On July 5, the Committee for Combating Corruption and Judicial-Legal Issues of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis held a meeting, which preliminarily discussed the National Report on Combating Corruption in the Republic of Uzbekistan.

According to the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan of June 29, 2020 ‘On additional measures to improve the anti-corruption system in the Republic of Uzbekistan’, the Anti-Corruption Agency is entrusted with the task of preparing the National Report on Combating Corruption in the Republic of Uzbekistan, which should be published annually in mass media.

In order to fulfill this task, this year the Agency prepared and submitted for consideration by the Chambers of the Oliy Majlis the first National Report, consisting of four chapters, conclusion, proposals and recommendations.

The National Report is intended to provide comprehensive information to the general public, in particular, representatives of government agencies, independent experts, public activists, researchers and citizens, about the work carried out in the field of combating corruption in Uzbekistan.

The Report provides detailed information on the preventive measures taken in 2021 towards the fight against corruption in the country, in particular on the work carried out by government agencies and organizations, civil society institutions, and the media to prevent corruption.

It notes that in 2021, on the basis of best foreign experience, a mechanism was introduced to protect and encourage persons who reported corruption offenses or otherwise contributed to the fight against corruption. Internal Anti-Corruption Control Units started operating in government agencies and organizations, including the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regional and Tashkent city administrations.

On the basis of the principle ‘Legislation free from corruption’, a procedure for conducting anti-corruption expertise of legislative documents and their drafts has been introduced, and it has also been determined that existing legal documents will be subjected to anti-corruption expertise in stages.

‘Sphere without Corruption’ and ‘Region without Corruption’ projects are implemented in sectors and industries with high corruption risks, in particular in the field of capital construction, higher education, healthcare and public procurement.

A new version of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan ‘On Public Procurement’ was adopted, and from January 1, 2022, it was established that all public procurement will be carried out in electronic form.

Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan of June 16, 2021 No. DP-6247 approved the List of socially significant information to be posted as open data.

The meeting participants emphasized that, despite such systemic reforms, the problem of corruption still remains relevant in Uzbekistan.

According to statistics, in 2020, 1,148 criminal cases on corruption offenses were sent to the court in the republic, and in 2021 this number reached 3,769. As a result of crimes committed in 2021, material damage was caused to the interests of the state and society in the amount of 1 trillion 282 billion soums.

This kind of negative situations indicate that there are still many important tasks to be solved in the fight against corruption. Hence, the Anti-Corruption Agency put forward a number of proposals for combating and preventing corruption in the National Report, which were discussed in detail at the meeting.

The opinions, proposals and recommendations expressed during the discussions will be carefully studied by the Agency, and after finalizing the National Report, measures will be taken to submit it to the plenary session of the chambers of the Oliy Majlis and submit it to the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Press Office

The Anti-Corruption Agency