Republic of Macedonia
State Commission for Prevention of
Corruption
Workshop on Country-Owned Assessment Tools
and Monitoring Processes in support of
National Anti-Corruption Strategies
Oslo Governance Centre, UNDP
27 – 29 October, 2009
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State Commission for Prevention of
Corruption - SCPC
 SCPC is autonomous specialized body for
prevention of corruption and dealing with
conflict of interests, with legal competences
and position, as prescribed in the UNCAC
 SCPC has also indirect repressive
competence (raising initiatives) and direct in
pronouncing measures in conflict of interests
cases and in instigating misdemeanor
procedures
 SCPC is not subordinated to the Government
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State Commission for Prevention of Corruption
Legislation
The State Commission was established by the
Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia on
November 12, 2002, according to the Law on
Prevention of Corruption (Official Gazette No.
28 adopted on April 26, 2002)
(Amendments to the Law of Prevention of
Corruption – Official Gazette No. 46/2004;
126/2006 and 10/2008)
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State Commission for Prevention of Corruption
Legislation
Law on Prevention of Corruption
Article 1
(1) The Law shall regulate measures and activities for prevention
of corruption in exercising of power, public authorizations,
official duty and policy, measures and activities for prevention
of conflict of interests, measures and activities for prevention
of corruption in performing matters of public interests by legal
entities related to exercising public authorizations.
(2) For implementation of the measures and activities referred to
in paragraph (1) of this Article, a State Commission for
Prevention of Corruption shall be established.
Definition of corruption
In terms of this Law, corruption denotes using of function,
public authorization, official duty and position for the purpose
to gain any benefit for oneself or for other person.
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State Commission for Prevention of Corruption
Legislation
 The State Commission is also
responsible for the implementation of
the Law on Prevention of Conflict of
Interests, adopted in June 2007
 According to the Law on Lobbying
(adopted in 2008), the State Commission
supervises the lobbying
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State Commission for Prevention of Corruption
Status
 SCPC is composed of seven members appointed
by the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia,
with a term of office of five years, without right for
re - appointment.
 Parliament announces an competition for
appointment of the members
 The members of the SCPC perform their duties
simultaneously with their own professional
engagements, i.e. they are not professionally
employed in the Commission
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State Commission for Prevention of Corruption
Status
Parliament
SCPC’s
MEMBERS
Secretariat
With the amendments to the Law of Prevention of Corruption in 2004, the
Commission has a status of a legal entity and Secretariat for
implementing professional and administrative matters
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Secretariat of the State Commission
Status
SECRETARY GENERAL
DEPARTMENT FOR PREVENTION OF
CORRUPTION AND CONFLICT OF INTERESTS
UNIT FOR
SUPRESSION OF
CORRUPTION
UNIT FOR MAINTAINING
RECORDS OF AND
MONITORING THE
PROPERTY SITUATION OF
PUBLIC OFFICIALS
UNIT FOR
SUPRESSION OF
CONFLICT OF
INTERESTS
DEPARTMENT FOR PROGRAMS, ANALITICS,
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND
ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS
UNIT FOR
NATIONAL AND
INTERNATIONAL
PROGRAMS AND
ANALITICS
UNIT FOR PUBLIC
RELATIONS AND
SESSIONS
UNIT FOR FINANCE, HUMAN
RESOURCES AND
ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS
The INTERNAL ORGANISATION OF WORKING POSTS OF THE SECRETARIAT IS PREDICTED TO 35 with the
status of civil servants.
Currently the Secretariat is filled with 14 employees. The process of employment of 5 civil servants is
ongoing.
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Competences of SCPC
Pursuant to the Law on Prevention of Corruption, SCPC has the
following competences:
 adopts a State Program for Prevention and Repression of
Corruption and Action plan for its realization;
 adopts annual programs and work plans for implementation
of the State Program;
 provides opinion on draft laws of importance for the
prevention of corruption;
 raises initiatives for instituting and conducting procedures
before competent bodies for dismissal, assignment, removal,
criminal prosecution or implementation of other measures of
accountability of elected or appointed functionaries, officials
and responsible persons in public enterprise and other legal
entities disposing with state capital,
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Competences of SCPC
 acts in a case of conflict between the public and
private interest, in accordance with the law
 maintains records and oversee the property situation
and changes in property situation of elected or
appointed functionaries and other officials in a manner
defined by this Law,
 cooperates with other state bodies (Protocol for
cooperation 2007) and with corresponding national
bodies of other states, and with international
organizations active in the field of prevention of
corruption,
 undertakes activities in the area of education of
competent bodies to detect and prosecute corruption
and other types of crime. Also they can be target
group for trainings
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Competences of SCPC
SCPC also implements the Law on Conflict of
Interests, adopted in 2007 and is competent for:



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adopting a State Program with Action Plan for Prevention and
Reduction of the Conflict of Interests;
providing opinion on draft laws of importance for the
prevention of conflict of interest;
considering cases of conflict of public and private interest
determined with this or other law;
raising initiatives for implementation of measures of
responsibility of the civil servant determined with this law in
cases when conflict of interest occurs;
submitting a report on its work and measures/activities
undertaken to the Parliament, and forwarding it to the
Government and the media;
cooperating with other state bodies in the prevention of conflict
of interest and undertaking activities in the area of education
for identification of cases of conflict of interest in accordance
to this or other laws; etc
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STATE PROGRAM
for Prevention and Repression of Corruption
 The State Program – creates, but also implements the efficient
anti-corruption policy
 The first State Programme for Prevention and Repression of
Corruption, was adopted by SCPC in June, 2003. An Action
Plan Matrix is a constituent part of the State Programme – it
defines the measures and activities that should be
implemented. (the Action plan was mainly directed towards
drafting necessary legislation and strengthening the control
mechanisms).
 The second State Program and Action plan was adopted in May
2007. The Action plan contains activities and actions for
improving the performance of the institutions and indicators for
measurement of the performance. Improvement of the
performance of the institutions leads towards narrowing the
risks for corruption. In June 2007 the Government adopted
Action plan for combating corruption extracted from the State
Program. This express the strong commitment of the
Government for the implementation of the State Program.
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STATE PROGRAM
for Prevention and Repression of Corruption 2007

SCPC coordinated all activities in developing the Strategy

The Government allocates budgetary resources within the institutions for
the implementation of the activities set in the State Program

Participatory approach: representatives from all institutions of the National
Integrity System. This approach is more comprehensive but it gives better
results and sustainability
The following areas (or pillars) were addressed:
o
o
o
o
o
o
Political system, Parliament, Political Parties
Judiciary
Public administration and Local Government
Law Enforcement Agencies
Economic and financial system and Private Sector;
Civil sector, media and unions.
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STATE PROGRAM
for Prevention and Repression of Corruption 2007
 The State Program encompasses a total of 34 problems and
140 activities with activity indicators to overcome those
problems
 The SCPC monitors the entire process of implementing the
State Program and every six months collects data from the
participating institutions and processes those data within
the framework of the system for monitoring the
implementation of the activities determined in the State
Program
 Annual Conferences on the assessment of the
implementation – conclusions and recommendations
 SCPC encourages the International Community to get
involved in supporting of particular projects (donors
conferences)
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Expenditures during the electoral
campaigns
 SCPC monitors the expenditures of the
political parties during the electoral
campaigns – recommends amendments
to the Electoral Code
 Parliamentary elections 2009
 Work on 369 cases
 Institutions inquired opinions on spending
public funds during pre-election process
(public procurements, constructions,
employments)
 Four initiatives submitted to the Public
Prosecutor for bribing of voters
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Assets declaration

Elected or appointed officials, submit Assets Declaration to the State Commission
and the Public Revenue Office; reporting on their property and any change in their
assets` status

Amendments to the Law from 2004 introduced an obligation for submitting an
Assets Declaration following the termination of function

The Commission has received more than 3500 Assets Declarations and more than
500 Declarations for changes in assets

Amendments to the Law from 2006 introduced publishing of the data of the Assets
Declaration on the WEB page of the SCPC, in compliance with the Law on
Protection of Personal Data

SCPC developed and created database of assets declarations and established
network connection with PRO

Requests for examination of the property status submitted to the Public Revenue
Office
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Work on cases - complaints filed by citizens
and legal entities (repressive competence)
 On the annual basis, the State
Commission receives more than 700
complaints with allegations on
corruption
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Initiatives raised by the State Commission
SCPC has submitted more than 150 Initiatives and
recommendations to the relevant state bodies:
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to the Public Prosecutor Office for initiating a criminal charge for persons
involved in criminal/corruptive cases;
to the Public Attorney for annulling contracts for privatization when there
were indications of corruption;
recommendations to the Government and the Parliament to determine the
liability of certain officials for abusing their positions, and
recommendations for their dismissal;
Other (recommendations, suggestions).
A number of these initiatives resulted with criminal charges or removal of
Public officials from their positions.
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Work on cases / statistics 2008
 in 2008 the Commission acted on a total of 713 cases, as
follows:
o corruption 567 cases; received complaints 767;
o conflict of interests 29 cases; worked on 44 cases;
o election related cases 117;
 Other statistics:
o received 357 assets declarations;
o instigated 33 misdemeanor procedures related to assets
declarations;
o submitted 19 requests to the Public Revenue Office to
instigate procedures for examining the assets;
o submitted 27 initiatives for criminal prosecution to the
Public Prosecution Office;
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Cooperation
 Horizontal cooperation:
o Precondition for effective combating and prevention of corruption
o Protocol for cooperation, signed in 2007
o Accelerated exchange of information
o deliver of the case to another competent institution
o working groups on drafting/amending laws
o feed-back information on particular case
o cooperation (joint work) on complex cases
o Challenge: in practice – the manner how the cases submitted by
SCPC are treated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office. PPO is the main in
the investigation and in some cases SCPC inquires more in-depth
investigation of suspicions
o Cooperation with media and NGOs
 The international cooperation among the anti-corruption agencies is
very important – on bilateral level, and also during regional or international
conferences or meetings for exchanging experiences
 Cooperation with international organizations
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Challenge
 In the State Anticorruption Program it is
assessed the situation of high (undue)
influence of the political parties over the
institutions and vital segments of the public
life. This reflects over the results of fighting
corruption
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PROBLEMS
during the work on concrete cases
 During the work or after announcing the findings on
particular cases and decisions, there were some
reactions by concerned political parties. They have made
press conferences or press releases with comments on
decisions and initiatives, even disqualifications on the
work of SCPC / some members. (political pressure)
 Pressure by some of the media, which are under the
influence of some political parties / business interest
groups, through diminishing the work of the SCPC or
releasing incorrect articles
 Lack of well trained and competent investigative
journalists on corruption (project developed by UNDP
Macedonia / SCPC)
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PREVENTIVE MEASURES
DIFFICULTIES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION
OF THE PREVENTIVE MEASURES
1.
General problem is insufficient financial resources for
conducting
i. public awareness campaign
ii. regular researches on corruption (in-depth, victimization
analysis and focus groups)
iii. anticorruption / conflict of interests conferences,
seminars, trainings
2. Direct approach to different registers and databases is
still not developed
3. Sometimes the competent institutions do not react on
due time regarding initiatives of SCPC
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Next steps
 SCPC has ability to perform the competences,
but it lacks adequate resources for the capital
projects
 Need to cooperate with international
organizations aimed to achieve the
competences
 Cooperation may be achieved in two ways
 SCPC develops / organizes the projects / events
supported by donors
 International organizations develops the projects
and invite SCPC to participate
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Next steps
 SCPC is in the faze of maturity and can
give support to other ACAs through study
visits, trainings, exchange experiences.
 Support of donors directed to SCPC is
three way:
 Put more weight to the projects
 Supports insufficient budget of SCPC
 Donors benefits in the sustainability of the
projects by involving the state institution
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