By Vish Gain for AML Intelligence
EUROPE’S TOP anti-corruption body has said governments need to ensure all pandemic-related measures are accompanied by corruption checks as vast amounts of funds are injected into economies to counter Covid-19’s economic impact.
This includes the many emergency measures implemented by governments across the world that curtail the fundamental rights of citizens, reducing government accountability and transparency.
The Council of Europe’s Group of States Against Corruption, better known as GRECO, has published its annual report Thursday which highlights trends from previous evaluations and draws from best practices across its 50 member states. This includes 49 European countries and the United States.
“For more than one year now governments have had to put in place emergency measures that have implied concentrations of powers and derogations of fundamental rights, measures which go hand in hand with corruption risks that should not be underestimated,” the Council said in a statement.
“These risks may be particularly pronounced in respect of public procurement systems when it comes to issues such as conflicts of interest and the role of lobbying,” it said.
Marin Mrčela, president of GRECO, warned of the vulnerabilities in the anti-corruption system exposed by the pandemic.
“As countries face undeniable emergencies, concentration of powers, derogations from fundamental rights and freedoms, and as large amounts of money are infused into the economy to alleviate the crisis, corruption risks should not be underestimated,” he said.
“It is therefore most important that anti-corruption is streamlined in all COVID-19, and more generally, pandemic-related processes,” he said, referring to guidelines published last year for states to manage corruption risks during the pandemic, including fraud, bribery in medical services and protection of whistleblowers in the health sector.
“It is crucial that, in state of emergency situations, all decisions and procedures are designed with transparency, integrity and accountability”, he said.
Mrčela also warned of “conspicuous attempts” by governments to attack, intimidate or subjugate the judiciary, based on the group’s findings last year.
“When looking at the measures to prevent corruption, we must bear in mind that we should not see the fight against corruption as separate from, or even opposed to judicial independence. The first is essential to the second, and vice-versa,” he said.
Corruption and the rule of law
Didier Reynders, the European Commissioner for Justice, said the fight against corruption is crucial for maintaining the EU rule of law, a policy that has caused internal conflict in the union.
“Corruption undermines the functioning of the state and of public authorities at all levels and is a key enabler of organised crime,” he said in a feature article for the report. “Effective anti-corruption frameworks, transparency and integrity in the exercise of state power can strengthen legal systems and trust in public authorities.”
Last month, the European Commission said it would refer Poland to the EU’s top court for passing a 2020 law beefing up the country’s rules on penalizing judges. The law undermines “the judicial independence of Polish judges” and is “incompatible with the primacy of EU law,” the Commission said in a statement.
Earlier, Poland and Hungary had filed a complaint with the EU’s supreme court over a mechanism that tied respect for the rule of law with EU funding, approved last year.
The two countries have been at odds with the EU for years over accusations their governments have been eroding judicial and media independence, prompting the bloc to include the rule of law mechanism in the €1.8 trillion budget.
In a report seen by AML Intelligence last year, Les Club de Juristes – an association of lawyers, magistrates and business representatives said that key commitments to the rule of law and reshaping business relationships are needed if the EU is to get to where it needs to be in the fight against corruption, called for reforms in anti-money-laundering, bribery and other financial crimes.
By the end of 2020, GRECO’s member states had fully implemented almost 40% of its recommendations to prevent corruption in respect of MPs, judges and prosecutors. The recommendations with the lowest compliance were those issued in respect of MPs (only 30% fully implemented), followed by judges (41%) and prosecutors (47%).
“This explains to a large extent why people’s trust in politics is very low and will be even lower if politicians don’t step up their compliance with integrity standards,” Mrčela said last year.
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