In the margins of the two-day conference ’Implementation of Corruption Prevention Mechanisms’, Justice Minister Nela Kuburović met today with the OSCE’s anti-corruption expert, professor Paola Severino with whom she discussed Serbia’s anti-corruption measures.
In light of professor Severino having built a prestigious career in the field of corruption prevention and elimination in Italy and the fact that the said conference was organised with the assistance of the OSCE Mission to Serbia and the Italian Embassy in Serbia, Minister Kuburović explained that Serbia and Italy had been running an intensive and close cooperation in justice sector matters and fight against corruption. She stressed that two years prior Serbia’s and Italy’s Justice Ministers had signed new bilateral agreements on accelerated exchange of data on corruption-related crimes and organised crime.
Kuburović also noted that the year before, the Serbian Ministry of Justice and Italy’s Finance Police had signed a Memorandum on Cooperation which stipulated professional training in fight against corruption and financial crime for Serbian prosecutors and Italian police officers. Kuburović added that direct cooperation also existed between the two countries’ prosecutor’s offices which implied there being joint investigation teams.
Professor Severino said that regional approach to and international expertise were very important for an efficient fight against corruption. She pointed out that Italy itself had had great problems with corruption for which reason it had evenly dedicated efforts to setting-up both repressive and preventive mechanisms for fighting corruption and crime.
Professor Severino commended Serbia for the recent adoption of the Lobbying Act which she said did not exist in Italy. In that sense - she added - Serbia could serve as a good example for Italy to follow. She concluded by saying that fight against corruption needed to be advanced constantly and adapted to the societal changes.
Minister Kuburović stated that Serbia had been dedicating efforts evenly to both repressive and preventive measures, naming a set of adopted measures which allocated the public authorities the required resources to fight crime mechanisms in fight against corruption and crime. The Minister explained that judges and prosecutors specialising in anti-corruption matters were now in place, as one of pre-conditions for having more strong indictments and, consequently, more convictions.
On the topic of preventive measures, Kuburović said that the new Corruption Prevention Bill - the text of which was being consolidated with the GRECO experts’ recommendations (and which was a new name for the Anti-Corruption Agency Act) - would soon enter the parliamentary procedure. She noted that the Bill, once passed, and the Lobbying Act together would significantly expand the Anti-Corruption Agency’s authority and strengthen its resources.
Kuburović and Severino concurred that sharing data and exchanging good practices was vital to a successful fight against corruption and crime – an already established practice with Serbia and Italy assisting each other in such matters.
At the close of the meeting, it was emphasised that Serbia enjoyed Italy’s unequivocal support in the EU-integration process. Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia Andrea Orizio and Italy’s Ambassador to Serbia Carlo Lo Cascio were also in attendance.