Council of Europe

• Council of Europe
• Human Rights and Rule of Law
• Group of States against corruption (GRECO)

Liechtenstein joins the Group of States against Corruption

Press Release

Strasbourg, 12 January 2010 - On 1 January 2010, Liechtenstein became a member of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), the monitoring body established by the Council of Europe to improve the capacity of countries to prevent and combat corruption. On 17 November 2009 Liechtenstein signed the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption, although it has not ratified it yet.
 
By joining on an equal footing the other 46 GRECO members, which include all the Council of Europe member states – with the exception of San Marino – and the United States of America, Liechtenstein has accepted to actively commit itself to fighting corruption

An evaluation team will soon carry out an on-site visit to Liechtenstein to examine issues related notably to the capability of institutions to deal with corruption cases, preventive measures taken within the public administration and mechanisms in place to target the proceeds of corruption. This is a “catch-up” evaluation since all the other members have already been evaluated in those areas since the creation of GRECO in 1999.

Next year, GRECO will produce a report summing up the findings and containing possible recommendations for improvement. A further evaluation visit will be organised at a later stage, in the framework of GRECO’s current working areas, which will deal with incriminations of corruption and transparency of party funding.

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