Integrity studies and further possible solutions
The new tool for the fight against corruption is already fixed by the strategy of judicial reforms for 2022-2026. All judges, prosecutors, investigators and corrections officers working in the system will undergo a background check. First Channel News journalist Anush Muradyan talked on the topic with Marianna Baghinyan, head of the Integrity Research Department of CPC.
"From 2020 until today, the Commission issued 576 conclusions related to the sector. 161 were about candidates for new judges entering the system, 106 about current ones but applied for professional growth, 129 about future prosecutors, 66 about prosecutors seeking promotion. The remaining 114 conclusions were referred to the investigators of the High Court, the Supreme Judicial Council, and the Anti-Corruption Committee," said Marianna Baghinyan.
"There are cases when people who received a positive conclusion are appointed to the relevant positions, but I would like to mention that we also have certain cases where people who received a negative conclusion were also appointed to the relevant positions."
Taking into account the 2-year experience of the structure, it was proposed to change the law and make the final part of the conclusion of the integrity inspection public.
"In all cases, when the persons who received a negative conclusion will be appointed to the respective positions, the bodies that already appoint the candidates to the respective positions will have to make a reasoned decision," noted Marianna Baghinyan, adding that the Commission is ready for the new volume of work, but the existing resource should be increased, the staff should be replenished with new personnel, because the expected change requires a lot of work.
Watch the full video of First Channel News on the Commission's YouTube page.
