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ANTI-CORRUPTION INSTITUTIONS AND MEDIA IN ALBANIA
Prevention & Awareness National Coordinator Against Corruption (NCAC) appointed with
the CMD, No. 1012, 22nd November 2013 Several independent institutions Consultative Forum on Anti-Corruption Policies to be established
within 2014. Forum as a policymaker and monitoring body over the policy
documents as well as actions being taken by the NCAC.National Strategy against Corruption 2014-2017 completed by end of March 2014;National Action Plan against Corruption 2014-2017 finalized and is expected to be adopted;
Both, Strategy and Action Plan to be monitored on quarterly basis
Institutions
INVESTIGATION Administrative vs. criminal investigations
Prosecution High Inspectorate For The Declaration And Audit Of Assets And
Conflict Of Interest Unit On Internal Administrative Control And Anti-corruption by
the Prime Minister’s Office Supreme State Audit High Council of Justice
Joint Investigative Units Newly created Bureau of Investigation
Investigation of corruption
Increased interest in anticorruption measures with some of the commitments having been approved already Public consultation law (Nr. 146 /2014) Law on the right to information (Nr. 119/2014) Anti-mafia law provisions extended to high level
officials Procurement law changes upcoming
Changes to HIDAACI on declarations of assets Difficulties with conflict of interest
Anti-corruption law relevant to media
Corruption and media
Defining corruption “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain” (TI) UNCAC lack of definition Criminal Law Convention Against Corruption (CoE) “The direct or indirect proposal, offer, or giving, to a person, who exercises public functions,
of any irregular benefit for himself or a third person in order to act or not act in relation to his duty, is punished by imprisonment from six months up to three years.”
“Ownership” issue—who deals with it? Article 164/a - Active corruption in the private sector Article 164/b - Passive corruption in the private sector Article 244 - Active corruption of persons exercising public functions Article 244/a - Active corruption of foreign public employees Article 245 - Active corruption of the high state official and of the local elected/representatives Article 245/1 - The exercising of unlawful influence on public officials Article 258 - Breaching the equality of participants in public bids or auctions Article 259 - Passive corruption by public officials Article 259/a - Passive corruption of foreign public employees Article 260 - Passive corruption by High State Officials or local elected officials Article 312 - Active corruption of the witness, expert or interpreter Article 319 - Active corruption of the judge, prosecutor and of other justice official Article 319/a - Active corruption of the judge or official of international court Article 319/b - Active corruption of foreign and domestic arbiters Article 319/c - Active corruption of members of foreign judicial juries Article 319/ç - The passive corruption of the judges, prosecutors and other officials of the justice bodies/system Article 319/d - Passive corruption of the judge or of official of international courts Article 319/dh - Passive corruption of domestic or foreign arbiters Article 319/e - Passive corruption of a member of foreign judicial juries
Past issues
Procurement excludes several services related to media In line with Article 16 of Directive 2004/18/EC
(b) the acquisition, development, production or co-production of programme material intended for broadcasting by broadcasters and contracts for broadcasting time;
Recital 25 - (25) The awarding of public contracts for certain audiovisual services in the field of broadcasting should allow aspects of cultural or social significance to be taken into account which render application of procurement rules inappropriate. For these reasons, an exception must therefore be made for public service contracts for the purchase, development, production or co-production of off-the-shelf programmes and other preparatory services, such as those relating to scripts or artistic performances necessary for the production of the programme and contracts concerning broadcasting times. However, this exclusion should not apply to the supply of technical equipment necessary for the production, coproduction and broadcasting of such programmes. A broadcast should be defined as transmission and distribution using any form of electronic network.
Public institutions’ bottlenecks
AMA Several positive evaluations over the years Past year negative evaluation Research commission by Parliament indicates to
politicization
Limited inspection powers at most institutionsLimited incentives for whistleblowersLimited effective cooperation with media
Pre-prepared material Consultation capacities limited Often misinterpretation of corruption related initiatives
