2016-05-12
Steps undertaken by Georgia in terms of elimination of corruption may be considered less than revolutionary, but the outcomes are truly groundbreaking, - Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili noted in his speech at the Anti-Corruption Summit: London 2016.
The Head of the Government of Georgia thanked Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for organizing the Summit and noted that transparency, enforcement and cultural changes are the three pillars nourished by the political will and technologies. These are the main drivers of the anticorruption machine.
"We have developed a one-stop-shop-based nationwide network of public service halls in up to 20 cities and community centers in more than 30 large villages across the country that provide all types of public services to natural persons. Today, within the frames of the new initiative under the reform, we are expanding this model to meet all possible needs of the legal persons. This will ensure provision of all types of services that legal persons may require from the governmental agency in one building based on the principle of one-stop-shop. This limits the corruption related risks that are already low in Georgia.
We introduced a comprehensive online state procurement system, developed an E-Treasury and E-Budget programs and passed laws to pave the way for efficient prosecution of corruption-related crimes. I have to note that we have our political party funding law, which is crucial prior to the Parliamentary elections that are scheduled this autumn," - Prime minister noted and emphasized that said changes greatly affected Georgia.
In a view of practical partnership, Giorgi Kvirikashvili particularly emphasized the UK government's efforts under the framework of the Good Governance Fund to establish a strategic cooperation between the Office of Budget Responsibility of the UK and the Parliamentary Budget Office of Georgia.
Prime Minister noted the continual monitoring of the Asset Declaration System for Public Officials as one of the important novelties in Georgia.
"This groundbreaking amendment will substantially affect our anticorruption efforts. The employees of the Civil Service Bureau became authorized to undertake the permanent verification of asset declarations. If as a result of the checkup the CSB finds that an asset declaration consists of any incomplete or inaccurate information or document, or legal provisions have been violated on any other account, there will be an administrative or criminal follow-up as the case may be. I would like to briefly discuss the issue of asset recovery: the communique that we are going to adopt today says that "we will work together to enforce confiscation orders across borders including, non-conviction-based confiscation orders or unexplained wealth orders."
Georgia has already introduced the legislative initiative concerning the non-conviction-based confiscation orders.
Today a prosecutor is allowed to file a civil lawsuit, inter alia, against an actual or former public officer, or his or her close relative, and request the court to confiscate the defendant's "illicit" or "unexplained" property that has been discovered by the Civil Service Bureau as a results of inspection of the Asset Declaration," - Prime Minister noted.
Giorgi Kvirikashvili also responded to the recollection of Director of the Legal Department at the International Monetary Fund Sean Hagan that featured Georgia in 1991 - a country divided by the civil war that was devastated by the armed groups.
"Today we are proud that, for example, according to the Open Government Index 2015 published by the World Justice Project, Georgia is ranked 1st out of 13 East European and Central Asian countries in the open governance category; Georgia is ranked 11th out of 197 countries according to Business Bribery Risk Index 2014 published by Trace International, and according to the Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer Survey, only 4% of those polled in Georgia stated that they had paid bribes. These are truly remarkable outcomes. Of course, none of the countries can achieve tangible results separately. The results may be attained only through consolidation of our international efforts. The more countries implement the improved transparency standards, the more perceptible the results will become throughout the whole world," - Giorgi Kvirikashvili noted.
Prime Minister's Press Office