Azerbaijan , Baku, May 23 /Trend/
In accordance with the amendments made to the legislation to strengthen combating corruption in Azerbaijan, new departments have been established at the Anti-Corruption Office under the Prosecutor General's Office.
The Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan Zakir Garalov said in his interview to press that the Prosecutor General's Office has strengthened combating corruption in accordance with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's instruction to more seriously combat corruption and bribery. President Ilham Aliyev gave the instruction to combat corruption during the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to the social-economic development as a result of 2010.
Mentioning the implementation of several legislative and practical measures over the recent period, Garalov said that upon the Presidential decree dated March 11, 2011, the staff of the Anti-Corruption Office under the Prosecutor General's Office has been increased by 60 to 100 units. In addition, a significant change has been made to the number of technical staff.
Garalov said that amending the Law on Operation and Investigation Activities and Law on Prosecutor General's Office on March 18, 2011, the Parliament of Azerbaijan has authorized the Anti-Corruption Office to conduct operation-search activities. He said that authorizing the Anti-Corruption Office to conduct operation-search activities is the manifestation of State's confidence in the prosecutor agencies.
Garalov said that in according to these amendments, the operation-search activities on corruption crimes will be conducted only by the Anti-Corruption Office. Such activities by other agencies can be conducted only upon the written order of the Anti-Corruption Office.
"In order to implement the duties arising from the mentioned legal acts, a relevant order has been signed on May 12, 2011 on the improvement of the structure of the Anti-Corruption Office, approval of charters of the structure under the Office. According to the order, new four departments have been established under the Office and some departments were eliminated, and thus, the number of the departments under the Office has reached seven, " Garalov said.
Currently work is underway to provide newly established Operation and other departments with skilled and experienced staff. There are plans to employ at these departments via competition. Furthermore, important measures are taken to supply the material-technical base of these departments with the most advanced equipment. Garalov said that a preventive measures and investigation department has been established on the base of the analytical-information department. An internal security service has been established on the basis of internal investigations department.
The Prosecutor General said that creating an opportunity for the Anti-Corruption Office to access the databases, information-search systems, registers and other information resources will positively affect accelerating the investigation of crimes. "A department for organization and information provision has been established to get necessary information from the databases of state and non-state agencies, information systems and registers, control over requests on receiving this information, help prosecutors and investigators find necessary documents, " Garalov said. Saying that the Prosecutor General will control over the implementation of laws during the operation-search activities conducted by specialized prosecutor agencies to combat corruption, Garalov said that the changes will make easier the control on the coordination of the measures to combat corruption and the implementation of the measures in accordance with the legislation.
Garalov said that the recommendations of international organizations, including Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), have been taken into account and the experience of European specialized anti-corruption agencies have been studied in making these amendments. "I believe that the amendments will be a great boost to creating a quick mechanism against corruption at Anti-Corruption Office. I would like to mention that the large-scale and complex measures taken by the Azerbaijani political leadership to combat corruption are yielding positive results, the works done are appreciated by country and international community," Garalov said.