Description
The component 1 as well as the component 2, of the project will contribute to the increase the effectiveness of national institutions to fight corruption and increase awareness of anti-corruption methods. The objective of both components of the project is to help to designated target groups with fight against corruption practice and money laundering (for project summary for the component 2 please see CZ10-0002 in DoRIS). The component 1 of the project will contribute to the implementation of selected GRECO recommendations, specifically by assisting with the preparation of legislative proposals to mitigate the shortcomings in the implementation of international standards. The outputs will be proposals to improve the criminal law in the fight against corruption and the fight against money laundering. The target groups are prosecutors, judges, members of Police of the Czech Republic, and selected employees of government administration (FAUnit, the Office of the Government, the MoJ). The donor project partner - the Council of Europe - will contribute to the implementation of relevant experience and expertise. The Council of Europe will contribute to the maintenance of the project in terms of knowledge of the rules of operation and evaluation mechanisms of the CoE, such as GRECO and Moneyval.
Summary of project results
The project, implemented in partnership with the Council of Europe, contributed to increased efficiency and effectiveness of the national system for the fight against corruption mainly through extensive educational activities. Education and sharing of best practice was targeted law enforcement agencies, public prosecutors’offices and public institutions combatting corruption and money laundering, but also professional chambers and civil society organisations, which have specific role in selected anti-corruption segments such as whistleblowing and transparency issues. Finally, yet importantly, representatives of private sector – insurance companies, real estate agencies but especially credit and financial institutions, specifically banks, took part in trainings on anti-money laundering legislation as their cooperation is crucial for its efficient enforcement. The training handbook on criminal liability of legal persons is being widely used by the law enforcement agencies. Altogether 826 professionals was educated in the field of conflict of interest, beneficial ownership, recovery of assets, transparency of financing of electoral campaigns of independent candidates or whistleblowers protection. Workshops and trainings were complemented by a number of thematic studies and analyses that helped focus training activities correctly, derived best practice from abroad and, most importantly, reflected recommendations formulated within the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) evaluation mechanisms. Studies were also important sources of information that prompted legislation changes (i.e. amendment of the Act on selected measures against legitimisation of proceeds of crime and financing of terrorism). The feasibility study for the SW for automated data mining enabling more efficient and systemic analysis of suspect trades or financial operations for the Financial Analytical Office of the Czech Republic, was also drafted within the project.
Summary of bilateral results
Involvement of the CoE on the project level was absolutely instrumental at its preparatory as well as implementation phase. CoE experts assisted in designing and implementation of project activities to ensure their compliance with recommendations put forward within relevant rounds of GRECO evaluations. CoE experts were directly involved in the preparation of studies and provision of lectures in conferences and workshops. Active participation and involvement of the CoE experts added value to “mere” drafting of reports as issues of interpretation of certain regulatory framework and its concepts cannot be adequately addressed without the possibility of discussing these matters between the CoE experts and domestic practitioners.