Combating Conflict of Interest in the Cee Countries

Book Description
Over the last decade privatization, decentralization and public procurement processes have provided opportunities for unscrupulous civil servants to benefit in central and eastern Europe: the case of Bulgaria, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Russia and Slovakia are considered. Conflict of interest is the power of public officials to promote their private interest, the private interests of their relatives or the commercial enterprises in which they participate.


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"Over the last decade, privatization, decentralization, and public procurement processes in Central and Eastern Europe have provided opportunities for unscrupulous public officials and their cronies in business to benefit financially from their unfair, and often illegal, access to public funds." "Conflict of interest involves the power of public officials to promote their private interest, the private interests of their relatives, or the commercial enterprises in which they participate. A legal and regulatory framework on conflict of interest would prohibit public officials from engaging in private businesses that could benefit from their public positions, require officials to disclose private interest in any issue under consideration, or force them to withdraw from participation in such decisions." "Among its strongest conclusions, Combating Conflict of Interest recommends: the establishment of a clear legal regime related to local government employees and elected officials; the development of a monitoring, accountability, and sanction system; the implementation of an effective audit and risk assessment mechanism; efficient legal remedies against biased decisions on concessions, licenses, subsidies, tax breaks, and land management; legal and binding declarations of local officials' private interests; the adoption of an obligatory code of ethics; withdrawal procedures from potential conflicts of interest for all officials; and a Commission of Ethics for reporting and investigating cases and enforcing sanctions." Reports on conflict of interest in Bulgaria, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Slovakia are included in this new volume of the Local Government Policy Partnership.


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