MINSK, 23 September (BelTA) – The work on the National Anti-Corruption Strategy until 2030 is underway in Belarus, Prosecutor General Andrei Shved said at the 31st meeting of the Coordinating Council of the CIS Prosecutors General in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, BelTA informs citing the department for interaction with mass media and editorial activity of the Prosecutor General's Office.
Andrei Shved delivered a report about Belarus' efforts to combat corruption and the work to draft the National Anti-Corruption Strategy.
“Our efforts to fight corruption are positively assessed in the country and abroad. Since the adoption of the Anti-Corruption Law, our country has moved up the annual ranking of Transparency International from the 106th place in 2015 to 63rd in 2020. At the same time, an ambitious task was set to develop the National Anti-Corruption Strategy for the period up to 2030,” Andrei Shved said.
The strategy is being drafted by the Scientific and Practical Center for Problems of Reinforcing Law and Order of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Belarus. The strategy will embrace the best international practices and standards to ensure a systemic and comprehensive fight against corruption by eliminating its basic causes and conditions, the prosecutor general noted.
According to him, Belarus views corruption as one of the threats to national security. Thus, countering this social ill is one of the priorities for the government. In this regard, Andrei Shved revealed some outcomes of the 2020-2022 program to fight corruption, as well as legislative initiatives prepared by the Prosecutor General's Office.
Last year 754 inspections were made to check consistency with anti-corruption legislation. As a result, 1,853 orders were issued to eliminate violations. A total of 3,535 offenders were identified, $177,000 worth of damage was reimbursed. Prosecutors established 2,226 violations of anti-corruption legislation.
Property acquired through corrupt practices is confiscated. In 2020 alone, at the order of prosecutors, $500,000 worth of illegally obtained property was seized as part of civil proceedings.
The participants of the meeting discussed the experience of the Prosecutor General's Offices of the CIS member states in prosecutorial supervision and another 15 points on the agenda. As a result, they reaffirmed their commitment to promote cooperation.
The event was attended by the prosecutors general of Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Moldova, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan, representatives of the Secretariat of the Coordinating Council, and the CIS Executive Committee. Among the guests of honor was Cheol-kyu Hwang, President of the International Association of Prosecutors.
In addition, Andrei Shved held a working meeting with Ambassador of Belarus to Kazakhstan Pavel Utyupin. They discussed cooperation between economic entities of the two states, including foreign trade and expansion of the commodity distribution network of Belarusian enterprises in Kazakhstan.
