The Republican Coordinating Meeting on Combating Crime and Corruption was held under the chairmanship of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Konyuk

Issues to be discussed are measures to improve the quality of search operations and investigative activity, the maintenance of public prosecution; the effectiveness of prosecutorial supervision in the economic sphere. 

The coordination meeting was attended by Head of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Belarus Natalya Kochanova, Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus Valentin Sukalo, State Secretary of the Security Council of the Republic of Belarus Stanislav Zas and his deputy Alexander Rakhmanov, Chairman of the State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus Valery Vakulchik, Chairman of the State Control Committee of the Republic of Belarus Belarus Leonid Anfimov and his Deputy – Director of the Financial Investigations Department Igor Marshalov, Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus Ivan Noskevich, his deputy Sergey Azemsha, head of the Operational and Analytical Center under the President of the Republic of Belarus Andrei Pavlyuchenko, Minister of the Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus Yuri Karaev, Minister for Emergencies of the Republic of Belarus Vladimir Vashchenko, Minister of Defense of the Republic of Belarus Andrey Ravkov, heads of other ministries and committees. 

“Despite certain positive outcomes, the activities of inquiry, preliminary investigation and prosecution authorities need to be further improved in order to ensure the fullest criminal procedure, to protect the rights and legitimate interests of citizens, society and the state,” Alexander Konyuk addressed the meeting. 

Among the search operation problems the unreasonable duration of operational developments as well as law violations during search operations and their outcomes execution were specified. 

The panelists noted the insufficient effectiveness of the internal affairs and financial investigations bodies’ activity in identifying, combating and preventing economic corruption crimes. 

In the course of meeting different situations were considered, in particular sending incomplete materials to the investigative units by the inquiry authorities, unreasonable return of the materials to the investigating authorities despite sufficient data to make procedural decisions etc. 

Cases of unjustified initiation of criminal cases, as well as the quality of prosecutorial supervision, when it did not provide the required level of investigation of criminal cases at the stage of submission to the court and public prosecution, were discussed as a separate unit at the meeting. 

Significant attention was paid to supervision in the field of economy. 

The main objectives of prosecutors are to help reduce external overdue receivables and ensure the return of foreign currency earnings to the country for delivered products, control over the targeted spending of budget funds and compliance with investment legislation. 

Answering journalists' questions, Alexander Konyuk said: “Our task today is to develop tactics and concrete measures to correct the situation. There are shortcomings in the activities of law enforcement agencies today, but I cannot say that they are systemic in nature. Nevertheless, there are some very serious ones.” 

Speaking about the fight against corruption, the head of the supervisory authority noted that national means, methods and regulatory framework are adequate: “There is no need to radically change anything. But life goes on, people change, so certain law amendments are being made.” 

On the results of the Republican Coordinating Meeting on Combating Crime and Corruption, specific measures have been developed for implementation by the Prosecutor General's Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the State Security Committee, the Investigative Committee, the State Control Committee and the State Judicial Expertise Committee. 

Photo: Prosecutor General’s Office, belta.by. 

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