Project aim:
The purpose of this project was to contribute, through research and analysis, to the improvement of the national and regional law enforcement capacities and coordination in preventing and combating high level corruption in SEE, bringing existing national mechanisms into compliance with international and European standards and best practices.
The main goal of this project was to identify common challenges in fighting high level corruption using criminal law proceeding in the view to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the investigations, prosecution, and trials. As well, it sought to identify the perception of the judges, prosecutors and police officers dealing with high level corruption about the extent of independence and effectiveness of the criminal judicial system in SEE countries.

Implementation period:
June- September 2009

Implementation place:
Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia, through the participation of the Transparency International national chapters and of TI Secretariat from Berlin.

Project Results
The project resulted in a systematic and functional analysis of law enforcement prosecution and judicial anti-corruption activity, focusing on an internal approach, based on expert opinions of relevant criminal law professionals themselves. It provides an inside view of the system's functionality, aiming to identify the weak points and causes of failure or success in addressing high level corruption in the countries of the region, in parallel with the real challenges and concrete steps which have to be taken in support of law enforcement bodies, prosecution and the judiciary system as a whole.
The survey results can be used in order to:

  • Identify the expert opinions of judges, prosecutors and police officers on internal or/and external vulnerabilities that impede their independence and the good functioning of the pre-trial and trial phase in the justice systems
  • Evaluate the expert opinions of judges, prosecutors, and police officers on the efficiency and effectiveness of the criminal law tools used to fight against corruption
  • Evaluate the level of integrity and resistance to corruption of the national criminal judicial system in order to properly adapt legal and governmental measures and bring national mechanism into compliance with international and European standards and best practices
  • Orient SEE regional policies related to fighting high level corruption and give coherency to the legislative solution that would be adopted in the national packages of laws on the reform of the judiciary
  • Strengthen the integrity of police investigation, prosecution and justice system and resistance to high level corruption.

TI Romania's role
As project coordinator, TI Romania had the following tasks:

  • Setting up the research methodology
  • conducting the preliminary analysis regarding the national judicial systems in SEE countries
  • running surveys at the level of each participant country
  • organizing 9 focus groups for completing and interpreting the data resulted from the quantitative research
  • developing the comparative study
  • identifying recommendations for building a regional framework for fighting corruption

Total cost of the project:

€ 49.645

Sponsors:

Regional Cooperation Council