Anti-Corruption
measures
Corruption remains a very
serious problem in Bulgaria. Petty corruption is reportedly widespread
in daily life. Surveys show that the sectors most affected are customs,
municipalities, medical services, universities, the police, taxation authorities
and courts.
Following the adoption in
July 1998 of a National Strategy for combating organised crime, the government
has continued to extend the scope of legislation against corruption. Bulgaria
has ratified the major anti-corruption conventions, notably the Convention
on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime
and the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials
in International Business Transactions. In January 1999, Bulgaria signed
the Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption. It notified
its readiness to participate in the “Group of Countries for the Fight against
Corruption (GRECO)” to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe in
January 1999. The Parliament adopted in January 1999 a law amending
the Penal Code which defines the term “foreign public official” in conformity
with the OECD Convention and criminalises active and passive corruption
by foreign officials.
The Government reports
that 14 laws with a direct link to the fight against corruption have been
adopted including amendments to the penal code, the law on customs, the
tax procedure code and the law on insurance. However, Bulgarian legislation
does not yet provide a concrete definition of the concept of "corruption"
and further progress in the fight against corruption is also needed
in the following areas: financing of political parties, strengthening
of the legal framework in areas such as public procurement, financial
control, liability of Ministers, improving the implementation of measures
in areas such as money laundering and creating or strengthening internal
and external control structures in the administration and the judiciary
(including among prosecutors). Transparency and judicial control should
be reinforced in the privatisation field.
Since the substantial increase
in the number of criminal corruption cases dealt with in 1997, numbers
have declined slightly from 142 cases in 1997 to 124 in 1998.
Despite the measures taken
by the government, considerable further efforts remain necessary to achieve
results in the fight against corruption.