A meeting of the Public Council under the Vitebsk Regional Prosecutor's Office for monitoring the activities of law enforcement (other state) bodies and combating corruption was held.

An regular meeting of the Public Council under the Vitebsk Regional Prosecutor's Office for monitoring the activities of law enforcement (other state) bodies and combating corruption was held in the conference hall of OJSC "Vityaz" under the chairmanship of the First Deputy Prosecutor of Vitebsk Region, I.N. Korzhov.

The agenda included a number of pressing issues in the sphere of combating corruption in the region, the problems of applying and ways to improve anti-corruption legislation, and an assessment of the effectiveness of public control in combating corruption manifestations.

The forum was actively attended by the Deputy Chairman of the Regional Executive Committee V.P. Penin, representatives of the region's control bodies (KGC of Vitebsk Region, IMNS for Vitebsk Region), heads of a number of enterprises and organizations of the region of various forms of ownership, in particular, General Directors: OJSC "Vityaz" G.P. Azarov, OJSC "Vitebskoblavtotrans" S.I. Starovoytov, OJSC "Moloko" Vitebsk M.S. Pinchuk, Director of UP "CHESS-Bel-Agro" V.N. Botnar, Deputy General Director of LLC "PO "Energokomplekt" V.A. Seleznev, and others.

The interests of the director corps of economic entities were represented by the Vitebsk Regional Union of Employers, represented by Chairman V.P. Turavinov.

From the position of protecting the rights and interests of workers, including those in leadership positions, the Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Trade Union Association I.K. Vozmitel spoke.

Other representatives of the region's business community exchanged views, presenting their vision of corruption risks in production activities, primarily in procurement.

The forum participants discussed proposals for amending anti-corruption legislation:

- declaration of bonuses, bank card refunds, tokens (cryptocurrency), small gifts, etc.;

- introduction of administrative liability for legal entities for bribery (in case of bribery by an employee in the interests of the organization); inclusion of such enterprises in the relevant registers accessible to the public;

- introduction of administrative liability for managers for failure to take measures provided for by law to combat corruption;

- testing of candidates for public service, other leadership positions with an increased level of corruption risks, as well as "internal" control of public officials using technical means of control, namely a polygraph ("lie detector");

- legislative consolidation of "loss of trust" as a ground for dismissal from public service

Participants of the meeting also expressed their views on the implementation of certain provisions of the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus of December 21, 2017 No. 8 "On the Development of the Digital Economy", including on granting benefits and preferences to participants in relations related to the use of modern technologies (exemption from taxes in connection with mining activities, creation, acquisition, alienation of tokens), as well as possible corruption risks in the sphere of digital currency circulation.

The results of the meeting were summarized by the First Deputy Prosecutor of the region, Korzhov I.N., who drew the attention of those present to the need for unconditional compliance with the requirements of anti-corruption legislation, and ensuring a principled approach when deciding on the responsibility of persons who have violated the requirements of the said legislation.

Head of the Department for Combating Corruption
and Organized Crime
of the Regional Prosecutor's Office
E. Lapkovsky.