Azernews.Az

By Jamila Babayeva

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has appreciated Azerbaijan's anti-corruption measures.

Azerbaijan has fulfilled all its obligations to fight corruption, OECD chief adviser Olga Savran said.

A report adopted by the OECD's Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia on Azerbaijan's successful completion of the first phase of the Third Round Evaluation was presented on January 17.

Olga Savran, the head of the Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan Tatyana Khavanska, the head of the Department to fight corruption under the General Prosecutor, OECD National Coordinator Kamran Aliyev, Secretary of the Commission on Combating Corruption Vusal Huseynov, senior officials of Baku offices of the OSCE, the EU, the Council of Europe and other international organizations, representatives of relevant government agencies, civil society and media developed the report.

In accordance with the Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia of OECD, delegations of the OECD Secretariat, Lithuania, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan visited Baku on June 3-7, 2013 in connection with the execution of the recommendations on Azerbaijan. Members of the delegations held fruitful meetings with the staff of several government departments, during which they appreciated the work done in Azerbaijan in recent years in the fight against corruption. They also praised legislative and practical measures carried out in the country in this area, as well as improvement of the activity and structure of the Department to fight corruption under the General Prosecutor.

Official representatives of Anticorruption network said Azerbaijan became the first country, which has passed successfully the first stage of evaluation round. The report recognized anticorruption legislation of Azerbaijan and its level of performance, the model of the Department to fight corruption under the General Prosecutor as successful examples, and praised the activity of ASAN Service.

The head of the Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan Tatyana Khavanska in turn noted that the adoption of certain legislative acts of Azerbaijan in the fight against corruption is worth respect.

The Department to fight corruption under the General Prosecutor presented its statistics on corruption crimes in 2013. 1,860 citizen appeals and 230 crime materials were examined, 69 percent which were prosecuted, and proactive measures were taken for other materials.

The Investigation Division of the Department accomplished 201 criminal charges against 367 individuals, and forwarded them to appropriate authorities in 2013.

The cases of corruption often were fixed in education, health and social welfare in this period.

Department Head Kamran Aliyev said the fight against corruption in the country has become even more intense in 2013, as in previous years.

Aliyev said the number of appeals on bribery to the Department has decreased. He noted that most of appeals received by the Department related to red tape and bureaucracy, which are sent to heads of relevant government agencies.