Press Release:

 

Amendments to prepositions of anticorruption laws

 

Organization Transparency – Serbia sent on Friday initiative to parliamentary groups in National Assembly, formulated as amendments to two acts currently in procedure before legislative body – Law on Anticorruption Agency and Law on Changes and Amendments to Law on Financing of Political Party.

 

If deputies support this initiative, method of choosing Agency's head people would be simplified and avoided delay in its establishing because of Parliament's occupation or absence of political agreement; by our prepositions, Agency would have wider authorities in supervision over implementation of anticorruption strategy; limitations for officials doing different jobs at the same time and performing of other functions during mandate would be defined at more clearer way and finally circle of data delivered in reports on property would be widened.

 

We also emphasize that through our amendments authorizations of Agency for verifications of data from officials' reports are précised and widened, widened scope of criminal offence for non reporting of property and for false data reporting and suggest changes of transitional provisions of the law in order to prevent expiring of validity of the Law on Preventing Conflict of Interest before Agency receives all necessary conditions for its functioning.

 

Amendments to Law on Financing of Political Parties, which we sent to deputies, are of limited nature, since from formal reasons now can be influenced only to content of those norms which are included by Government's preposition of amendments. However we consider that regardless of stated limitation, submitted amendments could be useful because authorization of Agency in the procedure of control of parties' financial reports is more clearly defined and prescribes precise deadline for submitting of annual reports which now doesn't exist.

 

Transparency – Serbia

 

Belgrade , 30 September 2008.