Measures aimed at protecting persons who report acts of corruption are useless, NGO

The legislative initiative on the protection of denouncers, which was put forward by the Center for Combating Corruption and Economic Crime, has many shortcomings. If it is adopted in the given form, it will be inefficient, warn experts of the Center for the Analysis and Prevention of Corruption (CAPC), Info-Prim Neo reports. The Center considers the proposed measures are useless as they do not fully guarantee the protection of the public servants who report acts of corruption. CAPC expert Mariana Kalughin told a news conference that the legislative initiative provides three protection measures – the protection of personal data, the presumption of good faith until the opposite is proven, and the transfer of the person from the post held to another post. “In our opinion, these measures are discouraging for the persons who can and intend to inform about acts of corruption. The denouncers cannot be protected from the risks to which they may be exposed. The bill in the given form will not produce effects,” said the expert. Mariana Kalughin also said that a solution is to protect the denouncers in accordance with the law on the protection of witnesses so that they feel really protected. A measure is also to tape the phone conversations so as to prove that the person is intimidated. The video and audio surveillance, the video pursuit, the physical protection measures, the change of the domicile and the identity can also be efficient. The bill was drafted based on a similar initiative of Romania. Mariana Kalughin stated that the provisions from the Romanian law did not yet lead to a higher number of reports on cases of corruption inside organizations. CAPC head Galina Bostan said the protection of the denouncers is important in the fight against corruption. “When there are two persons who want to hide the act of corruption, the probability that the law enforcement bodies will find out about this act is rather low. It is important that the state should provide protection for the denouncers. Otherwise, the cases of corruption will not be made known,” said Galina Bostan. The legislative initiative was submitted to Parliament.