Fighting corruption in police, military and relevant services will increase integrity of security institutions

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The dialogue on the role of institutions, media, and citizens in fighting corruption started at the training held in the library of BCSP. After the training, journalists will publish articles, TV, and radio reports in their media- Blic, Danas, Istinomer, Juzne vesti, Kurir, Novosadska televizija, Politika, TV Kopernikus, Radio Novi Sad, Radio Kosovska Mitrovica, RTV Lav Uzice, RTV Novi Pazar and RTV Presevo.

President of the BCSP Executive Board Miroslav Hadzic, emphasized that corruption in Serbia is a way of living and it represents not only the indicator, but also the element of economic crisis. He stressed that corruption is often simplified to what is most obvious and visible, usually bribe.

“Corruption is influence on redistribution of power, ie authority. When talking about corruption, we are talking about vicious circle. Everything is connected. No matter which point in the system you take as a starting point, you will run into corruption. In Serbia, corruption is spread everywhere,  and any ad hoc political action would give only modest results. Corruption should be fought from both sides at the same time – from the top, and from the bottom, from citizens level”, said professor Hadzic.

Corruption risks in the police

BCSP researcher Sasa Djordjevic said that in the police, there is a blue wall of silence, meaning that police officers are not willing to report a corrupted colleague. Since there is no law on whistle blower protection, fighting corruption in police is hindered. He stressed this as one of the key risks on corruption in police human resource management, finance management, operational work and internal and external control.

“There is no system of vacancies advertising in the MOI, and criteria on professional advancement are not known to public nor to employees. Researches show that citizens, but police officer also, consider that hiring in the MOI is done mostly through political or family connections. Besides that, there are no strictly defined activities that are incompatible with police work, which also is a source of corruption in police. On the other hand, sector of internal control does not have the authorization to control all the employees in the MOI”, said Djordjevic.

Corruption risks in the MOI are not visible to citizens, but very harmful, are emergencies and are classified public procurements, said Head of Internal Affairs Sector Milos Oparnica. He stressed that important actors in fighting corruption in police are organizational units where the MOI employees work, internal auditors, as well as citizens and media.

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“Public procurement corruption should be investigated from the very start of the process in order to find the insiders who could bring us to evidences. The problem is that citizens who report that they gave a bribe is not automatically abolished, but it depends on the prosecutor, whether they will be treated as a perpetrator or as a witness. Only three out of ten citizens captured giving a bribe to a police officer were ready to testify, based on the fact that they do not trust the judiciary. Rewarding police officers, usually in an improper manner, is not recognized as a corruption. The solution can not be in a repression, but in influence through creating ethics  and integrity plans. If there is a procedure, there is no voluntarism. If there is no voluntarism, there is no corruption”, concluded  Oparnica.

Bosko Lukic, from the Directorate of Traffic Police, announced the installation of video surveillance at Corridor 10 at all control places, as an anticorruption measure. He said that factors that impact the occurrence of corruption are relationship of citizens towards control, unfavorable judicial practice, vague legal framework and inefficient control.

“Most of drivers are ready to make a deal. They do not see sanction as a prevention. Judicial processes on corruption are too long, and often times, sentences are minimal or even the verdict results in acquittal. Some of the reasons for inefficient control are weak technical equipment, lack of knowledge of propositions, lack of experience among heads, and weak coordination within the Ministry. Measures planned to be implemented in the next period are : further education, making a plan of integrity, improving the special control, technical equipment, harmonization of laws and bylaws and improvement of methodology of work”, said Lukic.

{image3}Corruption risks in the military and in security services

BCSP research team presented to journalists main risks of corruption in the military and security services. Panelists emphasized that security services work under high degree of confidentiality, which leaves a lot of space for discretion, and decreases possibility for control system. Defense system is specific by its size and complexity, which is an obstacle for control.

“Improving, assessing and deployment to peace missions are the greatest risks on corruption in human resource management in defense systems. Human resource management in security service is defined by Rulebooks, but in reality, it is significantly different. The best example are changes of head peoples after the elections”, said BCSP researcher Katarina Djokic.

The second major issue in corruption of the defense system are public procurements. Procurements for defense and security are mostly confidential because of national interest, so they are mostly done without obeying legal procedures. Even though there is a new law on this topic, most of the procurements in the defense system are still done according to the old law.

“One of the most relevant problems is the fact that it is enough for someone in the Ministry of Defense to decide that in that case it is a classified procurement, and it will be done without obeying legal procedures. When it comes to security services, it is enough to say that 95% of procurements in the SIA (Security Information Agency) are labeled as classified”, said BCSP researcher Vladimir Erceg.{split}

Panelists emphasized that parliamentary Defense and the Internal Affairs Committee has great legal authorizations in surveillance over security institutions, but the problem is a lack of enthusiasm and will among the members of Parliament when it comes to raising questions about what is happening in the security sector and pointing out the deficiencies that should be removed.

“Empowering external surveillance and control should be one of the key priorities of the new Government. It should be focused on improving mechanisms of external surveillance, primarily of Commissioner for Information of Public Importance, ombudsman and State Auditor, and also creating an efficient system of internal control”, said BCSP Executive Director Predrag Petrovic.

Audit as a mechanism in fighting corruption

Supreme State Auditor Cvetana Prsic explained how independent state bodies are participating in control of work of institutions in security sector and fighting corruption in those institutions. As an example for explaining the process, she took the audit of SIA.

{image4} “As supreme body of public funding control, State Audit Institution has a major task in assuring that financial flows are according to law, to test functioning of internal control mechanisms, and to make recommendations for improvement  in  parts of the system where irregularities are spotted. After recommendations on how to correct irregularities in functioning of the subject, SAI files a claim for initiation of proceeding. Since 2009 it has been filed 741 criminal and misdemeanor charges, and most of them are concerning excessive spending of budget funding. Very often other state institutions are reluctant to cooperation with the SAI since nobody likes to be controlled. It will take some more time for institutions to realize that the SAI is there to help them to improve their work, and that it can be very useful”, concluded Supreme State Auditor Cvetana Prsic.

Prsic mentions that so far, it has been done only one audit of purpose, concerning number of official vehicles of direct budget users, but the report is confidential since its writing is still in progress.

Journalists experiences in investigation of corruption

Journalists should point at corruption, and police should prove it, said Branko Cecen, director and editor of Center For Investigative Journalism of Serbia (CINS). He suggested that the most effective way for detecting corruption is to follow the money flows, since that is the only way to get some gain from the corruption chain.{image5} 

“Three criteria for journalists in choosing the story are  importance, attractiveness of topic, and feasibility of research. The search should be started by asking who has all the information about that topic. Reading all the relevant documents and also knowing of the environment, are necessary for getting information. You should always check and ask for confirmation of data collected in the process. That is how you protect the journalist, from those he writes about, but also at the court. Another protection mechanism is creating a network of journalists that will cooperate on one story”, Cecen shared its long experience to training’s participants.

Aleksandar Djordjevic from Balkan Investigative Reporting Network Serbia (BIRN Serbia) also said that cooperation among journalists is a key point in investigative reporting. He began his reporting career in Kragujevac, so he could share experiences about reporting on local topics.

“Journalists on local level do not have enough time for deeper investigation of one topic. Some specific case of corruption, especially in security sector, is very difficult to investigate, since those whose work you are analyzing, will be aware of that during the process. On the other hand, a positive aspect when working at the local level is that there is more information that many people know, but no one can investigate and publish it. There are different ways to publish the story – some alternative media, networks of organizations, internet. The main link of the success is unrealistic enthusiasm and support by editor”, emphasized rewarded journalist of BIRN.

Text translated by BCSP intern Katarina Cezek.