Statement by the Head of the Slovak delegation Dr. Daniel Lipsic, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice

 

Mr. Chairman, Colleagues Ministers,  Distinguished Delegates,

 

 

I have the honour to represent Slovak Republic, a young transforming post-communist country that is striding with hope on it way of building its new identity in the family of nations belonging to the international community and in particular to the European Union.

 

Corruption can be a lifestyle - a way of achieving inappropriate personal advantages, it can be a part of culture, an unwritten rule, tolerated behaviour. However, it stays a fact that its presence is a confirmation of the absence of courage - the courage to change one's conduct and also the courage not to tolerate corrupted behaviour of others.

 

Since 1998 the fight against corruption has permanently been included among the priority tasks of the Slovak government and a whole range of legislative and institutional changes in the field of criminal, civil and commercial law have been adopted to eliminate corruption. However, every single government likes to talk about the necessity to fight corruption. But what really counts are deeds and action, not words.

 

On 6 July 1999, the Slovak Parliament enacted an amendment to the Criminal Code introducing a special section entitled 'Corruption', which criminalizes acts of active and passive corruption in a more severe manner both in public and in private sector. provides for stricter penalties and for criminal liability of foreign public officials.

 

However, the acts falling under the notion of "corruption" do not have the attributes of ordinary criminal activity. They are conducted in a secret setting. As a result, it is necessary to respond to such acts also with the help of non-standard, undercover, methods of detection, while applying control mechanisms to ensure the respect for fundamental human rights.

 

The amended Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code implemented the provisions of EU Council Resolution of 20 December 1996 on individuals who co­operate with the Judicial process in the fight against international organized crime, by introducing the institution of special agents designated to perform the tasks connected with the detection of certain serious criminal activities (including corruption and abuse of power by public officials). Persons who act as agents are members of the police force or, in corruption-related cases, any person, designated by the Ministry of Interior. Moreover, persons who immediately report "money under table" in a case where they were asked for a bribe are immune from prosecution.

 

Although the experience of our law enforcement agencies (LEA) with involving agents in the investigation procedure is generally positive, there were certain limitations which prevented under-cover operations from being as successful as one would desire. Until December lst agents were not free to act on their own initiative, and our legal system did not distinguish between a legal "sting operation " and an illegal entrapment. The latest amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code, effective for only ten days, made the use of "sting operations" possible in uncovering corruption of public officials.

 

In December 2002, the Government decided to establish a special Anti-Corruption Department within the Office of the Government, which is directly managed by the Minister of Justice, and is responsible for the implementation of anti-corruption policy of my county. This Department watches over the Ministries and other competent entities with a view to converting the ideas from the Government Programme into concrete suggestions, draft laws and institutional changes. Furthermore, the Department has creative competence and its employees take the initiative to identify gaps in legislation, in policies and in their implementation. This Department places significant emphasis on cooperation with business and non-governmental sectors, sensitization of the public and cooperation with active members of the civil society.

 

 

Where we are, where are we going, challenges for the future

  •     Many important pieces of legislation have been passed this year:

o          legislation on the protection of whistleblowers,

o          legislation creating the institution of a "crown witness" in corruption and organized crime cases,

o           laws strengthening the responsibility of judges and the judicial system,

o           laws formulating a "zero-tolerance" policy for all legal professionals,

  • The draft constitutional law on Conflict of Interest and draft law on the prosecution of persons who gained their property from illegal sources (forfeiture of property), have been submitted to Parliament.

 

  • Working groups have been created to work on introducing criminal responsibility of legal entities, and projects are underway aimed at the publication of court judgments on the Internet, public civil supervision of courts; the ongoing "Court management" project, based on electronic random assignment of cases to judges and general computerization of their work, is being successfully implemented at almost all courts in the country.

 

 

But no matter how well drafted legislative acts may be, there will always be a need to re-examine them and to strive for improving their implementation - Slovakia and its competent authorities are also active in this regard. One great challenge is presented by the recently enacted law on the establishment of a Special Court and a Special Prosecution Service. The law, effective as of May I", has the aim of setting up specialised bodies to detect, investigate and prosecute corruption and organized crime, including terrorist crimes and activities of terrorist groups, by creating a Special Prosecution Service and specialized units of the Police Force. A Special Court is also being established so as to enhance the specialization of activities of individual bodies.

 

Another new piece of legislation is the already mentioned amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code: the amendment introduced, as the most significant change, the institution of a cooperating or a "crown" witness. It will be applied to cases and persons who decide to cooperate with law enforcement authorities in detecting corruption and organized crime and convicting its perpetrators. The bottom line of this institution is a formal agreement between the perpetrator of a criminal offence and the State under which - in exchange for providing relevant evidence for the conviction of other accomplices, thus enabling the prosecution to present a stronger case - a cooperating offender will be granted the advantage of being exempted from criminal liability or a reduced term of imprisonment below the minimum sentencing rate. This amendment also entails a change in the Criminal Code by means of expanding the list of mitigating circumstances applicable to the sentence received by the offender who contributes to the detection or conviction of an organized group, a criminal group or a terrorist group.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, Distinguished Delegates,

 

Let me conclude by thanking all the participating countries for their constructive approach during these negotiations and express hope and belief in our good cooperation in the future.

 

Finally, I can only wish us all a lot of courage and endurance in the fight against such an evil phenomenon as corruption undoubtedly is. By fighting corruption we restore confidence of our people in democracy. Corruption weakens this confidence and destroys the values and traditions upon which a democratic system depends. I hope that the UN Convention against Corruption would become an effective tool in combating corruption at a global level.