(NIB), an agency modelled on and supported by the American FBI. This special structure under the national police will be established and entrusted to investigate inter alia criminal, economic and organised crime-related offences that are under the jurisdiction of the Serious Crimes prosecution, as well as those involving high-level officials from the executive, judiciary and elected persons.

The head of the US Office for Central and Southern European Affairs, Thomas Yazdgerdi, says that every Albanian official who wants to enter the US, may be denied a visa if they are involved in corruption. His declaration comes a few days after the US ambassador to Tirana, Donald Lu, declared that several Albanian judges, against whom there are corruption allegations, had their US visas refused or cancelled.

Political commentator Alina Mungiu-Pippidi has stated that corruption is the main motive of the exodus of Albanians. She revealed that people aim to detach themselves from a society where meritocracy is neglected and Albanians now have higher confidence towards the European Union. Her studies were part of a report drafted by the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington DC.

The Commission on Combatting Corruption, in co-operation with the Council of Europe, held a public discussion titled ‘Strengthening Capacities to Fight and Prevent Corruption in Azerbaijan’, aiming to enhance a collaborative approach between the government and NGOs. 

In the newly published addendum to the Second Compliance report, GRECO notes that corruption remains an important problem that Azerbaijani society encounter. The report requests Azerbaijan to work towards implementing more recommendations which concern party financing.

The Anti-Corruption Directorate with the General Prosecutor launched charges of fraud and abuse of power against a senior official of the State Committee on Family, Women and Children Affairs. Safar Imanov is accused of embezzling $170,000 from a citizen under the guise of granting them an executive position.

Transparency International Anti-corruption Center (TIAC) has been holding community meetings on the electoral process in Armenia, regularly throughout the month. Hoping to improve the nation’s democratisation, the meetings bring together observers and citizens who are interested in the election observation mission and stress the necessity of having a free and transparent process. TIAC also visited Young Leaders’ School to offer an interactive training session on tackling corruption.

At the 7th session of EU-Armenia Justice, Freedom and Security Meeting, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Vigen Kocharyan, labelled anti-corruption as one of the nation’s primary problems. Apart from working with international experts at the EU and participating with civil society, Kocharyan urged for institutional and legislative reforms to strengthen the bilateral relations.

The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, in co-operation with the Ministry of Security, held a specialised course for security sector representatives and stressed the importance of co-ordination to minimise the risk of corruption in the country.

Transparency International and Radio Free Europe have highlighted the continued large-scale misconduct in the health sector and criticised the lack of sanctions currently delivered by the government.

The Belarusian security service detained Yury Chyzh of Triple Holdings on suspicion of large-scale tax evasion. One of the country’s richest and most influential people, Chyzh faces seven years in jail, if charged.

Anti-corruption police have charged six people and three companies in connection with the awarding of contracts in a Railway Infrastructure Administration public procurement process. A state attorney noted that the charges related to an alleged tender manipulation and an attempted harm of the financial interests of the European Union.

On 9-10 March 2016, Council of Europe experts, Interpol and the Belgian and Dutch Recovery offices amongst other participants hosted a conference on the “Challenges in the area of asset recovery” in Prague. The event was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Interior, prosecutors and judges.

A poll conducted by the CVVM polling institute suggests that Czechs are most worried by corruption, followed by immigration and white-collar crime. The fear of corruption has risen since the poll’s previous annual version.

Voting the government out has become nearly impossible for Macedonians, EU mediator Peter Vanhoutte told Deutsche Welle ahead of his last day in office. A leaked report from Macedonia’s State Electoral Commission showed that almost 300,000 names out of 1.8 million on the voter registry might be fake. Vanhoutte added that plenty of other problems persist in addition to those with the CoE anti-corruption digest 4 March 2016 voter registry.

The Constitutional Court in Macedonia struck down a law yesterday which had blocked the President from pardoning perpetrators of certain crimes. The change in law allows the President to pardon people convicted of corruption, electoral crimes, paedophilia, drug production and trafficking, with the re-introduction of the rule being met with protests outside the court building. 

At the conference on Compliance Management Systems in the Private Sector in Skopje, Justice Minister Adnan Jasari related corruption in the private sector back to the prevention of foreign and domestic long-term investment in Macedonia. Jasari added that the justice ministry is investing efforts towards creating a legislative infrastructure, harmonised with all international documents, in increasing efficiency in the fight against corruption.

Georgia’s State Security Service (SSS) detained two men, Jemal Duadge and Gogita Demetrashvili, for bribing victims under the false guise of working for the SSS and the State Anti-Corruption Agency. Holding a previous conviction for fraud, Demtrashvili acted as the deputy leader of the SSS to steal $30,000 USD from a victim.

Several hundred students took part in a major protest against alleged widespread corruption by Tbilisi State University (TSU) in Georgia. It has been claimed that TSU has had corrupt spending policies, including the distribution of special funds to privileged students. Organised by a collection of civil NGOs and social movements, it is alleged that the student government at TSU have embezzled grants of 24600GEL and 19000GEL, which had been set aside for training purposes.

He was selected to the post by his fellow board members from a shortlist of three candidates proposed by experts and will replace Giorgi Kadagidze , following the end of his seven-year term. Gvenatadze has previously worked as a senior economist at the IMF as well as serving in multiple government positions including as Georgia’s Deputy Finance Minister from 2000-2001.

On 6-10 March 2016, Council of Europe experts held a series of workshops and meetings aimed at reinforcing the capacities of the Jordanian authorities in dealing with asset recovery cases. The workshops were addressed to Jordanian institutions involved in asset recovery, notably the Anti-Money Laundering / Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Unit and prosecutors from the Jordanian Anti-Corruption Commission (JACC).

The Lower House of the Jordanian Parliament endorsed a new anti-corruption bill. It envisages the merger of the Anti-Corruption Commission and the Audit Bureau into a single administrative and financial entity called the National Centre for Integrity and Anti-Corruption. The bill also proposes the creation of a Prosecutor General position responsible exclusively for anti-corruption offences. 

In their latest report, think tank Kosovar Institute for Policy Research and Development (KIPRED) says prosecution and courts in Kosovo score poorly when it comes to addressing high-profile corruption cases. Under pressure from the politicians, the courts in Kosovo only selectively address corruption cases, usually absolving high-profile ones. The report adds only 444 corruption cases of 976 brought by the prosecution resulted in verdicts, accounting for 45 per cent of cases, in 2014. During the first half of 2015, the rate was 128 cases out of 717, which was only 18 per cent. KIPRED says that while justice institutions in Kosovo mostly focus on processing petty corruption cases, “high-profile corruption investigations are rare”.
 

Head of EU Office in Pristina/EU Special Representative said.

The heads of the Audit Chamber and the Anti-Corruption Service of the State National Security Committee of Kyrgyzstan have both announced their resignations at their own request. Elmira Ibralmova and Bokonbay Kazakov’s letters were accepted by the President, and it is widely considered that the latter may replace Indira Dzholdubaeva as the General Prosecutor of the Republic in the future.

Montenegro allocated 4.8 million euros for the fight against corruption, doubling the value from previous years. At the conference ‘The Price of Corruption – Analysis of the Anti-corruption Policy Effectiveness’ organised by the Centre for Monitoring and Research, various strategies and a cost-benefit analysis of the department’s new programme was presented. Earlier, MEPs welcomed the steady progress made in EU accession negotiations with Montenegro, but noted that corruption remained a serious concern.

Widespread disillusionment and anti-government protests on Moldova’s inability to contain rampant corruption has led to an interrelated loss in faith for US-led co-operation with NATO. A survey run by International Republic Institute found that the number of pro-NATO Moldovans dropped from 31% to 19% in a period of one month, following the beginning of the protests. Mihai Gribincea, Moldova’s former envoy to NATO, stressed the importance of not allowing the corruption issue to be integrated into the security debate concerning NATO emphasising the need for stability in the region.

Following the second Association Council meeting, the EU reiterated its call for Moldova to improve national legislation to ensure the independence, effectiveness, transparency and accountability of the judiciary. Moldova reaffirmed that the fight against corruption and money laundering was two of the nation’s key priorities.

During a meeting on anti-corruption bodies in the Arab countries, Transparency Maroc formulated some recommendations in view of the setting-up of the new AntiCorruption Authority (INPPLC) foreseen by the Constitution. Even if the law establishing the INPPLC was adopted in July 2015, the new Authority has not yet been set-up. The recommendations focused on the need to appoint the President and members of INPPLC
Board based on the criteria of merit, integrity and independence from political parties as well as to allocate sufficient financial resources to INPPLC.

As a part of the Council of Europe’s SNAC2 project, a study visit of a Moroccan interagency delegation to Riga, Latvia took place in early March. The visit allowed both nations to establish contacts and pave way for future cooperation. Furthermore, the exchanges with Latvian homologue
agencies allowed the parties to identify good practices to strengthen the Moroccan anticorruption and anti-money laundering framework.

The arrest of El Makraoui had caused a wave of indignation among Moroccan social media users who described it as a form of suppression, but the Minister of Justice and Liberties, Mustafa Ramid, sent an official
statement to the Public Prosecutor to release him on bail. He was later acquitted by the Court of First Instance of Safi after the complainant withdrew his claims.
 

The Prosecution Department of the Supreme Council of Magistrates (CSM) issued a favourable unanimous opinion on Justice Minister Raluca Pruna’s recommendation for the reappointment of Laura Codruta Kovesi as
chief prosecutor of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA). The opinion was issued unanimously by CSM’s Prosecution Department, after Kovesi presented her management project and answered the questions. 

The Head of the Romanian Intelligence Agency, Eduard Hellvig, spoke out against the Constitutional Court’s recent ruling which declared it was unconstitutional for the agency to tap phones in prosecutions. In recent years, surveillance has helped tackle terrorism, cybercrime and corruption in Romania and Hellvig predicted that the ban would mean that his team would need more than 10.4 million euros and 100 new police officers to adapt to the changes. A few days later, the government granted criminal investigation powers to Hellvig and his team.

One of Romania’s leading businessmen, Dan Adamescu, has been charged with abusing his power as a chief executive and for money laundering. Anti-corruption investigators revealed that Adamescu had to pay 800 million lei in damages for his role in the failure and bankruptcy of the leading insurance
company, SC Astra Insurance.

Chairman of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko said that Russia could be interested in Singapore's experience in the struggle against corruption. "Singapore's experience in economic, social and political development, including the struggle against corruption, enjoys demand in the world and in Russia too," she said. Valentina Matviyenko believes that Russia should study Singapore's experience and try to use it to struggle against corruption in Russia, The Kommersant newspaper said.

The Deputy Head of Russia’s Culture Ministry was reportedly arrested Tuesday as part of a wide-ranging probe into the corruption at the agency launched by Russia’s security services. Grigory Pirumov was detained in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, according to anonymous sources cited by multiple Russian news agencies. The arrest came after Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) released a statement announcing that it had opened criminal cases into a several businessmen and top officials at the Ministry of Culture. 

The Central Bank of Russia released official figures suggesting that the country was beginning to get on top of the inherent problems it had faced with international money laundering in the past. It revealed that US$26.5 billion left the country during 2013 in ‘fictitious transactions’, while the figure decreased to US$8.6 billion in 2014 and just US$936 million for the first half of 2015. 

 Marko Miskovic, son of one the wealthiest men in Serbia, Miroslav Miskovic, was convicted to three years of imprisonment and fine of eight million Serbian Dinars on tax evasion and abuse of office charges. Miskovic Jr. was suspected of having embezzled money from two privatised former state owned companies and conducted related tax evasion. This case, along with the case against Miroslav Miskovic, has been deemed highly controversial having been seemingly spearheaded by top officials within the current government (see below).

After a long standing career, judge Vladimir Vucinic resigned from the judiciary after 20 years of service. His clashes with the current Serbian Government begun after he decided to allow Miroslav Miskovic, standing trial on abuse of office charges in a high profile case, to travel out of the CoE anti-corruption digest 8 March 2016 country despite being on a travel ban as part of his bail conditions. Vucinic’s decision was heavily scrutinized and was shortly followed by his removal from the position of the President of the Organized Crime and High Corruption Department of the Belgrade Higher Court and subsequent demotion to a status of a regular criminal judge. The decision to leave the judiciary is explained by a need to get away from the pressure he is facing within the judiciary.

With the imminent election on 24 April, Prime Minster Aleksandar Vučić remains focused on prioritising economic reform and led a second round of corruption-related arrests, after 86 people had been arrested in December 2015. In March, 46 further people were arrested, including 15 police officers, a judge and a mayor. Interior Minister, Nebojša Stefanović, suggested that the suspects’ activities are likely to have cost the state close to 7 million euros in unpaid taxes and fines.

Tunisia to be removed from money laundering blacklist in October. Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia Marouane Abassi announced that October 2019 will see the removal of Tunisia from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) blacklist of non-cooperative countries in the global fight against money laundering and terrorism financing. Abassi declared that the FATF will visit Tunisia in mid-September to check the extent to which it has implemented the action plan adopted in November 2017 against money laundering and terrorism financing.

On 20 June 2019, the FATF announced that Tunisia had completed the implementation of its plan and decided to schedule a field visit to verify its implementation. It confirmed that Tunisia has complied with 29 of the recommendations outlined by the FATF for the Middle East and North Africa.

Truth and Dignity Commission suspected of corruption. Truth and Dignity Commission member confirmed suspicions of corruption surrounding the case of funds confiscated from former regime figures in Tunisia. Launched in 2014, the Commission is tasked with ensuring that justice is guaranteed in the country during its democratic transition. Suspicions include money laundering and misappropriating public funds during the presidency of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali with the complicity of state agencies. The numbers revealed are a fraction of the massive wealth the former regime acquired through the abuse of power.

European Union and Tunisia sign "EU4Youth" agreement on the economic, social and political inclusion of young Tunisians. The EU welcomed the progress made by Tunisia in meeting international and European standards in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing and will continue its support to this end and with the objective to seeing Tunisia exit the FATF and EU lists.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine have said that 75% of their survey’s respondents believe that corruption remains the key problem in business in the country. Corruption garnered more votes than the legal system (16%) and bureaucratisation (9%), with the group calling for changes in staff and the introduction of more independent auditors. The views were echoed by US diplomat Victoria Nuland, who called to address problems that the Maidan revolution had called for. 

Following the passing of the public sector anti-corruption bill, the European Commission has voiced their support by proposing visa-free travel in the country from April. The implementation of the bill, which will see government officials and their relatives file declarations of their income and assets for public scrutiny, will be overseen by the newly-launched National Agency for Prevention of Corruption in a bid to bring Ukraine in line with international transparency standards.

A fire bomb was thrown into the house of Victoria Voytsitska, a Samopomich Party lawmaker active in battling corruption in the energy sector, in mid-March. Voytsitska has been actively calling for investigations into alleged corruption at state companies UkrGasVydobuvannya and UkrNafta and has filed four claims with the National Anti-corruption Bureau (NABU) in that respect. Company mismanagement practices were the topic of Parliament discussions on the eve ahead of the attack.