Reception of Income Declarations of Officials Ends on January 30, According to Law

Those who had to comply with the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On Approval of the Rules for Providing Officials of Financial Character by Officials" almost immediately forgot about it after its adoption (June 24, 2005).

Oppositional parties from election to election remind the authorities of this law, developed on the basis of the Law "On the Fight against Corruption", require the oligarchs to explain the origin of their accumulated wealth, but after the elections everything returns to normal. True, the government from time to time returns to the issue of providing financial information. However, despite the fact that the law came into force on August 9 of the same year, none of the officials has yet submitted a declaration on their income and property status.

Almost at the very end of 2018, the parliament adopted another amendment to the Law "On Approval of the Rules for Providing Financial Information by Officials" http://meclis.gov.az/?/az/law/2090/1. The question involuntarily arises: why only now did they recall the need to "restore order" in this law. As it turned out, this is explained very simply: the name of one of the state institutions (Financial Monitoring Service (FMS) under the Central Bank) mentioned in this law was previously changed, which was necessary to be reflected in the document, even if formally.

In fact, this amendment itself is also a belated step: the FMS under the Central Bank of Azerbaijan was liquidated on February 3, 2016. After that, it functioned under the Financial Markets Supervision Authority of Azerbaijan (FIMSA) in the status of department. And on May 25, 2018, the Financial Monitoring Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan (FMS AR) was established. In other words, during this period the organization changed its image three times, and the amendment to the law was delayed by approximately three years.

In short, the essence of the amendment is that among those who must provide financial information is the director of the FMS and his deputy. But the thing is that even after this amendment, they will not provide anyone with information about their income.

It is curious that the parliamentarians tried to prove that this amendment is being adopted in order to create a "legal basis for the implementation" of the amendment introduced on June 12, 2018 in the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On the fight against legalization of proceeds from crime or other property and financing of terrorism". However, there is no serious connection between this amendment and the aforementioned law.

If the law worked, then from January 1 to the end of the month all public servants, starting with President Ilham Aliyev and ending with the state official of the lowest level, as well as MPs and municipal officials would have to submit a declaration of income and property. The law stipulates that, depending on their position, state officials must provide financial information to various bodies - the Commission of the Azerbaijan Republic on the fight against corruption, the Ministry of Justice, etc. These organizations had to analyze these declarations and, upon finding false information, take measures against those who provided it. But there are not any who filed the declaration, or the corrupt officials who have been revealed among them.

The law also reflects the fact that the first declaration must be submitted within four months after the approval of its form. For approval of the declaration form, President Ilham Aliyev gave the Cabinet of Ministers a period of two months. Thus, reports on property in bank accounts, money and other incomes of officials, members of their families (husband or wife, parents and children living with them) should have been submitted since October 9, 2005. However, at that time on the agenda of the country were regular parliamentary elections, and no one, except for independent and opposition groups, mentioned this document.

At the same time, it should be emphasized that even if the officials would give information about their financial situation, it would be closed to the public. The fact is that in Azerbaijan, according to the law, the financial information of officials is considered a secret privacy, and the authorities that receive such information must protect its confidentiality. This information may be requested from them either by the Anti-Corruption Commission, or by the General Prosecutor"s Office and the Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan, with the condition that the request is caused by an offense related to corruption.

The Rules for the Provision of Financial Information by Officials also noted that the illegal collection or dissemination of financial information creates criminal liability. However, the limits of this responsibility in the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan have not yet been established. And the legislative norms defining measures of criminal, administrative or disciplinary responsibility for violation of other provisions of the Rules have not yet been adopted.

In the reports of international organizations, Belarus lags far behind Azerbaijan in terms of corruption. The law "On the fight against corruption" in this country was adopted ten years later than in Azerbaijan. However, the Council of Ministers of this country within 6 months developed an eight-page declaration form for people covered by the law, and adopted it in January 2016. Today in Belarus, as is customary in Europe, officials declare their property and income.

Thus, in the Eastern European region, including Russia, Azerbaijan is the only country in which officials do not submit a declaration of income and property. Speaking about the causes of deep-rooted corruption in the country, experts point out this factor. It seems that Azerbaijani officials may continue to remain in the comfort zone for several years. For, despite the fact that this is provided for in the National Action Plan to promote the Open Government for 2016-2018 (Article 8.2), the authorities still have not taken any measures to ensure that officials provide financial information.

Back in 2013, the Cabinet of Ministers and the Anti-Corruption Commission were to prepare proposals for ensuring that officials submit a declaration of financial information in electronic form. This was provided for in the National Action Plan against Corruption for 2012-2015 (paragraph 9.3). A new NAP has not yet been adopted.