Council of Europe/European Union Partnership for Good Governance (PGG)

Strengthening institutional capacities to fight and prevent corruption in Armenia

Start date: 1 January 2019

Duration: 36 months
Donor: The project is funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe in the framework of their Partnership for Good Governance 2019-2022

Project counterparts/beneficiaries: Ministry of Justice, National Assembly, Commission on Ethics of High-Ranking Officials, Civil Service Office, Police, Office of the General Prosecutor, Special Investigation Service of Armenia, Investigative Committee of Armenia, the judiciary, civil society.

The project on “Strengthening institutional capacities to fight and prevent corruption in Armenia” is one of the six projects which constitute the second phase of the EU/CoE Partnership for Good Governance (PGG) programme interventions to support Eastern Partnership countries^[1] to counter economic crime. The project aims to provide tailored assistance responding to the country’s anti-corruption reforms agenda, while addressing issues raised by the Council of Europe monitoring bodies in the areas of corruption and money laundering. It has been designed to contribute to the EU 2020 targets set out in priority area “Strengthening the rule of law and anti-corruption mechanisms,” and is aligned with the cooperation priorities identified in the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement, and Council of Europe Action Plan for Armenia 2019-2022.

NEEDS, OBJECTIVES, EXPECTED OUTCOMES AND ACTIVITIES

The overall objective of the project is to increase efficiency of anti-corruption and asset recovery while preventing and combating corruption. The project aims to do so by supporting the Armenian authorities in strengthening legislative and institutional frameworks for anti-corruption and asset recovery, and developing capacities and tools to prevent and suppress economic crimes. Project expected results and specific activities have been set pursuant to country needs and an agreed approach in providing assistance in this field. The Project focuses on the following areas:

• Strategic actions: assisting with identification of future priority areas and development of legislative proposals;

• Prevention: effective tools to prevent corruption in respect of public officials;

• Enforcement: capacity building of criminal justice institutions to investigate, prosecute, and adjudicate corruption, money laundering and other types of economic crime.

In line with the above, the Project expects to achieve the following outcomes:

• Outcome 1: Strengthened legislative and institutional frameworks for combatting corruption through independent and efficient anti-corruption bodies;

• Outcome 2: Enhanced systems of asset declaration, conflict of interest and illicit enrichment for all levels of public officials;

• Outcome 3: Increased effective investigation, prosecution and adjudication of corruption-related crimes and offenses;

• Outcome 4: Further developed institutional asset recovery mechanisms.

  Assistance activities in each field include assessments, provision of expert advice, workshops, trainings, and roundtables.