13/10/2016 - Azerbaijan has made progress in preventing corruption in several sectors, such as public services delivery, traffic police and public education, and reforms have started in customs and business licencing. However, serious and complex corruption challenges have yet to be tackled, says a new OECD report.

 

The report praises Azerbaijan for advancing the Azerbaijani Service and Assessment Network (ASAN) centres, which has contributed to eliminating the conditions that are conducive to corruption when delivering various administrative services to the public. It also welcomes the improved performance of the Anti-Corruption Directorate. However, it urges Azerbaijan to strengthen its central body for prevention of corruption, the Commission on Combating on Corruption, and implement comprehensive, evidence-based anti-corruption policy, addressing sectors prone to high corruption risks.  

 

The report further recommends that Azerbaijan should:

• Ensure the open participation of civil society in anti-corruption reforms and create an enabling environment for investigative journalism and media reporting on corruption;
• Pursue civil service reform, adopt conflict of interest legislation and ensure effective coordination and implementation of the reforms;
• Take effective measures to ensure transparency and integrity in public procurement;
• Strengthen prosecutorial and judicial integrity and independence, ensure objective, merit-based and transparent recruitment of prosecutors and judges;
• Introduce without delay criminal procedure for enforcing corporate liability and step up enforcement of new forms of corruption offences;
• Prioritise resources to investigate complex, systemic and high-level corruption cases;
• Further prevent and fight corruption in the education sector by measuring impact and using a consultative, inclusive and evidence-based approach to planning and implementing reforms.

 

The full report and recommendations on Azerbaijan are available here.

 

The report is published under the Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan, initiative launched in 2003 under the Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ACN), which is a part of the OECD Working Group on Bribery outreach work. More information is at www.oecd.org/corruption/acn/.

 

For further information, contact Mrs. Rusudan Mikhelidze, ACN Project Manager at the OECD’s Anti-Corruption Division at +33 1 45 24 99 64 or anti-corruption.contact@oecd.org.

 

Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.