Sectoral Working Group on Anti-Corruption Policy meeting was held

18.01.2022

On January 17, the second meeting of the Sectoral Working Group on International Technical Assistance in the Field of Anti-Corruption Policy took place. The meeting was chaired by Ivan Presnyakov, Deputy Head of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP), and Manfredas Limantas, Sector Manager for Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption, the EU Delegation to Ukraine. The meeting was attended by representatives of anti-corruption bodies, international development partners, and NGOs. Among the main topics of the meeting: the status of the draft Anti-Corruption Strategy, an independent audit of NACP's effectiveness over two years, the creation of the Portal for Corruption Reporting, and the delay in selecting Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office. [metaslider id=68505] Deputy Chairman of the NACP Ivan Presnyakov presented the results of self-assessment conducted within the audit of the effectiveness of the NACP for two years, foreseen by the Law "On Prevention of Corruption". The report will be published soon on the NACP website. “According to the evaluation, the NACP met a total of 230 out of 237 performance criteria. This is a good result. However, the main unfulfilled task is the adoption of the Anti-Corruption Strategy by the Verkhovna Rada. The Parliament has not yet approved the Strategy in the second reading, which had a negative impact on the overall assessment of the effectiveness of the NACP, "Ivan Presnyakov stressed. Manfredas Limantas, Sector Manager for Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption, the EU Delegation to Ukraine, noted the positive developments in the field of anti-corruption in 2021 and stressed the importance of communicating them with society. "Adoption of the Anti-corruption strategy would significantly strengthen Ukraine’s fight against corruption and better focus the anti-corruption efforts. We hope that the Parliament will adopt this strategy in the second reading in the near future," Manfredas Limantas said. Allan Pagh Kristensen, Head of EU Anti-Corruption Initiative (EUACI), praised the NACP for being a proactive and well-functioning body, which cooperates with a wide range of stakeholders, including NGOs and international partners. "A meeting like this demonstrates how far NACP has come since the reboot two years ago. You have made your own self-assessment of the effectiveness of NACP to prepare for the external assessment. I believe such a self-assessment shows an institution that is proactive, with a lot of self-confidence – that is also what we experience in our daily day work with NACP colleagues”. Serhiy Derkach, Head of Corruption Prevention and Detection Department at the NACP, told about the achievements and plans in the context of protection of whistleblowers' rights, guaranteed by the NACP, as well as the creation of the Portal for corruption reporting to be launched in late April 2022. “NACP is making significant efforts to promote whistleblowing and ensure its effective operation. We are actively working on the Portal for corruption reporting - a convenient and user-friendly tool that will facilitate the process of reporting corruption and ensure its confidentiality," said Serhiy Derkach. Eka Tkeshelashvili, COP of USAID Support to Anti-Corruption Champion Institutions program in Ukraine (SACCI), stressed that the creation of the Portal for corruption reporting is a necessary tool for further developing whistleblowing in Ukraine. "Particular attention should be paid to the promotion of whistleblowing, which has already proven its effectiveness in some countries. Citizens need to know that they can contribute to the positive outcome of the whole country. That is why the Portal for corruption reporting is a very important tool,” Eka Tkeshelashvili said. During the meeting, the parties agreed that the next meetings of the Sectoral Working Group will be organized quarterly to provide a platform for discussing the main challenges and plans in the field of anti-corruption activities. The event was supported by the EU Anti-Corruption Initiative (EUACI).