The draft strategy for the fight against corruption does not mention the Bar Port Free Zone and the infiltration of organized crime into the customs service, the word privatization is mentioned only twice in the entire document, and there is not even a word about the infiltration of criminals into the police, the judiciary, the gaming sector, as well as possible corrupt practices in the energy sector and the construction of small hydropower plants.
"The draft strategy for the fight against corruption for the period from 2024 to 2028 is an extremely superficial document, focused on statistical data and quotes from other sources without any deeper analysis or concrete solutions", the Affirmation Network told "Vijesti" yesterday non-governmental sector (MANS).
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Political System, Justice and Anti-corruption, Momo Koprivica, published the Draft Strategy two days ago and invited those interested to submit proposals, suggestions and comments within the next 20 days.
"The strategy for the fight against corruption defines: strategic direction and goals in the fight against corruption, priority measures for the establishment of an effective system for the fight against corruption in the public and private sector, the roles and responsibilities of all subjects, which is the basis for the effective development of a sustainable system for monitoring and evaluation of a comprehensive national response to corruption", the Draft states.
There is no mention of the infiltration of organized crime into the police, the intelligence service and the judiciary, but the problem of the lack of education of students about the problem of corruption is discussed on both sides.
Special attention, the document states, will be devoted to areas with a particular risk of corruption - justice, police and customs, health, education, environment, urban planning, public procurement, enterprises owned by the state or municipalities.
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The MANS team that analyzed the presented text claims that the document does not contain any analysis of the impact of corruption on various sectors, such as privatization, energy, law, police, customs, intelligence, and the lack of clear goals and measurable indicators for monitoring progress.
"This makes this document ineffective in laying the foundations for real reforms," MANS told "Vijesta".
They emphasize that the Draft Strategy contains a list of official documents and statistical data on activities carried out during the period of DPS rule.
"It cites as relevant research conducted for the needs of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, according to which that institution supposedly enjoys enormous public trust, and based on them, the current situation is determined. Several other public opinion polls are cited without any analysis of the causes of corruption and the established perception of citizens. Then, the recommendations of the Group of Countries Against Corruption (GRECO) are quoted verbatim and some parts of the documents prepared by international experts are copied, without going into the essence of the problem in any detail. Theoretical overviews of Transparency International and the Council of Europe are also given on several pages", the non-governmental organization explains.
The problem is the education of students, not criminals in the police
MANS warns that only one paragraph is devoted to free access to information, as one of the key tools in the fight against corruption, which is almost exclusively focused on statistical data and lacks an analysis of elementary problems.
"In the part related to games of chance, there is not even elementary information about the infiltration of organized crime. There is no mention of the infiltration of organized crime into the police, the intelligence service and the judiciary, but the problem of the lack of education of students about the problem of corruption is discussed on both sides. "Veting in the judiciary is not mentioned in a single word", specify from MANS.
As for public procurement, they emphasize, it is only mentioned that there is no institution in charge of resolving conflicts of interest, and in one sentence it is explained that corruption can occur at every stage of the process, without any deeper analysis.
"It is interesting that the Strategy contains as many as three paragraphs related to employment in the public sector, but there is not a word in them about party employment, which is extremely widespread at all levels of administration, nor about party staffing 'by depth'," MANS said. .
Every letter about smuggling, money laundering and privatization
A special chapter in the draft refers to the smuggling of excise goods in connection with corruption.
MANS points out that "not a single word mentions the Free Zone of the Port of Bar, nor the infiltration of organized crime into the customs service." However, a separate part of the document refers to Free Zones, but instead of an analysis, it cites the guide of the World Customs Organization".
"The part related to the prevention of money laundering does not recognize the roles of notaries, accountants and lawyers in these matters, and therefore does not foresee any measures to solve this problem. It does not even point to changes in trends due to the arrival of a huge number of foreigners from Russia, Ukraine and Turkey...", according to the findings of MANS.
They also emphasize that privatization is mentioned only twice in the document, and "there is not even an elementary analysis of how corruption affected that process."
"Let alone indications of any solutions. Additionally, in contrast to the strategic documents prepared by the previous regime, the new government did not recognize privatization as one of the areas of particular risk for corruption", concludes MANS.
No mention of the selectivity of ASK, the problems of SDT
MANS also draws attention to the fact that the Draft Strategy provides statistical data on the work of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and the Prosecutor's Office, but does not go into the analysis of the achieved results and problems related to proving corruption.
"There is no mention of the selectivity of the work of the KAS, nor of the limitations in access to information that the Special State Prosecutor's Office continues to face," they stressed.
There is no mention, they point out, of the "systematic destruction of evidence of corruption by the former regime, which continues thanks to extremely short deadlines for the so-called extraction of documents, that is, their destruction."
"The Strategy provides a list of laws that need to be changed, but without explaining the direction in which those changes should go. It also contains general goals for which no priorities have been defined, nor can their realization be assessed and measured in any way, since the indicators either do not exist or are extremely meaningless. The competences of the relevant state authorities are copied on as many as five pages, without any analysis of the effects of their work and the problems that need to be solved", MANS points out.
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