Fighting Corruption: the results are not impressive

Baku/03.01.22/Turan: Last year, several officials received prison sentences on charges of bribery. In general, Azerbaijani officials often talk about the successful fight against corruption and bribery, about "whitening" the economy.

President Ilham Aliyev also touched upon this topic in his address to the people on the occasion of the New Year. "At the same time, reforms in the economic sphere, transparency, the fight against corruption and bribery are yielding results."

The head of state noted that only thanks to the tax authorities, the treasury received 1.4 billion manat in excess of the forecast. “And using this money, we carry out a wide range of social package activities. From January 1, salaries, pensions, scholarships will increase significantly. The total volume of this social package, covering two million one hundred thousand people, is 1.5 billion manat."

The fight against corruption in the region is being conducted in all directions in accordance with the strong political will that exists in this area,  Turan was told in the General Prosecutor's Office. "Intensive measures are being taken in the field of legislation, criminal prosecution, and education."

The ministry noted that the institutional and criminal measures taken in the fight against corruption in Azerbaijan are highly appreciated in the monitoring documents by specialists from authoritative international structures specializing in this area.

The State Tax Service under the Ministry of Economy also reported that the work carried out during January-November 2021 towards transparency of turnover, further improvement of tax administration, the pace of recovery observed in certain sectors of the economy, led to an increase in tax and social insurance revenues. “In January-November 2021, 7 billion 961.8 million manat of taxes were transferred to the state budget through the State Tax Service, the forecast was fulfilled by 121 percent. Compared to the corresponding period of last year, tax revenues increased by 15.7 percent, or approximately 1.1 billion manat."

It was noted that 73.7 percent of taxes paid fell on the non-oil sector, 26.3 percent - on the oil and gas sector.

It was emphasized that as a result of the creation of legislative incentives for the transparency of labor relations between the insured and the insured, the conclusion of labor contracts and the reflection in these contracts of the real amount of wages in the labor market of the country, an increase in the number of employees and concluded labor contracts, as well as the wage fund was recorded. ... “Most of the growth came from the private sector. As of December 1, 2021, the number of labor contracts concluded in the non-state sector of the non-oil sector amounted to 773,133, which is 233,211 more than at the beginning of 2019, when reforms in the field of transparency of labor relations were launched."

According to the service, in January-November 2021, in the context of the process of “whitening” the number of employees and the wage fund, receipts from contributions for compulsory state social insurance amounted to 3 billion 433.1 million manat, an increase compared to the same period last year by 8 percent. "The forecast for receipts has already been fulfilled at 309.6 million manat. Revenues from non-budgetary organizations increased by 14.7 percent compared to the same period last year and amounted to 2 billion 193.8 million manat, the forecast was fulfilled by 113.1 percent."

The ministry said that insurance premiums from unemployment increased by 9 percent compared to the same period last year and amounted to 118.8 million manat. "The forecast was fulfilled by 108.2 percent. Income from non-budgetary organizations increased by 15.3 percent, the forecast was fulfilled by 110.3 percent. The state budget received 87.9 million manat of unemployment insurance premiums through these organizations."

It was noted that for December 1, the number of active taxpayers increased by 7.2 percent compared to the beginning of the year and amounted to 660,838 people.

Economist Nazim Baidamirli said that if it is about growth, the source of budget revenues should be disclosed. "If we are talking about fines and taxes that were charged in the past, but were not paid to the budget, then these are not signs of corruption at all."

In his opinion, if this amount is included in the funds that the arrested officials must pay to the state budget, then these funds can be regarded as funds received by the treasury as a result of anti-corruption measures. "

The expert noted that the tax service began to work more transparently than before. “But this is not enough. I doubt that in one organization it is possible to create an ideal situation and put the same situation in other structures. There should be comprehensive measures."

According to Baidamirli, it is unlikely that the amount of 1.4 billion will include funds additionally collected by customs authorities from entrepreneurs. "Obviously, this is due to the deterioration of the material well-being of citizens. That is, the government creates an artificial increase in prices, increases tariffs, and, as a result, it affects the revenues to the state budget. All this happens at the expense of citizens and ours."

He believes that there is practically no fight against corruption and bribery in the country. "The fight against bribery and corruption first of all presupposes that everyone has equal rights and obligations. At the same time, it includes the function of controlling the government through the parliament elected by the people, independent media activities, not using kinship, tribalism. We do not see it  in Azerbaijan." -0-