Training on asset tracing for Albanian Prosecution and Law Enforcement. Over 60 representatives of the General Prosecution Office, District Prosecutions, Serious Crime Prosecution, Albanian State Police, General Directorate for the Prevention of Money Laundering, General Directorate of Customs, General Directorate of Taxation, attended training on asset tracing and identification for purposes of seizure and confiscation in a criminal case organised by the EU/CoE Action against Economic Crime in Albania (AEC-AL).

Business inspections in Azerbaijan suspended for four more years. The moratorium on inspections of business activities in Azerbaijan was extended until 2021, according to the amendments to the law “On suspension of inspections of entrepreneurial activities,” approved at the Parliament’s plenary session on 31 October. This suspension will prevent illegal audits by tax authorities and facilitate sustainable development of small and medium enterprises in the country.

GRECO adopts the Interim Joint First and Second Round Compliance Report on Belarus. At its 77th Plenary Meeting on 16-18 October 2017, GRECO adopted the compliance report on Belarus (GrecoRC1-2(2017)3). The report concludes that the level of compliance with recommendations remains ‘globally unsatisfactory’.

Bulgarian President’s meeting to discuss anti-corruption steps collapses. The October 8 meeting of Bulgaria’s Consultative Council on National Security called by President Roumen Radev to discuss steps against high-level corruption ended inconclusively when, after more than three hours of talks, it lost its quorum. The Government, in which Prime Minister Borissov’s Party is the majority partner, has tabled legislation on restructuring of the bodies intended to fight corruption, while the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party has tabled rival legislation that if approved, would create a new anti-corruption agency, headed by an appointee of the President.

Czech election front-runner charged with subsidy fraud. Czech prime minister candidate Andrej Babiš was formally charged with fraud in a case involving a €2 million EU subsidy, local media reported Monday. Police filed charges against Babiš, a former finance minister, and his deputy Jaroslav Faltýnek for subsidy fraud linked to a farm and conference center nearly a decade ago. Babiš is believed to be behind a plan to acquire the EU funds that were only meant for small businesses.

The first high-level EU–Georgia Strategic Security Dialogue took place on 11 October in Tbilisi. The one-day meeting reflected the commitment of both sides to take forward cooperation in the area of foreign and security policy in line with the EU-Georgia Association Agreement. The meeting confirmed the EU's appreciation for Georgia's important role in strengthening security and stability in the region and beyond.

Georgia meets EaP Summit "in good shape". Georgia is approaching the upcoming Eastern Partnership (EaP) summit “in good shape,” and is “ready to do even more than the Association Agreement requires from us, because we are doing it for our future in the European Union,” the Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze said at the meeting of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) on October 19. In his opening remarks to MEPs, Janelidze noted he was “proud to represent one of the strongest EU-enthusiast countries,” adding that “around 80 per cent of the entire population of Georgia supports the EU integration,” and that “Georgia’s democratic transformation is a product of its European aspirations.”

Doing Business 2018: Kosovo* among the top ten performers in the world. According to the World Bank Doing Business 2018, Kosovo* is ranked as the 40th economy with a DTF (distance to frontier) score of 73.49 (an improvement of +4.98 between 2016 and 2017). It is one of 10 economies showing the most improvement in performance on the Doing Business indicators. Improvements are noted regarding reforms related to starting a business, getting credit and resolving insolvency, including simplifying process of registering employees when starting a business and adoption of a new bankruptcy law that establishes clear priority rules inside bankruptcy for secured creditors and clear grounds for relief in reorganisation procedures.

Government approved the draft Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest. This law should strengthen the integrity and the guarantee of the performance of public duties in an objective, impartial and transparent manner by public officials. The aim of the Draft Law is to identify, prevent, manage and resolve conflict of interest situations of public officials. Council of Europe through the EU/CoE Joint Project against Economic Crime in Kosovo* (PECK II) has supported and provided substantial technical assistance in drafting and finalising this piece of legislation.

“Capture Corruption” Regional Competition. An annual student regional anti-corruption competition (sponsored by the U.S. Departments of State and Justice and the U.S. Embassies in the Western Balkans) will be conducted to encourage the Balkan student population to develop public awareness campaigns that advocate for intolerance and rejection of corruption. The students will design anti-corruption posters (grade school), create Public Service Announcement/Informational videos (high school) and compete for national and regional recognition and electronic prizes for the best anti-corruption campaign. The contest will be conducted on the YouTube video sharing platform and on the Facebook Page “Pa Korrupsion” “Bez Korupcije” (Corruption-free!).

A Vote for Stability Steers Southerner to Success in Kyrgyzstan's Presidential Election. Former Prime Minister Sooronbai Jeenbekov — from the pro-presidential Social Democratic Party — has won the Kyrgyzstan presidential election, with 54.81 percent of the vote. His main opponent, Omurbek Babanov, leader of Respublika-Ata Jurt — the second-largest party in parliament — received 33.74 percent of the votes. Jeenbekov’s ascent to power indicates voters’ clear preference for stability over any potential risk of a radical, yet uncertain shakeup of the country’s socioeconomic policies advocated by Babanov. 

Both candidates for Head of the National Integrity Authority (NIA) failed the polygraph test. The remaining two candidates running for the post of head of NIA (currently acting deputy of NIA and a member of the Superior Council of Magistracy) did not pass the polygraph test, the last stage of the competition. On 9 October, the National Integrity Council announced that the competition will be re-opened. Allegations of political involvement of high-level officials overshadow the process of selection of NIA head. According to political commentators, journalists and even members of the National Integrity Council (NIC), there is no will to have an authority checking assets and personal interests of public officials and parliamentarians. It was also emphasised that the problem was not so much with the candidates themselves but more with the small number of candidates who applied for the post of NIA head.

New arrests took place on money laundering charges. On the order of the Special Prosecutor, 6 persons were arrested and accused for setting up a criminal group and for laundering money returned from loans. The group is suspected to be connected to a Montenegrin businessman, president of a major group of companies in Montenegro (Atlas Capital), with investments in Serbia, Cyprus and Russia – of which the 6 arrested individuals are employees. They are in detention, interrogated by the Special Prosecution. Allegations in the media, beefed up by statements of Democratic Front politicians, link this operation with the coup case of October last year, as if the money allegedly laundered by Atlas group was supposed to support those events and ensure DPS victory.

The Ministry of Youth and Sports is undertaking an anti-corruption effort to check the accounts of several sports federations. The names of these federations will be known in three weeks. The Minister of Youth and Sports Talbi Alami vowed to "fight corruption in the federations at its root". While the Ministry still refuses to give the names of federations concerned by these audits, it is expected that the audit will cover shooting federations, sport for all, basketball, volleyball, taekwondo and others.

Five people are accused of undermining state security for organizing the promotion of citizen journalism in Morocco. They risk five years in prison. Two other defendants are being prosecuted for failing to notify the General Secretariat of the Government of receiving funding from abroad for their association, AMJI; they risk a fine of 10,000 dirhams.

The law will protect whistleblowers in Russia. The Government of the Russian Federation approved the draft law aimed at protecting individuals reporting corruption.  According to the draft law, developed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection and submitted to the State Duma for discussion, decision to dismiss, transfer to another position or initiate disciplinary proceedings against individuals reporting corruption could not be taken without a review of each case by a special commission on work ethics and conflict of interest. Prosecutors will be required to participate in the hearings conducted by such commissions. Moreover, whistleblowers will be provided with free legal consultations. The draft law also ensures protection of confidentiality of information provided by whistleblowers.

Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights is preparing a report on the impact of corruption on internal, economic and social policies in Russia. The report will be finalised by December 9, the International Anti-Corruption Day.

Ministry of Internal Affairs is investigating the involvement of managers of three Russian banks in stealing of assets. The Ministry of Internal Affairs requested the Central Bank to provide information about possible illegal activities of managers and staff of Russian banks Otkritie, Binbank and Yugra. This request came after the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market submitted a letter in which members of the Parliament asked for the full explanation of the reasons that had led to the loss of assets of these banks as well as information on whether those responsible had been held accountable. General Directorate for Economic Security and Combating Corruption is in charge of the inquiry.

International arrest. The former chief of the fifth administration, Goran Grujovski, and Nikola Boskovski, who was an employee at UBK, were arrested in Thessaloniki when they attempted to leave Greece with false Bulgarian passports. They have been on the run since July when the Special Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against them for the “Fortress” and “Target” cases in connection with the illegal wiretapping of thousands of citizens by misusing the monitoring systems within the Ministry of Interior, as well as for the physical destruction of part of the equipment. Due to this an international arrest warrant was issued by the Macedonian authorities. Greek police acted on this international arrest warrant and brought them into custody. Both Grujevski and Boskoski asked not to be extradited as they feared for their life. The Special Public Prosecutor, Katica Janeva, expressed hope that the extradition proceedings for the defendants will end soon allowing the trial to begin soon as well. They will be also tried in Greece for holding false identification documents.

Anti-graft prosecutors accuse Romania's justice minister of interference. Romanian anti-corruption prosecutors accused the Justice Minister of interfering in a criminal investigation involving two senior government officials. They said they had asked the top judicial watchdog to look into comments that the Justice Minister Tudorel Toader made about their inquiry, in a country that Transparency International and other bodies say has one of the worst records on graft in the European Union.

Prosecution Fined One Million Dinars for Keeping Silent on Savamala Case. The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance has, in the course of 2017, sanctioned the Higher Public Prosecution in Belgrade for a total sum of one million dinars for covering up information from the public, above all in the case of the demolition of buildings in the Belgrade quarter of Savamala.

Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi issued an amnesty law for civil servants involved in corruption under dictatorship. The only sanction foreseen is the reimbursement to the State of sums unduly earned, as well as the payment of a financial penalty. The amnesty only concerns officials accused of being involved in administrative corruption, but not receiving bribes.

Thirteen public officials involved in a money laundering case were detained on the orders of the public prosecutor. The Judicial, Economic and Financial Crimes Unit is leading the case, which involves a smuggling ring and collusion between businessmen and public officials, with some of these crimes punishable by 20 years in prison.

The President of Ukraine: a separate Anti-Corruption Court must be created in Ukraine. According to President Petro Poroshenko, a separate judicial anti-corruption vertical line should be created in Ukraine as part of a separate Anti-Corruption Court, cassation instance - the anti-corruption chamber in the Supreme Court of Ukraine and representatives of the anti-corruption court on the ground. The President proposed to the Parliament to create a working group immediately and elaborate a concerted draft law that will be supported by the whole Verkhovna Rada.

Venice Commission invites the Ukrainian President to submit a revised draft law on high specialised anti-corruption courts to Parliament, based on its recommendations. In its opinion on the draft law on anti-corruption courts in Ukraine adopted on 6 October 2017, the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the “Venice Commission”) noted that many of the provisions of the draft law provide a good basis for the establishment of a high specialised anti-corruption court (HACC), but made several recommendations to reduce the risk that it could be considered unconstitutional. The Venice Commission invited the President of Ukraine to promptly submit his own draft law on anti-corruption courts. The current draft law (Draft Law No. 6011) thus needs to be withdrawn.

NABU detained Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine for corruption in amount of UAH 149 million. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office exposed the corruption scheme with embezzlement of public funds in the amount of over 149 million Ukrainian hryvnas (4.7 million euros) in the purchase of fuel for the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine. Deputy Minister of Defence was detained in relation to this corruption scheme.