Albanian judge arrested on suspicion of corruption. An Appeal Court judge has been arrested on suspicion of accepting a bribe for overruling a decision in favour of a person convicted for murder. He re-categorized the charge downgrading it to physical injuries and consequently the offender was released. The judge who formerly sat at the High Council of Justice was arrested at his home after a year of proactive investigation lead by the Serious Crimes Prosecution Office. During the search at his house, the Police found and seized 174,810 EUR, 10,149,000 Albanian lek and 1,000 US dollars. According to the Police statement ‘Investigations are continuing to find out if other persons are implicated in this illegal activity”.

In early November, Albania finally started the process of vetting (re-evaluation of judges and prosecutors), to assess their assets, any possible connection with crime and corruption and their professional performance. The first results of the evaluations will come out in December.

EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed. CEPA was signed on 24 November in the margins of the Eastern Partnership Summit. The scope of the new Agreement is comprehensive, covering issues of EU competence and interests, which reflects the existing wide range cooperation in economic, trade and political areas, and sectoral policies. Among other areas, it covers legal cooperation, the rule of law, combating money laundering and terrorist financing, and fighting organised crime and corruption. In certain areas, the Agreement is also designed to bring Armenian law gradually closer to the EU acquis. However, it does not go as far as to establish an association between the EU and Armenia.

Azerbaijan improves its ranking in World Bank’s Doing Business 2018 report. Azerbaijan has climbed eight spots to rank 57th among 190 countries in the World Bank Doing Business 2018. In the updated rating, Azerbaijan has improved its positions on six out of 10 indicators: access to electricity, property registration, protection of the rights of small investors, tax payment, execution of contracts, resolution of issues related to bankruptcy.

Azerbaijani delegation attends UNCAC Conference in Vienna. On 6 November 2017, an Azerbaijani delegation including the chairman of ASAN, Director of the Anticorruption Directorate under the Prosecutor General and Secretary of the Commission on Combating Corruption participated in the 7th Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in Vienna, Austria. 

Seminar on "Anti-Corruption Management Standards - Preventing Corruption Offenses" held in Ganja. With support of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and Anti-Corruption Directorate under the Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan Republic, Ganja State University hosted a seminar titled “Anti-corruption management standards and preventing corruption offences”. The seminar brought together representatives of 33 regional youth and sports branches, as well as ASAN Services and NGOs. The handbook on “Anti-Corruption standards” developed by the Ministry was presented at the event and distributed to the seminar participants.

The detection rate of corruption offences and economic crimes in Belarus in January-October 2017 remains similar compared to the same period in 2016. According to the reported statistics on completed investigations in the period of January-October 2017, financial and physical damages resulting from economic crimes is estimated at Br58.7 million (c. EUR 24 million), with Br32.7 million (c. EUR 14 million) recovered. Br36.2 million (c. EUR 15 million) worth of property was arrested. The efforts resulted in the damage recovery rate of 117%.

FATF notes progress of Bosnia & Herzegovina in improving its AML/CFT system. Since June 2015, when Bosnia and Herzegovina made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and MONEYVAL to address its strategic AML/CFT deficiencies, the country has substantially addressed its action plan at a technical level. The FATF will conduct an on-site visit to confirm that the process of implementing the required reforms and actions is underway to address deficiencies previously identified by the FATF.

The European Commission reports on progress in Bulgaria under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM). The latest report issued in mid-November examines steps taken by the country to meet its commitments on judicial reform and fight against corruption and more specifically, the 17 recommendations issued by the Commission in its January 2017 CVM report. It notes that significant progress has been achieved on these recommendations. While political uncertainty led to some delays in the implementation of reforms early in the year, the reform process has regained momentum since May, even if final outcomes are still to be seen in areas requiring legislative reform and government action, such as the fight against corruption. In the judiciary, important developments have also taken place this year, notably with the election of a new Supreme Judicial Council, the impact of which should begin to show in the coming year.

Andrej Babis: Czech police seek to prosecute prospective PM for alleged fraud. Police suspect the Czech Republic's billionaire prime minister in-waiting illegally tapped into €2 million in EU subsidies almost 10 years ago. Now, Andrej Babis, could see his immunity lifted by parliament. Czech police requested that prospective Prime Minister Andrej Babis' immunity to be lifted by the lower house, the Prague district attorney's office revealed. Babis, a billionaire farm products and media tycoon, stands accused of hiding ownership of his Stork's Nest farm and convention center almost a decade ago to illegally tap into some €2 million in European subsidies aimed at small businesses.

Addressing the need for further action in Europe to prevent corruption in respect of MPs, judges and prosecutors – Conference in Prague. The Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) and the Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic organised a conference in Prague on 9 and 10 November to discuss stepping up the implementation of measures to prevent corruption in respect of members of parliament, judges and prosecutors in European states. Held in the framework of the Czech Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the conference brought together representatives from GRECO’s 49 member states as well as experts in the field of preventing and fighting corruption. Participants examined trends and best practices, as well as a new GRECO report summarising the main conclusions of its country evaluations covering the prevention of corruption in respect of MPs, judges and prosecutors.

GRECO president in Prague: Without good people, even a perfect law is futile. GRECO's President Marin Mrčela spoke about the Czech Republic’s track record in fighting corruption, the recommendations for improvement that GRECO has made and how much progress the country has made since joining GRECO in 2002.

ECHR Grand Chamber Ruling into the Former Prime Minister’s Pretrial Detention Case. In its Grand Chamber judgment issued on 28 November 2017, the European Court of Human Rights concluded that the pretrial detention of Georgia’s former Prime Minister Vano Merabishvili was initially justified but later unduly used as a means to exert pressure on him in order to obtain information about the foreign bank accounts of the former President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili and about the death in 2005 of the former Prime Minister of Georgia Zurab Zhvania.

ASIS member Chataev among killed suspects, Georgian State Security Service confirms. Georgian State Security Service (SSS) issued a statement, confirming that one of the three terrorism suspects killed during the anti-terrorist operation in Tbilisi on 21-22 November was an ISIS member Ahmet Chataev. The SSS said Chatayev’s identity has been confirmed “through investigative activities and examinations conducted with the help of the American colleagues, including DNA and finger prints analysis.”

The Forthcoming Anti-Corruption Strategy in Kosovo*: How to hold onto lessons learned? Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS), a non-profit organisation, analysed the Anti-Corruption Strategy and Action Plan 2013-2017 and identified a number of shortcomings as well as a low level of implementation. Within the framework of the drafting process of the new Anti-Corruption Strategy and Action Plan 2018-2022, GLPS recommends to actively include and engage with all stakeholders, to identify concrete benchmarks and quantifiable indicators, to assess the implications of laws and regulations during the drafting and revision processes, to develop a sanction mechanism for non- or low-performing institutions, and to distinguish between long-term and short-term measures and allocate adequate funding accordingly.

Judicial Integrity Initiative Survey. Kosovo* Democratic Institute (KDI) and Kosovo* Bar Association (KBA) issued the survey report on judicial integrity initiative that was conducted through participation of 1,050 interviewers from the judicial system including judges, prosecutors, lawyers, prosecutorial and court staff and police investigators. This initiative aims to help justice system leadership in identifying patterns of corrupt practices during the interaction between justice system actors and promoting the highest standards of integrity among judges, prosecutors, advocates, police, and relevant judicial and prosecutorial staff. The report stresses inter alia that favouritism/nepotism and political interference are the two most common forms of corrupt conduct in the justice system.

Assessment on the extent of the informal economy in Kosovo*. According to the last assessment conducted through an EU-funded project, the level of informal economy is considered to slightly decline in absolute and percentage values at 31.7 per cent of GDP compared to 32.7 per cent in 2013. Domestic informality is still considered to be largely above the average of the European Union countries and one of the highest in the region. Black economy and unaccounted activities represent 476.8 million EUR or 8.21% of the GDP.

Kyrgyzstan inaugurates new President Sooronbai Jeenbekov following election riddled with irregularities. Sooronbai Jeenbekov replaces President Almazbek Atambaev, who was constitutionally barred from seeking a second term. Jeenbekov, who served as Atambaev's Prime Minister from April 2016 to August 2017, also vowed to tackle rampant corruption in the country.

Former President of Kyrgyzstan confesses that corruption is ineradicable. «Corruption is ineradicable, unfortunately» the former President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev said at his final press conference on 20 November 2017. He however stated that the Kyrgyz society had been slowly reviving moral values and making important progress in this field.

Kyrgyzstan creates new traffic police department in an anti-corruption drive. On 10 November 2017, the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Sapar Isakov held an emergency Government meeting to discuss the critical situation on the country’s roads. He signed two Government resolutions, according to which the Main Patrol Police Directorate has been abolished and the Main Directorate for Road Traffic Safety of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be established. The staff of the new unit will be increased. “Recruitment of employees should be carried out transparently and on a competitive basis. It is necessary to create a new department of professionals who are not involved in scandals and corruption," he said.

Ministry of Justice announces changes to the legislation related to business community. With the aim to protect businesses, a protection mechanism shall be introduced in the legislation. It will be thus banned to seize servers and documents essential for conducting business affairs in enterprises. The draft law plans to amend a broad number of legislative acts. The amendments also envisage cases of exemption from criminal liability for economic offences punished with up to five years of prison time. The Minister of Justice explained that the changes will push business to admit mistakes and correct them, as prison punishments will be reduced drastically or replaced with fines.

Former Deputy Minister of Finance to stand trial over corruption charges. Former deputy Minister of Finance was arrested over corruption charges at the beginning of October 2017 for influence peddling in a public tender for the refurbishment of a hospital. Her case was sent to court, where she may face 7 to 15 years of jail, a fine up to 500,000 MDL (about 25,000 EUR) and the ban from holding public offices for 10 to 15 years. The former deputy Minister has informed the public that she will plead not guilty.

Assets Recovery Office (ARO) will enjoy more competences. ARO’s powers will be extended, as provided in a legislative initiative to amend and supplement a number of legal acts that was passed by Parliament in the first reading. ARO will have the right to represent the state and legal entities of public law in civil lawsuits concerning criminal assets recovery and to repair the damage caused by violations of the legislation of the Republic of Moldova and other states. The Agency will also keep a common record of the information about the recovered criminal assets that it administers and of the possessions subject to special confiscation or extended confiscation, including by creating a specialized national database. The proposal of moving ARO within the State Tax Inspectorate was rejected, thus the agency will remain within the National Anti-Corruption Centre.

Montenegrin judges and prosecutors trained on ethics and prevention of conflict of interest. Two one-day trainings on “Ethics and Prevention of Conflict of Interest“ for judges of first and second instance and prosecutors were held in Podgorica on 28-29 November 2017 respectively within the EU/CoE Action against Economic Crime in Montenegro (AEC-MNE). The participants had an opportunity to learn about the key international standards on ethics through a set of interactive lectures and exercises. In addition, the participants discussed on the relevant case law and practice of the European Court of Human Rights.

Special State Prosecutor's Office issued indictmdent against leader of the opposition party. After several months of investigation, the Special State Prosecutor has formally accused the leader of the Movement for Changes (PzP) and another person of being the leaders of a criminal organisation, as well as 10 other people from Podgorica of being members of the group, founded with a goal to launder money for financing of the Democratic Front’s pre-election campaign. All the defendants denied their guilt during the investigation. The validity of the indictment will be decided by Podgorica High Court, to which the indictment was submitted.

Ruling party MP offering party membership cards as solution for the problem of unemployment. During election campaign ahead of local elections in 4 municipalities in Montenegro, one of the MPs of the Montenegrin ruling party DPS has suggested to citizens of Cetinje to take a membership card of this party as a solution for unemployment. This statement was condemned by civil society and media and recognized as a consequence of the absence of a legal and political epilogue to the “Recording” affair.[1]

[1] Namely, in 2013 in “Recording” affair high officials of the same party were heard on record listing employment in public institutions as mechanism for obtaining votes and there were no legal sanctions against these officials.

The decree on the establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Commission published in the latest issue of the Official Bulletin. In accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, in particular chapters 90 and 92 and after the examination at the meeting of the Government Council of 21 September 2017, a national commission of fight against corruption, placed under the authority of the Head of the government, was created, according to the decree. The commission will be in charge of the implementation of the national anti-corruption strategy, through the presentation of proposals and programmes aimed at enhancing transparency and disseminating the values of morality and probity within the public services.

Prime Minister signs a Resolution allowing state-owned companies not to disclose the details of their contracts. According to the resolution signed by Dmitry Medvedev, state-owned enterprises will be allowed not to name their suppliers and providers. Also, the companies will not have to disclose the information about prices, way and results of the procurement processes, nor provide the name of the winner of the tender. According to another Resolution signed by the Prime Minister, the information about the procurement carried out by the Ministry of Defence, the Federal Security Service and the Foreign Intelligence Service will not be available to the public. This measure will be in force until 1 July 2018. This runs counter to the policy conducted by the Russian authorities in past couple of years aimed at making public and municipal procurement process more transparent.

Russian Investigative Committee adds another charge of bribery against former anti-corruption official. Colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko, accused of abuse of power, hindering the conduct of preliminary investigation and accepting bribes, was additionally charged with receiving about 800 thousand rubles from a businessman who allegedly paid this sum for Mr Zakharchenko’s holiday on a luxury winter resort. Earlier, the Moscow City Court upheld the extension of detention of Mr Zakharchenko who will remain in prison until 8 December. The anti-corruption official was arrested on 8 September 2016. During searches at his apartment law enforcement officers found around 9 billion rubles.

Rosneft chief executive refuses to appear at former minister’s corruption trial. Igor Sechin has refused to appear in court before the end of the year to testify in the corruption trial against Alexei Ulyukaev, former Minister for Economic Development. According to Mr Sechin’s lawyer, his client is too busy to attend the trial before the end of the 2017 since he has a very complex schedule that is set in advance. Mr Ulyukaev, in his turn, accused Mr Sechin of perjury. He denied his guilt and said that he thought the bag he received from the head of Rosneft held a gift of expensive alcohol, not $2m. Mr Ulyukayev was detained last year, while allegedly receiving the bribe in exchange for the Economic Development Ministry’s consent to give the go-ahead to the Rosneft’s acquisition of a stake in another oil company.

Former interior Minister arrested. Mr Mitko Cavkov, along with more than 30 other people, has been arrested over the violent attack on parliament on 27 April 2017, during which 100 people were wounded among them 10 politicians, including current Prime Minister, Mr Zoran Zaev. At the time of the violent events, Mr Cavkov was the head of the Bureau for Public Security. Demonstrators entered the parliament protesting against the election of a member of the Albanian minority as the new parliament speaker. Mr Cavkov and all other detained persons are charged with posing a "terrorist threat to the constitutional order and security," punishable with a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison. Among those arrested are members of parliament and famous Macedonian actor Vlado Jovanovski and bass opera singer Igor Durlovski. Since the arrests, there have been demonstrations in front of the court and the parliament in Skopje.

The European Commission reports on progress in Romania under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM). The report looks at the steps taken by the country to meet the 12 recommendations issued by the Commission in its January 2017 CVM Report related to judicial reform and the fight against corruption. It notes that progress has been achieved on a number of these recommendations, in particular the recommendation to set up a system for checks on conflicts of interest in public procurement (PREVENT) has been satisfactorily implemented, as well as on other recommendations, subject to practical implementation. At the same time, the Commission underlines that the overall reform momentum in the course of 2017 has stalled, slowing down the fulfilment of the remaining recommendations, and with a risk of re-opening issues which the January 2017 report had considered as closed. Challenges to judicial independence are a serious source of concern.

Romanians protest against weakening of anti-corruption powers. Romania’s centre-left coalition government is bracing itself for rolling demonstrations by tens of thousands of protesters over claims that it wants to overhaul the justice system to allow high-level corruption to go unpunished. Citizens demanding “rights and prosperity” marched through Bucharest and other cities on 26 November 2017 in the evening. A second demonstration is planned for 1 December 2017, Grand Union Day, a national public holiday marking the unification of Romania’s ethnic minorities.

Romanian Politician Indicted for EU Funds Fraud. Romania’s anti-graft prosecutors have indicted on 13 November 2017 the head of the ruling Social Democrats (PSD), Liviu Dragnea, suspected of forming a “criminal group" that has embezzled US$ 24.4 million in EU funds. The country's National Anti-corruption Directorate believes that Dragnea has forged documents to ensure a company wins EU bids to construct roads during his term as the president of the council of a southern Romanian province between 2001 and 2012.

Serbian Anti-Corruption Agency Chief Resigns. Majda Krsikapa has resigned as head of the Serbian Anti-Corruption Agency. As stated in Agency's official statement, the resignation was submitted during a phone conference, while the same session unanimously appointed Verka Atanaskovic as the Agency’s acting director. The agency was in the public spotlight most recently in late September, concerning the case of an apartment purchased by Minister Aleksandar Vulin and irregularities in political party financing concerning President Vucic's election campaign.

Paradise Papers Reveal Serbian Minister’s Giant Fortune. International 'Paradise Papers' investigation shows that Minister for Innovation and Technological Development, Nenad Popovic, is probably the richest politician in Serbia, with a fortune worth at least US$75 million. Popovic has denied that any of his companies are registered in the off-shore tax havens mentioned in the Paradise Papers investigation, claiming they are all registered in Russia and Europe.

Serbian Parliament Secretary Sent Herself on Business Trips. The Anti-Corruption Agency (ACAS) recommended the dismissal of Serbian Parliament General Secretary, Svetislava Bulajic, saying that she sent herself on business trips to Istanbul, Kiev, Edinburgh and Warsaw in 2017, news agencies reported on 29 November 2017. The ACAS ruling said that she approved for herself overtime pay and received a total of 164,063 Dinars for the period from November 2016 to July 2017 without informing the ACAS about the conflict of interest.

Over 9 thousand corruption-related complaints have been filed to the National Anti-Corruption Agency (INLUCC). The newly published Annual Report of INLUCC for 2016 indicates that among 9,027 filed complaints 2,198 appeals fall within its jurisdiction, stating that 140 concern public procurement and 1,729 concern financial corruption and economic crimes.

Tunisian Minister suspected of corruption. On 23 November 2017, Minister of Energy, Mines and Renewable Energy, Khaled Kaddour, appeared before the special financial court of Tunisia on charges of corruption but his lawyer requested the postponement of proceedings until 4 December to prepare a proper defense. He is accused of "administrative and financial corruption" within his ministry.

A representative of the National Agency for Preventing Corruption’s accused her former leadership of violation of law. On November 14, Anna Solomatina, a representative of the National Agency for Preventing Corruption’s financial control department, accused agency director Natalia Korchak of falsifying electronic asset declaration results and blocking some aspects of the organisation’s work. She later also accused Ukraine’s Presidential Administration — in particular, lawyer Oleksiy Horashchenkov — of fully controlling the agency’s day-to-day work. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) opened a criminal case into suspected extortion by officials of the National Corruption Prevention Agency based partly on information provided by Ms Solomatina.

Undercover operation conducted by the NABU and the SAPO failed due to the lack of the right of autonomous wiretapping. NABU stated that the Prosecutor General`s Office of Ukraine (GPO) and the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) illegally interfered with its undercover special operation aimed at identifying members of an organized criminal group in the State Migration Service of Ukraine. On 29 November 2017, during documenting one of the episodes with the participation of the First Deputy Head of the State Migration Service of Ukraine, the SSU officers under the procedural guidance of the GPO prosecutors illegally detained a NABU undercover agent. According to NABU, the undercover agent is accused of a provocation of bribery and detention and arrest of three more NABU undercover agents are planned.