The main topics experts will discuss – Status of ACD and its interaction with Prosecutor General and the other law-enforcement institutions; establishing and functioning of the „Hot line“; suggestions related to establishing and functioning of data bases, necessary in fight against corruption; other questions related to ACD‘s activities.

„Considering the fact that ACD is still in need of further strengthening to be a cutting-edge anti-corruption agency, the question of its status we will discuss today is very important. We will have to make many decisions concerning administrative regulations and operational procedures, decide how ADC will collaborate with other govermental bodies after its status changes“, – says expert from STT Corruption Prevention Department Audrius Bereišis.

Arranging visit is a part of the activities under the project component 1 „Amendments to the regulatory base and procedural rules governing the ACD are introduced to facilitate the efficient operation of the ACD“.

„By the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan, the ACD has been charged as a coordinating body providing advising services to other law enforcement and executive agencies. To be capable to provide quality services, the ACD should first develop its competences in-house, as well as upgrade its training and advice delivery capacities“, – says corruption prevention specialist from  Lithuania Nendrė Černiauskienė.

During the trainings experts will present  special training toolkit, which includes a comprehensive training program, methodology, materials for education and distribution.  General questions related to fight against corruption as well as questions of implementing of legal mechanisms, cooperation between the ACD and other authorities in fight against corruption  also will be discussed.

With the implementation of the activity 4.3., trainers from the ACD and Training Centre at the Prosecutor General’s Office will be prepared to deliver pilot training seminars for internal security units at other law enforcement agencies.

The purpose of this visit was to make acquaintance with Lithuanian and Latvian practice in handling international cases, international cooperation (Eurojust, Europol, Interpol) and legal assistance.

The officers held meetings with specialists from the Europol Lithuanian National Unit, General Prosecutor’s Office and Special Investigation Service (STT), as well as met officers from the Latvian Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) and Latvian State Police International Cooperation Unit.
Issues of concern were focused on organisation of investigation in the phase of operational activities; practical cases; the role of prosecutor controlling pre-trial investigation, conducting own investigation and maintaining charges on behalf of the State.

Officers talked over questions related to cooperation with Eurojust, Europol and Interpol: assistance in turning over a case to another country or in seeking extradition (with regard to dual criminality as defined under the UN Convention Against Corruption), resolution of conflicts of jurisdiction and questions related to dual criminality.

The arranged visits were a part of the activities under the project component 5 „Improved the ACD staff capacities to participate in running international cases of corruption“.

The meetings was focused on Anti-corruption agency’s work organisation: relevant legal frameworks, hotlines and other feedback mechanisms for receiving complaints, operation of databases related to corruption offences, interactions and cooperation of the central anti-corruption agency with other executive agencies in reducing corruption. Also issues related to anti-corruption policy formation, transposition of international anti-corruption legislation into the national legal framework was discussed.

ACD officers visited  the Ministry of Intertior, Security police in Estonia. Meetings were held in the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB), the Prosecutor General‘s Office, the Consultative Council PROVIDUS.

In Lihuania officers had meetings with  professionals from  the Special Investigation Service, as well as specialist from  the Financial Crime Investigation Service, the Ministry of Interior and procecutors from  the Prosecutor General’s Office.

Arranged visits was a part of Twinning project „Support for the Anti-Corruption Department with the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan“ 1 component implementation “Legal basis and procedure rules, which govern ACD amendments, in order to ease effective ACD functions”.

The meeting was attended by the Head of the General prosecution office’s anti-corruption department – Dr. Kamran Aliyev (project manager), First deputy of Special Investigation Service (STT) Director – Aidenas Karpus (project manager), STT officer (permament Twins project advisor) – Vytas Rimkus, European Commission Delegation representative – Rza Zulfuqarzade, project components leaders and other interested people.

Aidenus Karpus noted, that the activities of the project have expanded over the borders of the Azerbaijan General prosecution office’s Anti-corruption department, discussions and consultations with other law enforcement authorities, other Azerbaijan General Prosecutors office departments, i.e. a positive EU experience is given to a larger number of officers.

European Commission delegation representative has noticed the close and effective cooperation between both of the partners, which should stay just as active, because it is very important for the implementation of the project’s objectives.

The object of the EU financed Twins project, started on July 24, 2009, is strengthening the anti-corruption abilities of Azerbaijan institutions, the strengthening of Anti-corruption department of General prosecutor’s office’s powers, transaction of Lithuanian and EU experience of fighting against corruption, help in national anti-corruption program realization.

The project will help to implement measures of 2007-2010 Azerbaijan’s national program – to increase Azerbaijan’s government institution ability to fight corruption in the country.

During the meetings, officers examined the legal framework (legal basis, institutional subordination, structures, work bars), discussed the best work examples, successful corruption-related court cases, work statistics and problems on both strategic and tactic / operative levels of operative work and law implementation.

The visit was a part of Twin project “Support of the Azerbaijan Republic General prosecutor’s office’s Anti-corruption department” 1-st task implementation “Legal basis and procedure rules, which govern ACD amendments, in order to ease effective ACD functions”.

In order to provide quality services, the ACD must first develop assigned competencies, as wall as training and consultation skills in pursue of Twins project implementation.

Officials visited in Romania: General Directorate for Cooperation, Ministry of Justice, National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA),  National Integrity Agency (ANI), Anticorruption General Directorate, Ministry of Administration and Interior .

The officers discussed about differences and similarities of how corruption cases are investigated in STT (or KNAB) and the Azerbaijanian Anti-Corruption Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office. Azerbaijanian officers were also familiarized with the techniques used during investigations.

After the visit at the anti-corruption agencies ACD officers participated at the meetings held in Vilnius Regional Prosecutor‘s office, Šiauliai Regional Prosecutor‘s office and Latvian Prosecutor’s General Office where there were discussions about amendments introduced in the Lithuanian Criminal Code in 2003, the year when the Criminal Code was substantially changed.

The officers from Azerbaijan learned about the judicial systems of Lithuania and Latvia. First of all they participated in court hearing of criminal case on corruption at Vilnius Regional Court. After the Court hearing the officers where provided with an opportunity to disscus about the case with the prosecutor. Afterwards, the officers had a meeting with the Chairman of the 2nd District Court of Vilnius, the Chairman of Šiauliai Regional Court and Deputy Chairman of the Latvian Supreme Court.

These workshops are a part of the Twinning Program project „Support for the Anti-Corruption Department with the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan“ awarded to Lithuania (the STT) and financed from the funds of the European Commission.

During the workshops the experts from Latvia will speak to the officers of the Department and the Prosecutor office about the importance of communication and public relations strategies, the main principles of working out such strategies, organisation of press conferences for informing about the corruption-related offences and corruption prevention issues. Communication experts will consult on how to identify target groups, to work with them, to make surveys seeking to find out public opinion on activities of the institution.

“The main purpose of the workshops is provide as much knowledge and information as possible to make public relations work of the Department more efficient. Thought – out and target orientated communication will help this institution to enjoy more trust of the society and its support in combating the complex phenomenon of corruption”, says Ilze Leimane, officer of the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau of Latvia.

While implementing this project the STT is contributing to realisation of the strategies of the EU policies for 2008 to 2013 promoting closer cooperation of the EU with neighbouring states, support to their objectives and integration processes, creation and development of safety and stability zone in the EU neighbourhood, encouragement of active participation of the EU countries in strengthening freedom, security and justice in the countries to the east of the EU.

For more  information please contact Ilze Leimane, KNAB PR specialist.
E-mail: ilze.leimane@knab.gov.lv, tel.:  +371  2 65 366 77.

The seminars in Azerbaijan were attended by the prosecutors and inquest officers of the ACD and officials of the International Communications Division of the General Prosecutor’s office of Azerbaijan. These seminars were delivered as a part of the EU Twinning Program Project “Support for the Anti-Corruption Department with the General Prosecutor of the Republic of Azerbaijan” implementation of which was awarded to Lithuania.

The prosecutor of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Lithuania delivered reports to the Azerbaijani officers, arranged and guided their discussions on problem areas in investigation and cooperation with such international law enforcement institutions as the Interpol (International Police organisation), the Europol (European Police Bureau) and the Eurojust (European Union (EU) legal cooperation body) .

During the meetings the issues of legal assistance through transferring criminal prosecution to other countries or seeking extradition (in case of a double criminality), double criminality for the same offence, property seizure (or confiscation) and other practical topics were discussed.

The goal of the EU funded project commenced on July 24, 2009 by the STT is to enhance  the anti-corruption competences of the Azerbaijani institutions and powers/authority of the Anti-Corruption Department with the General Prosecutor, to share the EU and Lithuania‘s experience in combating corruption and to assist the colleagues in carrying out their national anti-corruption programs.

The project is expected to assist the implementation of the National Measures Program of Azerbaijan for 2007 to 2010 and increase the capabilities of the Azerbaijani institutions to fight corruption in the country.

]]> http://www.twinningproject.info/archives/238/feed 0 http://www.twinningproject.info/archives/294 http://www.twinningproject.info/archives/294#comments Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:20:59 +0000 renatar http://www.twinningproject.info/?p=294 The activity and financial report for the 1st quarter of the Twinning Project of the European Union titled „Support for the Anti-Corruption Department with the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan“ carried out by the Special Investigation Service (STT) was confirmed on December 15 in Baku, capital of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The report on project progress, presented to the European Commission by Aidenas Karpus, leader of the project, describes the work done by the STT officers towards improvement of the legal base regulating activities of the Anti-Corruption Department with the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan based on the experience accrued by Lithuania and other EU countries.

The consistent program of seminars for upgrading knowledge and skills of the Azerbaijani prosecutors and inquest officers developed following the analysis of training needs conducted in the Department was confirmed together with said report.

The goal of the EU funded project commenced on July 24, 2009 by the STT is to enhance the anticorruption competences of the Azerbaijan institutions and the powers/authority of the Anti-Corruption Department with the General Prosecutor, to share the EU and Lithuania‘s experience of combating corruption and to assist the colleagues in carrying out their national anti-corruption programs.

This visit is a part of the Twinning Program project „Support for the Anti-Corruption Department with the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan“ awarded to the STT and implemented together with the General Prosecutor office of Azerbaijan. On September 29 the STT delegation took part in the kick-off meeting of this project having taken place in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.

Monday, October 12, the delegation of the Azerbaijani officers had a meeting with Žimantas Pacevičius, director of the STT.

On Tuesday the visiting officers met the representatives of the President’s office, General Prosecutor office, Anti-Corruption Commission of the Seimas (Parliament) and “Transparency International” Lithuanian Chapter. The STT officers made a presentation of the corruption combating practices in Lithuania and shared the experience accrued by the STT in criminal prosecution and corruption prevention spheres.

The goal of the project is to enhance the anticorruption competences of the Azerbaijan institutions and the powers/authority of the Anti-Corruption Department with the General Prosecutor, to share the EU and Lithuania‘s experience of combating corruption, and to assist the Azerbaijani colleagues in carrying out their national anti-corruption programs.

The Project will contribute to the overall objective set out in the Azerbaijan National Indicative Program for 2007-2010 to improve anti-corruptive capacities of the Azerbaijan state institutions.

The bid of the STT presented to the EU-announced call for proposals to assist Azerbaijan within the framework of the Twinning Program was found to be more responsive than the bids presented by the law enforcement institutions of the United Kingdom, Estonia -Finland, and Germany – Romania consortia.

The EU Twinning Program is one of the most important instruments of the European Commission for enhancement of public sector capacities. The Twinning Program projects are financed from the European Commission funds.

This project is a part of Technical Aid to the Commonwealth of Independent States (TACIS) program.

Today, a delegation of the representatives of the Special investigations department (STT) in the capital of Azerbaijan – Baku, has met the Director of  Anti-Corruption Department with the Prosecutor General’s Office (ACD)– Kamran Alijev, the Senior prosecutor Elnur Musajev and other Department officials. During the meeting, the most important questions of the projects implementation have been discussed.

The aim of the project is to strengthen the anti-corruption abilities of Azerbaijan authorities and the powers of Anti-Corruption Department with the Prosecutor General’s Office, to share EU and Lithuanian experience in combating corruption, to help implement their national anti-corruption programs.

The project will help to implement the European neighborhood policy instrument 2007-2010 Azerbaijan national program in order to increase the possibilities of the Azerbaijan state authorities in fighting corruption.

It is expected, that during years 2009-2010, STT will organize consultations and different trainings and seminars on the topic of developing corruption fighting skills, will share the experience in criminal prosecution and corruption prevention to the Azerbaijan Republic General prosecutor’s office’s Anti-corruption department. The project implementation agreement with the European commission has been signed in July.

The STT proposal to the European Commission publicized Twinning program competition for supporting Azerbaijan was considered better than the UK, Estonia, Finland, Germany and Romania law enforcement’s institutions proposals.

Project cost – 1 million EUR. This is one of the first projects of this scale which was won by Lithuanian institution who handed an individual application.

]]> http://www.twinningproject.info/archives/352/feed 0 http://www.twinningproject.info/archives/301 http://www.twinningproject.info/archives/301#comments Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:40:29 +0000 renatar http://www.twinningproject.info/?p=301 The Special Investigation Service of the Republic of Lithuania (herein – STT) won the bidding in the Twinning Program of the European Union for providing assistance to the Anticorruption Department with the Prosecutor General of the Republic of the Azerbaijan. Last week the STT and the European Commission signed the contract on project implementation.

The bid of the STT for assistance to Azerbaijan was found to be more responsive than the bids presented by the law enforcement institutions of the United Kingdom and Estonia – Finland, and Germany – Romania consortia.

It is envisaged that during 2009 and 2010 the STT will provide consulting, organise training and seminars on improvement of corruption combat methods, its officers will act as experts and share experience in prosecution and corruption prevention areas.

The value of the project is 1 million Eur. This is one of the first projects of such range awarded to a Lithuanian institution having independently submitted the bid.

The Twinning Program of the European Union (herein- Program) was launched in 1998 on the initiative of the European Commission and its main aim is to assist the beneficiary countries to strengthen the capacities of institutions seeking to implement the requirements of the EU Acquis Communautaire or to come closer to them. The Program is one of the most important instruments of the European Commission earmarked for public administration institutions capacities development.