Bill on protection of persons informing about corruption being developed
By Jamila Babayeva
Azerbaijan is developing a bill to protect persons informing officials about corruption offenses in the country.
"The document will be put on public discussion in August-September 2014," Secretary of the Commission on Combating Corruption Vusal Huseynov told reporters.
He said currently there is no legislative base for the protection of persons who inform government officials about the corruption offenses in the country.
"The commission is working on the bill. We believe that if someone who is working in the public or private sectors, provides officials with information about corruption underway in the country, he or she must be protected against unfair pressure," Huseynov underlined.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Department under General Prosecutor's Office released statistics on corruption offenses in the first half of 2014.
During this period, the department examined 1.603 appeals, 53 percent of which were prosecuted and proactive measures were taken on remained appeals,"Head of Department Kamran Aliyev told reporters.
He added that the hotline of the department received 2.864 appeals during the reported period, and as a result of joint activities with relevant government agencies, many of these appeals were addressed positively.
"Nine appeals were examined. Meanwhile, several investigations were conducted," Aliyev noted.
Fighting corruption is one of the main trends in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan has already joined the UN Convention against Corruption, the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption of the Council of Europe, the Civil Law Convention on Corruption of the Council of Europe as well as the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.
Azerbaijan is successfully implementing anti-corruption measures. Several international organizations have praised these measures.