STATEMENT OF THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE, ADMINISTRATION AND LOCAL
SELF-GOVERNMENT OF THE
Mr. Chairmen Excellencies
Ladies and Gentleman,
It gives me great pleasure
to greet you all on behalf of the Government of the
Corruption is a great
threat to the rule of law, to the democratic development and to the free market
economy, thus representing a special danger to the further development of
any state and specially the states in transition.
The
As a country which has
been among the first to sign and ratify UN Convention against Trans-national
Organized Crime (so called Palermo Convention) and the first two Protocols
thereto (while the third Protocol is in the process of ratification), Republic
of Croatia is also among the first countries to sign the UN Convention against
Corruption. We think that authors of this Convention had made a great job
and they manage to produce a modern and comprehensive international tool for
curbing the corruption in any respected state.
But, as we all are aware
of, signing the international instrument like this Convention is just the
beginning of the difficult and challenging task. We know this very well since
Firstly, Croatian Parliament
has adopted a special Act on Office for Fight against Corruption and Organized
Crime (USKOK), and subsequently has established the office, which is now operating
under the auspices of the Public Prosecutor's Office. Although this Office
needs more employees, funds and experience, the first results can be already
seen.
Representing strong
tools for curbing corruption, I would like specifically to mention the:
- Prevention of Money
Laundering Act providing measures and actions enabling to detect and check
dubious financial transactions and to prevent money laundering;
- Act on Liability of
Legal Persons for Criminal Offences or so-called Corporate Liability Act which
is an important novelty in the Croatian legislation due to a rising trend
of economic, corruptive and other criminal offences where the person responsible
for a criminal offence is the beneficiary of illegal proceeds from it;
- Witness Protection
Act regulating the extrajudicial protection of persons providing information
and giving testimony on corruption, organized crime and war crimes including
a witness protection scheme in accordance with the rules of international
law; as well as the
- Act on Prevention
of Conflict of Interests in Performance of Public Duties which avert a conflict
of interest likely to occur in situations where public officials have a vested
interest that influences or may influence their impartiality in performing
public duties. While being, in a sense, the ethical code of conduct, at the
legislative level it is a law designed to contribute to the overall fight
against corruption.
Croatia has recently
amended the provisions of its Criminal Code notably the definitions of the
specific provisions of the law regarding corruption (receiving (Article 347)
and offering (Article 348) bribery, receiving bribery in corporate and other
transactions (Article 294. b), offering bribery in corporate and other transactions
(Article 294 c), abuse of state administration powers (Article 338), illegal
mediation (Article 343), abuse of insolvency proceedings (Article 283, Para
2 and 3), and unfair competition in foreign trade business (Article289 Para
2), the abuse of position and official powers (Article 337) and the sanctions
for these criminal offences. Criminal Procedure Act has also been amended
in order to make the procedure more efficient.
All this legislative
measures, international or national doesn't have much of the meaning if not
followed by the effective implementation, which is the crown of all the efforts
taken before. However, the abovementioned activities have only marked the
beginning of the process that
The Action Plan defines
key tasks, responsibilities and timetable, and provides a framework for anti-corruption
activities undertaken by the Government and the main participants of civil
society (business and professional organizations, NGOs, companies, media).
Furthermore, the Parliament Judiciary Committee initiated the establishment
of the Parliament Commission for Implementation of the Anti-corruption Program
consists of MPs, representatives of public life and civil society. The Commission
will monitor and supervise the work of state administration bodies responsible
for the implementation of the Action Plan.
The training of the
judiciary and public servants also represents one of the most important measures
of a comprehensive, never-ending endeavor in combating against corruption.
That is why the Centre for Professional Training of Judges and Other Judicial
Officials has been active within the Ministry of Justice, Administration and
Local Self-Government, now for more then a year.
In September 2003, together
with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and with the participation of the Council
of Europe, the Ministry of Justice, Administration and Local Self-Government
organized a seminar on ratification and implementation all of the universal
and the European instruments for the fight against terrorism and organized
crime including corruption. The purpose of that seminar was to further the
education and to felicitate the exercising of these instruments by the Croatian
judiciary.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As one can see from
the above-described activities and measures, Croatian Government is not only
expressing its strong political will to deal with the issue of corruption,
but is willing to share its achievements and experience with other countries
and at the same time to undertake the concrete steps in that direction to
the grate extend possible.
Thank you for your attention.