Corruption level decreases in Azerbaijan

By Vusala Abbasova - AzerNews 

The number of criminal cases on corruption registered in Azerbaijan decreased in the first half of 2015, amounting to 99 criminal cases against 158 people. Last year the here were filed 103 criminal cases against 147 people.

These figures were presented by Kamran Aliyev, the Deputy Prosecutor General, Head of the Anti-Corruption Department, on July 22, as he spoke about the range of measures taken against corruption for the first six month of this year.

While the total number of cases has in fact decreased, Aliyev mentioned that citizens have become more vigilant and active in combating corruption, saying that he has witnessed a rise in reports and legal action directly from the population.

Aliyev stressed that the majority of criminal cases sent to the court were related to banking issues, whereby 15 criminal cases were filed against 30 people.

In his statement, Aliyev highlighted that 59 cases of serious crimes have been sent to the court for the first half of this year, with 51 cases in the same period of the previous year.

There are 11 criminal cases that have been initiated against 17 people in the private sector, 10 criminal cases against 21 people in the construction sector, 11 cases against 11 people in the trade sector, 3 cases against 9 people in agriculture, 6 cases against 13 people in the education sector, 6 cases against 6 people in the health sector, 3 cases against 3 staff members of local executive authorities, and 3 criminal cases have been initiated against municipalities, Aliyev reported.

Currently, 118 criminal cases are under preliminary investigation by the Investigation Department.

Generally, the Main Department for Combating Corruption has investigated 270 corruption cases since the beginning of this year.

Aliyev also reported that the department has examined 5150 complaints and investigated 95 criminal cases, while criminal charges have been initiated on 65 of them (68 percent). The corruption department has provided necessary preventive measures (actions) for the rest 30 criminal cases, and the necessary preventive measures have been provided for the others.

The department has received 3,414 complaints through the 161 hotline, and criminal cases have been initiated on 12 of them.

Thus far, 76 percent of the National Action Plan to Combat Corruption for 2012-2015 has been implemented, said the Vusal Huseynov, Secretary of the Commission on Combating Corruption, during the discussion.

Huseynov added that improving the websites of state agencies provides free access to information, and has become one of the major achievements of the Commission.

The measures taken have returned over 30 million manats, 31.8 percent of the total corruption damage of almost 95 million manats.