The 29th Steering Group Meeting of the Regional Anti-corruption Initiative (RAI) took place in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina on March 12th, 2019. The meeting was organized by the RAI Secretariat and chaired by the Head of Secretariat Mr. Vladan Joksimovic.   Focus of the Steering Group Meeting was selection of the new Anti-corruption Expert, as […]

A court in Skopje sentenced the former secret police head of North Macedonia Saso Mijalkov to three years in prison in a local election fraud case, dubbed Titanik 2, on March 8.  Mijalkov, 53, was immediately put in detention. This was the first verdict for the Special Prosecution Office (SPO) for Mijalkov, who also faces other trials, including over […]

Hundreds of Croatian journalists took to the streets of Zagreb last weekend to protest against the decline of media freedom in the country. Whilst the government of the Balkan EU Member State insists that there are no threats to media freedom, journalists cite a large number of lawsuits that are being filed against them, including […]

Corruption and torture are decisively linked, and members of the European Union need to move swiftly and effectively to “eradicate these threats to democracy, human rights and the rule of law,” the Council of Europe said last week. Mykola Gnatovskyy, President of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment […]

Romanians gathered on Friday in front of the prosecutor’s office in Bucharest to show support for Laura Codruta Kovesi, the former head of the country’s anti-corruption agency, who is one of the top candidates for the post of the European Union’s first public prosecutor. Scores of supporters brought flowers and cheered for Kovesi as she […]

AIRE Centre  and RAI Secretariat started with implementation of a 2-year Regional Project titled Strengthening anti-corruption in the South East Europe through improving asset seizure measures (the Regional Anti-corruption Project) in November 2018. The Project is funded by the British Government.   February 12 and 13 were dedicated to the coordination and planning for 2019 with the […]

AIRE Centre  and RAI Secretariat started with implementation of a 2-year Regional Project on asset recovery titled Strengthening anti-corruption in the South East Europe through improving asset seizure measures (the Regional Anti-corruption Project) in September 2018. The Project is funded by the British Government. In that regard, on Thursday (February 7) at the office of […]

A bulk of technical and normative measures implemented by Western Balkans governments for the sake of their country’s progress towards EU accession hasn’t really brought about substantive reforms. Indeed, democratic standards in these countries are backsliding. The European Union is aware of it, as it is aware that its approach towards this region needs improvement. […]

A London court has forfeited frozen bank accounts containing half a million pounds, belonging to the former prime minister of Moldova’s son, after investigators decided the cash came from his father’s corrupt activities. A London judge has ordered the forfeiture of three frozen bank accounts belonging to the 22-year-old son of Moldova’s former prime minister, […]

57 candidates applied to be part of the anti-corruption commission at a call issued by the Parliament, which ran from 22 until 27 January. The candidates who have applied to be elected as members of the State Commission for Prevention of Corruption, including a president, are being interviewed Sunday at a session of the Parliament’s […]