The role of parliament in anti-corruption

Corruption comes from the Latin word “corrumpere”, which means “to break”.

Corruption means the illegal use of one's official or service position for personal purposes or the receipt of material or intangible benefits in the interests of others, as well as the illegal provision of such benefits.

If we look at the history of our country, especially in the period of Sahibkiran Amir Temur, while raising the salaries of civil servants in his state, at the same time severely punished those who engaged in corruption. He sought to strengthen public control over corruption. He held conversations with representatives of the population and identified cases of injustice and extortion on the part of local leaders and punished them in front of witnesses.

Analysis shows that corruption damages the global economy at an average cost of $2.6 trillion a year. This represents 3% of the world's gross domestic product.

Corruption has the following negative consequences for the socio-economic and political life of the country.

In the modern world, corruption manifests itself in various forms. These include:

– bribery, “purchase” of an official person, “payment over”;

– misappropriation of public resources, waste; 

– appointment of relatives through acquaintances;

– conflict of interest in the performance of public functions;

– giving and receiving valuable gifts for solving a particular problem;

– “illegal patronage of business” by civil servants;

– elimination of the desire to defend their rights among citizens through abuse of entrusted power;

– management fraud (falsification of elections, making unfair decisions in the interests of certain groups);

– interference in judicial independence;

– creation of an artificial deficit; 

– illegal provision of public services using public office by politicians to “look good” in the eyes of the public, etc. 

But, unfortunately, in our national legislation, the categories of corruption crimes are not clear. We often refer to giving and receiving bribes and other similar crimes as corruption crimes. While, as mentioned above, crimes that are not directly related to material interest can also be corruption. 

Therefore, the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis is currently working on a bill on amendments and additions to the Criminal Code in cooperation with the Prosecutor General's Office. In accordance with it, it is proposed to supplement the eighth part of the Criminal Code with the new term “corruption crimes” and specify corruption crimes with certain articles and paragraphs. The bill provides for tougher penalties for corruption crimes.

It is being established that the conditions for exemption from liability and punishment do not apply to grave and especially grave corruption crimes.

It should be noted that the accession of Uzbekistan to the UN Convention against Corruption in 2008 laid the foundation for improving the legal framework for combating corruption. 

In our country, there are 210 normative legal acts in which the word “corruption” is used. Of course, in all of them this word was used for the purposes of preventing and combating corruption.

At the suggestion of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan (in a speech at a ceremony to mark the 26^th anniversary of the Constitution on December 7, 2018), in 2019, the “Committee on combating corruption and judicial and legal Issues” was established in the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis. 

The Committee works over combating corruption in 5 areas, based on the main tasks and functions of the Parliament.

First of all, legislative (law-making) activity. The Committee annually issues an average of 40 bills on anti-corruption and judicial issues. This means 25-30 percent of bills that are considered annually by the lower house.

For example, the Committee was responsible for the laws “On combating corruption”, “On introducing amendments and additions to some legislative acts of the Republic of Uzbekistan in connection with improving the system of combating corruption in the Republic of Uzbekistan” dated November 18, 2021, “On administrative procedures”, directed to prevent bureaucracy in state bodies, a law providing for administrative liability for violations of the law on the openness of the activities of state authorities and administration, and a number of other laws.

In addition, the Committee is developing laws in other areas in order to prevent corruption risks in them. For example, the Committee was directly involved in the preparation of the draft Law “On the introduction of amendments and additions to certain legislative acts of the Republic of Uzbekistan in connection with the improvement of the system for allotment and use of land plots, as well as land registration and maintenance of the state land cadastre”.

The second direction of lawmaking shall be to eliminate the norms in these laws that create conditions for corruption. Over the past period, the Committee has identified more than 40 corruption norms in bills submitted to Parliament, and achieved their elimination or amendment.

In addition, the Committee conducts an anti-corruption analysis of existing laws. For example, the Committee identified more than 10 corruption norms in existing laws, prepared analytical information on them and took measures to include them in the plan for the preparation of relevant regulations.

The second direction of the Committee’s activity is parliamentary control. Over the past period, the committee has carried out more than 20 control and analytical activities.

The implementation of legislation to prevent corruption in the field of healthcare, construction and a number of other areas was studied directly on site.

In order to prevent corruption in the system, improve the efficiency of compliance control, and create a culture of intolerance towards corruption, the heads of the State Customs Committee, the Ministries of Health, Justice, Construction and the Anti-Corruption Agency were heard. Based on the results of the hearings, the decisions of the Committee on preventing corruption in the system, expanding the digitalization of public services and other areas were adopted and sent for implementation.

As a result of the hearings, it became possible to cancel some departmental regulations that create conditions for corruption.

For example, at the suggestion of the Committee, in accordance with the order of the Chairperson of the State Customs Committee dated February 25, 2021
No. 01-02 / 8-11, the “Procedure for collecting customs payments for customs clearance of goods and vehicles outside the established places and outside the working hours of customs authorities” was cancelled (AB
No. 925, dated May 11, 2000), as well as
4 other documents related to this document.

The third area of activity is the dialogue on the ground. Based on this method, proposed at the initiative of the President, the deputies go to the sites and conduct conversations with members of the public, entrepreneurs, courts, law enforcement agencies, lawyers, among whom anonymous social surveys are conducted. Issues raised on the topics of preventing corruption in the territories, ensuring justice were considered at meetings of local Kengashes of people’s deputies. 

Our fourth line of business is participation in the work of various collegiate bodies. Members of the Committee operate as part of the Special Commission for the establishment of the Public Council under the Anti-Corruption Agency, the Commission for the Improvement of Criminal and Criminal Procedure Legislation, the Supreme Council of Judges, various commissions for the development of the draft Administrative Reform Program of new Uzbekistan, the National Anti-Corruption Council and others collegiate bodies. For example, members of the Committee provided methodological assistance in organizing the activities of local councils to combat corruption in the Jizzakh region, the application of administrative and preventive measures to prevent corruption. 

The fifth area of activity is the promotion of anti-corruption. Over the past period, members of the Committee have spoken more than 5,000 times on television, radio, print media, the Internet and social networks. The committee also held about 20 conferences, seminars and round tables. Members of the Committee made presentations at international anti-corruption forums.

In addition, the Committee regularly discusses with representatives of the scientific community the scientific and practical proposals in this area. Based on the proposals submitted by scientists, the Committee has improved various bills.

Of course, in order to create “immunity against corruption”, we need to “cleanse” not only the “corrupt official”, but also their environment, or rather, eliminate the factors that create conditions for corruption. 

In our opinion, the following 4 tools of impact should be equally used to fight corruption.

First of all, the impact that encourages honest work. In this case, the following shall be applied:

decent wages;

rewarding whistleblowers;

principle of appointing an honest person to a high position.

Secondly, the “dam tool”, that is, the impact that prevents factors and conditions for corruption. Here shall be important:

reduction of the human factor in the provision of public services;

electronic registration of offenses;

appointment to a position on the basis of an open competition;

declaration of income of civil servants;

ensuring transparency of public procurement; 

elimination of corruption norms in the legislation;

elimination of bureaucratic barriers;

prevention of conflicts of interest;

ensuring the independence of the judiciary.

Thirdly, the educational impact on the fight against corruption. Here it shall be expedient:

formation of an uncompromising attitude towards corruption;

raising the legal awareness and culture of the population;

religious and educational propaganda by religious dignitaries.

Fourth, the anti-corruption control system. It requires:

coordination of the fight against corruption; 

severe punishment and inevitability of liability for corruption;

confiscation of assets obtained as a result of corruption;

preventing corrupt officials from entering the public service;  

preventing cases of corruption from remaining “latent”;

reversal of decisions made through corruption;

strong public control;

accountability of officials to the people;

non-governmental non-profit organizations capable of conducting professional corruption research and “investigative journalism”; 

effective operation of the “internal anti-corruption audit” system. 

In general, the fight against corruption is not only the business of state bodies, but the goal can be achieved only in the case of concerted actions of members of the public.