ASAN Hidmet at one end of the fight against corruption, the Ministry of Internal Affairs- at the other

Thirty days have passed since the appointment of the new Minister of the Interior of the country. On June 20, Ramil Usubov, who for more than 20 years worked as the Minister of Internal Affairs, Ramil Usubov, gave way to his deputy, Vilayat Eyvazov. The new minister made some appointments in the system of internal affairs, and the local press hinted on the beginning of reforms in the ministry. However, nothing has changed in the most important issue for the population - a high level of police corruption. The author of this article writes that 15 days ago his acquaintance imported a car bought in the USA into Azerbaijan, and when registering a car at the territory of the country he faced the same bribery as before.

The Interior Ministry states about the fight against corruption, but the results are not visible. Sometimes all media outlets report new rules, but then it turns out that they do not completely eradicate the possibility of corruption. At the beginning of 2019, fundamental changes were made in the rules for conducting mandatory technical inspection of vehicles. Since January 8, the terms of technical inspection have changed, some other rules that are not essential in the fight against corruption have been made: cars are allowed to operate for a year after technical inspection, if some malfunctions that are not dangerous to exploitation are discovered, paper tickets are eliminated, etc. The most interesting thing is that ASAN Hidmet state service has been connected to the registration process. Innovations were presented as a means of combating bribery, but since the human factor remains and drivers communicate with employees of the Technical Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the former formal and corrupt practice while undergoing technical inspection remains. ASAN Hidmet was charged only with the function of hosting and storing information. As before, the technical center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Baku (Zabrat settlement) is empty, which indicates undergoing technical inspection of vehicles in the "alternative mode".

Why do not they allow ASAN Hidmet to control completely the process of mandatory technical inspection, create its own technical services, or entrusting this work to certified private services? A reader of Turan news agency, answered this rhetorical question, and wrote his opinion under the article, the essence of which is now presented.

A reader wrote: "The government believes that bribery on the part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is not considered corruption, which means that ASAN will not have to contribute to the prevention of corruption. In fact, corruption remains, and in words struggle is allegedly ongoing."

Turan, published articles about the need of reforms in conducting mandatory vehicle inspection in order to eliminate the corrupt opportunities of traffic police officers and facilitate maintenance procedures for car owners. The publications stated: "The new Instruction does not provide for the possibility of conducting technical inspections at private IDB-certified technical centers. An interesting novelty is the connection of the ASAN civil service to the inspection registration process, but it is unclear how this service can help prevent corruption cases during technical inspection, if there is still contact between car owners and employees of technical departments at the Traffic Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The society still hopes on real reforms on the part of Interior Minister V. Eyvazov. Osman Gunduz, head of the Multimedia NGO, draws attention to the fact that cardinal anti-corruption innovations can be made in the registration process of cars imported into the country and purchased inside Azerbaijan.

"The automation of state registration of cars has long been expected by society as part of anti-corruption changes in the activities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Every year thousands of citizens use this service. As far as I know, digital technologies are well developed in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the IT sector has evolved. There is an entry-exit and registration system used by the traffic police and owned by the Ministry of the Interior. Therefore, there is no need to integrate the Ministry of Internal Affairs with any other organization. At the same time, it is no secret that there are certain problems in this process, there is insufficient transparency, there is a sharp difference between the official state duty and the market prices of some state registration plates," explains Osman Gunduz on his Facebook page.

He explains the absence of significant reforms, expected by the population, by the fact that "this service is offline due to subjective factors and in the interests of others." Expert Zohrab Ismail also told about the reasons for the large-scale corruption in Azerbaijan in the presence of an extensive network of ASAN Hidmet state service:

- ... some measures against corruption carried out in the country are imitative by nature. For years, the government cited ASAN Hidmet as an example, since there is no other demonstration of anti-corruption activities. ASAN was created long ago, but corruption persists. Naturally, some minor issues, that caused a strong public discontent, are being solved," said the expert, citing specific examples. However, he added: "|However, in general, there is no large-scale fight against corruption, they just try to present it as if there is a big struggle. Certain steps to address the issue of bribery at the household level have been taken. However, the embezzlement of state budget funds continues, and the fight against corruption in state bodies is not conducted....