Corruption Prevention and
Combating Bureau
Ms Sintija Helviga
Policy Planning Division
FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION
ENFORCEMENT PREVENTION
AWARENESS
RAISING
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Definition of corruption
The abuse of public office for private gain.
(World Bank)
For the purposes of the KNAB Law, corruption
means bribery or any other action by a
government official intended to gain a benefit
or advantage for him/herself or other persons
by means of his/her office or authority or by
overextending same.
Main indicators of corruptive crime in Latvia:
• person is a governmental official;
• the authority and power is misused;
• illegal benefit is gained.
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Authority of KNAB
Korupcijas novēršanas un apkarošanas birojs
Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau
Functions of KNAB regarding enforcement
(Article 8 of the KNAB law):
carry out investigation and operational activities
to disclose criminal offences in the area of
corruption in the public service, as provided in
the Criminal Law.
Institutional jurisdiction
(Article 387 of the Criminal Procedure Law)
Officials authorized by the KNAB shall
investigate criminal offences that are related to
violations of the provisions of the financing of
political parties and criminal offences in the
public service, if such offences are related to
corruption.
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KNAB investigates the following
criminal offences:
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exceeding official authority
abuse of official position
failure to act by a public official
passive bribery / misappropriation of a bribe
active bribery / intermediation in bribery
violation of restrictions imposed on a public
official
unlawful participation in property transactions
trading with influence
forging official documents and false official
information
disclosure of non-disclosable information
financing of political parties in large amount /
intermediation in financing of political parties
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Number of criminal cases (and number of persons
involved) forwarded for the prosecution to the
Prosecutor’s General Office as well as number of
initiated criminal proceedings in 2009 – 2014
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Guidelines for the Corruption
Prevention and Combating 2015 2020
• Medium term anti-corruption policy document
describing the current anticorruption policy,
defining problems and stipulating tasks to be
executed by various state institutions,
implementation time frame for individual
assignments, justification of the assignment
and overall policy results to be expected in
certain period of time.
• Policy paper shall be prepared describing the
current competences of law enforcement
institutions and further developments
regarding possible changes of functions in
order to improve detection of corruption cases
in private sector.
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Thank you for your attention!
www.knab.gov.lv