Azerbaijan, Shamakhi, Feb 15 / Trend A. Akhundov
Cooperation with civil society is one of the main guidelines in fighting corruption in Azerbaijan, Head of the Anti-corruption Department of Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan Kamran Aliyev said during "Fighting against corruption in Azerbaijan: achievements and prospects" conference.
"To strengthen cooperation with the population in this direction, the department created "hot line", which received over 3,000 calls in 2011," he said.
Twenty-seven criminal cases were filed against persons who abused their official powers and 17 operational events were conducted, he added.
"There are verdicts on some of these cases," Aliyev added.
International experience shows that these measures should be carried out not by one agency, but by all law enforcement agencies in the system order, he said.
"The joint work is conducted in this direction," Aliyev added.
He also stressed the need for further development of cooperation with NGOs and cooperation at the international level.
"Azerbaijan works closely with International Anti Corruption academy (IACA) from the first days of its creation. Azerbaijani specialists take part in summer courses organized by the academy," Aliyev said.
A series of measures were carried out in order to improve the effectiveness of measures to combat corruption in 2011.
"In particular, the department's staff has been expanded from 40 to 100 people, technical staff from 15 to 45 people. Now the department employs 145 people. The department was restructured in 2011 by increasing its divisions from 3 to 7," he added.
The IACA delegation is participating in the conference in Shamakhi. IACA was initiated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Austrian government, the European Anti-fraud Office, as well as other interested parties.