Baku/03.10.19/Turan: Two projects that will be implemented in Azerbaijan as part of the Partnership for Good Governance joint program of the Council of Europe and the European Union were presented on Thursday. These projects aim at assisting Azerbaijani authorities with further strengthening institutional capacities to fight and prevent corruption, as well as supporting the judicial reform, enhancing the independence and professionalism of the judiciary, supporting the criminal justice reform and harmonising the application of the relevant Council of Europe standards in Azerbaijan, said, Zoltan Hernes, head of the Azerbaijan"s CE office.
Partners and beneficiaries in the first draft will be the Ministry of Justice, the Judicial Legal Council, the Academy of Justice, courts and legal experts.
The project aims to facilitate citizens' access to fair justice, including the enforcement of judgments.
The project budget will amount to 915,000 euros, 80% of which will be financed by the EU, and 20% by the CE.
The second project is aimed at strengthening the fight against money laundering.
The project involved: the Office for Combating Corruption of the General Prosecutor's Office, the Financial Monitoring Service of the Ministry of Taxes, the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Chamber for Monitoring Financial Markets, the State Security Service, the State Customs Committee, the Chamber of Auditors, professional associations of banks and lawyers, and civil society.
The expected results of the project are to increase the strategic and operational potential in the fight against money laundering, as well as legal measures to return money obtained by criminal means
The project budget is 750 000 euros. Funding will be in the same proportion as in the first draft.
Speaking at the event, the head of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan, Ambassador Kestutis Jankauskas emphasized that good governance and the rule of law are among the key priorities of the Eastern Partnership. These principles will form the basis of the future new partnership agreement between the EU and Azerbaijan. The ambassador indicated that Azerbaijan, within the framework of the Eastern Partnership, had undertaken to provide an asset declaration by the end of 2020, to develop a mechanism to prevent conflicts of interest, to implement the recommendations of GRECO (Anti-Corruption Group of the Council of Europe) on the prevention of corruption against members of parliament, judges, prosecutors, etc.
The EU expects a more decisive fight against laundering "dirty money" and submission to the courts more cases in this area.
Arkady Sytin, coordinator of the Council of Europe"s common programs office, noted that support to strengthening Azerbaijan"s potential in combating the financing terrorism, laundering dirty money, combating corruption and improving the efficiency of justice will be provided not only within the framework of these two projects, but also by involvement in regional projects. -06C-
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