Minister of Justice Nela Kuburović announced at the “Regional Cooperation in Anti-Corruption“ Conference that the Working Group which was drafting the Anti-Corruption Agency Bill with due regard for the principles of inclusion and transparency, was expected to finalise the Bill by the end of the year. She noted that the Working Group’s work pace had accelerated and that a three-day meeting had recently been held with the representatives of the Agency, the Ministry of Justice, the Vice-President of the Anti-Corruption Council and IPA 2013 Prevention and Fight Against Corruption Project experts. “During the meeting, positions on most matters were consolidated. It is also expected that the Agency and the Ministry would organise a joint round table next week. By working in this way, I am convinced that the Serbian Government would soon be able to present the Bill to the National Assembly, thus preventing a delayed completion of an important Chapter 23 Action Plan activity”, Kuburović noted. She explained that strategies and action plans ensured that Serbia had a strategic approach to fighting corruption and building anti-corruption institutions.
The Justice Minister highlighted that the Criminal Code had been amended to include two modern and fully reformed chapters on criminal offences of corruption. She noted that the Code amendments reflected the new Organisation and Competencies of the Government Authorities in Fighting Organised Crime, Terrorism and Corruption Act which expanded the competencies of the Prosecutor’s Office for Organised Crime, introduced four new regional anti-corruption centres - one in Belgrade, Kraljevo, Niš and Novi Sad – and new methods of advancing cooperation and exchange of information through liaison officers, and created target groups. “The Criminal Code and the new Act will enter into force in less than three months. We are presently very busy making preparations to eventually create conditions for the implementation of these statutes“, Kuburović said.
In closing, she thanked the EU IPA 2013 Project and the US Embassy for all their support in the process.
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