CoE calls on Azerbaijan to complete anti-corruption reform

Azerbaijani authorities must exhibit the will and complete the anti-corruption reform related to the mandatory declaration of income and property by the MPs, judges and prosecutors, the Anti-Corruption Group of the Council of Europe (GRECO) has stated in its report.

On June 18, the GRECO issued an assessment report on the enforcement of its previous recommendations on combating corruption among MPs, prosecutors and judges of Azerbaijan. "To date, 13 out of 21 recommendations have been implemented satisfactorily, 5 – have been partially implemented, and 3 recommendations have not been fulfilled at all," says the press release of the Council of Europe (CoE) dedicated to the GRECO's report, received by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

It is noted that, despite the introduction of control norms over the MPs' additional activities, in practice there are no signs of the efficiency thereof.

According to the GRECO's report, these are the norms prohibiting the MPs to engage in other paid activities other than scientific, creative and pedagogical, but in practice in some cases these norms are violated.

With regard to disclosure of assets, which covers all the three categories of audited officials (MPs, judges and prosecutors), the GRECO is alarmed by the constant lack of will for the functioning of the declaration system. The GRECO calls on the authorities of Azerbaijan to take decisive measures to finalize this important anti-corruption reform and enforce all the relevant recommendations of the GRECO.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 20, 2019 at 04:54 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.