site.btaGovernment Suggests Establishment of National Anti-Corruption and Forfeiture of Illegally Acquired Property Bureau

Government Suggests Establishment of National Anti-Corruption and Forfeiture of Illegally Acquired Property Bureau

Sofia, March 2 (BTA) - On Wednesday the Council of Ministers discussed the edited version of an anti-corruption bill, the government information service said.

The bill will be submitted to the four groups forming the majority in Parliament: GERB, the Reformist Bloc, the Patriotic Front and ABV. The text will also be offered for discussion to institutions and the public.

The bill provides for the establishment of one anti-corruption authority called a National Anti-corruption and Forfeiture of Illegally Acquired Property Bureau. It is to unite four authorities: the Commission for Prevention and Ascertainment of Conflict of Interest, the Commission for Withdrawal of Criminal Assets, the Centre for Prevention and Countering Corruption and Organised Crime (BORKOR) and the National Audit Office's unit which accepts and checks property statements. This creates the necessary link between the functions involved in checks of financial interests, establishing conflicts of interest, forfeiture of illegally acquired assets, and risk analysis.

The bureau will be headed by a director and four deputies elected by the National Assembly. It will also have territorial units. The employees will have to take integrity tests, including a polygraph test.

The effective functioning of the bureau will be supported by information from state and municipal authorities, as well as legal persons and the public. It will also be authorized to request the court to reveal insurance and tax secrets, as well as to have access to the Central Credit Register database.

The bill applies to high-level state and other officials, persons with powers in the spending of public funds, and several categories of persons in systems with a higher corruption risk, including the top command of the armed forces. All of them will submit one statement of financial interests and conflict of interest instead of several statements submitted to different authorities now.

Magistrates will submit similar statements to the Inspectorate with the Supreme Judicial Council. The bill thereby is aligned to the December 2015 revisions to the Constitution.

To ensure more comprehensive information on the property of high-level public officials, the bill expands the circle of circumstances they must declare. These include the immovable property of other persons, as well as vehicles worth over 10,000 leva used by the relevant person for a period exceeding three months, and training courses worth over 10,000 leva.

In-depth probes will be held in case of discrepancies between the statements and interests exceeding 20,000 leva where there is an effective decision about a conflict of interest, as well as alerts and media reports which contain sufficient verified data.

The bill suggests changes in the forfeiture procedure when there is a considerable discrepancy between one's property and net income. The discrepancy is set at 120,000 leva instead of 250,000 leva now.

The bill implements the National Strategy for Corruption Prevention in the Republic of Bulgaria (2015-2020). The European Commission's latest monitoring report said its passage is a "key test" in anti-corruption in 2016.