On March 7, a briefing was held at the Agency for Information and Mass Communications with the participation of Durdona Ochilova, head of the Press Office of the Anti-Corruption Agency. She provided information on the measures taken by the Agency to prevent corruption and cultivate in the citizens the sense of intolerance towards corruption, to reduce the human factor in creating the anti-corruption system, in particular, on the ongoing work to combat corruption and money laundering, as well as the Agency’s plans for the future.

The Agency implements an effective system of combating corruption and legalization of proceeds from crime in the following areas:

First, a clear list of information has been formed to be posted as open data by government agencies and organizations.

At the same time, in order to ensure proper openness and transparency of the activities of government agencies and create the necessary conditions for public control, the Agency has established a system of regular control over compliance with the full implementation of all obligations by ministries and departments in the field of openness, as well as monitoring the state of implementation of the current legislation.

Statutory notices were sent to 72 government agencies and organizations for late posting of socially significant information to be posted as open data, and practical assistance was provided in eliminating the identified shortcomings.

Second, anti-corruption legislation is being carefully reviewed and measures are being taken to eliminate corruption factors, legal gaps and loopholes.

In particular, during the anti-corruption expertise of 226 existing regulations in the field of construction, healthcare, higher education and public procurement, a total of 302 corruption factors were identified in 75 regulations. According to the analysis, 124 of them are in construction, 41 in healthcare, 91 in higher education and 46 in public procurement.

These documents identified the most common corruption factors associated with ‘contradictions in legal acts’ (86), ‘breadth of discretionary powers’ (55), ‘absence or incompleteness of administrative procedures’ (27).

Accordingly, proposals are being developed to amend the legislation to eliminate corruption factors in regulatory legal acts.

Third, a number of amendments have been introduced to the public procurement legislation to prevent corruption and ensure openness. In particular:

• The participant and his affiliated person do not have the right to participate in the same tender, the voting of a member of the procurement commission is also limited in case of affiliation with the participants;
• The Accounts Chamber will conduct an audit of public procurement and annually submit the results to the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis and publish them in open sources;
• The Ministry of Finance and other participants are instructed to publish the results of tenders, violations and analytical data in open sources;
• A special data portal systematizes the processes of public procurement planning, implementation of procurement procedures, conclusion of contracts, monitoring and control of public procurement;
• Administrative liability established for violation of the legislation on public procurement.

A mechanism for checking counterparties in contractual relations between public procurement and business entities is gradually being introduced.

In addition, in the future it is planned to create a clear legal framework for the direct selection of public procurement executors and enshrine the norms only in legislation, as well as preliminary identification of conflicts of interest and affiliation in the field of public procurement by introducing information technologies on a special data portal of public procurement.

Fourth, systemic control (monitoring) is carried out over the targeted use of budgetary funds.

In 2021, the Anti-Corruption Agency organized more than 50 studies in regions and sectors within the framework of the Sphere without Corruption Project and Region without Corruption Project, as well as within the framework of the Prosperous Village (Obod Qishloq) and Prosperous Community (Obod Mahalla) Programs.

In the course of the study, a total of 49 criminal cases and 24 administrative cases were initiated by sending the collected documents on corruption to law enforcement agencies. As a result, misuse of about 500 billion soums was prevented.

Fifth, the work of the Open Budget portal has been launched, aimed at exercising public control over the regulation of budget expenditures, informing about the facts of violations of budget legislation and organizing the procedure for making proposals to improve the budget process.

Sixth, in order to introduce a compliance control system against the shadow economy and corruption, internal anti-corruption control units are being created at all ministries and departments, as well as local authorities.

As part of the anti-corruption program, a system for improving the skills of employees has been created. Also, in order to introduce a system of continuous training of the population and civil servants in the field of combating corruption, work is underway to create a Virtual Anti-Corruption Academy and introduce a national procedure for anti-corruption certification of civil servants.

Seventh, in order to counteract corruption and take drastic measures against the legalization of proceeds from crime, the following bills were developed: ‘Open Electronic Register of Persons Convicted of Corruption Crimes’, ‘Unified State Register of Beneficial Owners’, ‘On Declaration of Income and Property of Civil Servants’ and ‘On the Settlement of Conflicts of Interest’.

The adoption and implementation of these documents will help prevent conflicts of interest and legalization of criminal proceeds, and most importantly, will expand the scope for creating an intolerant environment for corruption in society.

Press Office

The Anti-Corruption Agency