Summer School for Junior AC Practitioners EndsToday!

Regional Anti-corruption Initiative proudly announces opening of the 14th Annual Summer School for Junior Anti-corruption Practitioners from South East Europe. This year the school is taking place in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina from today till 04 July. The topic of the 2019 Summer School edition is “Investigation of corruption cases- Innovative mechanisms and tools”.

Participants at the Summer School are young public servants coming from all the RAI member countries. They will pass one week of intensive study, obtaining theoretical knowledge and practical skills from honorable experts on contemporary and innovative investigation mechanism and tools and on recovering proceeds of crime. They will also have to learn from each other on regional practices. 14 Edition of the RAI Summer Junior School was honored to have the High Council and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, (HCPC) as a hosting institution.

July 1st – Summer School Day 1

Opening remarks were given by Ms. Gordana Tadic, Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina who emphasized the importance of the RAI Summer Junior School as a forum for exchange of views and experiences among young practitioners from the field in the SEE region, especially nowadays when the corruption gets more sophisticated forms which require specialized knowledge and skills in investigation and prosecution of these cases and more enhanced cross- boarder and international cooperation.

The representative from the HCPC, Mr. Admir Suljagic presented the ongoing activities and the projects towards enhancing the independence and competence of the national judiciary.

The Head of the RAI Secretariat, Mr. Vladan Joksimovic presented the on going and upcoming activities of the RAI, the most important of them being the assistance of the anti corruption bodies in the region in developing of preventive anti-corruption tools, corruption risk assessment and corruption proofing of laws, then the role of RAI in facilitating the upcoming signature of the International Treaty on Exchange of data for the Verification of Asset Declarations, and the negotiation process with the EC on the new project on integrity and whistleblowing systems. He addressed the participants to the lots of RAI useful publications and handbooks of various fields of the RAI mission and scope of work, posted on the website of the RAI.

During the working part of the Summer School, Ms. Aneta Arnaudovska, the RAI Anti-corruption Expert gave an overview on the key international anti –corruption standards with a focus on the criminalization of corruption, analysis of the most often problems in investigation and prosecution of corruption – related cases, in proving the elements of the offences, problems in detecting and securing the evidence for proofing the crimes which mostly are indirect, the challenges coming from the newly adopted criminal procedural codes in the states in the SEE which introduced a new type of a prosecutorial investigation, the need for a tailored training for Implementation of the ECHR standards in obtaining lawful evidence and conducting the trials.

Ms. Desislava Gotskova, the RAI Project Manager, explained the international legal framework and the legal concepts as well the situation with their implementation in the field of asset recovery and confiscation of assets, the fact that the cases of seizure of asset and final confiscation orders are very rare in the SEE region, explained the current problems and gaps and encouraged the audience towards more frequent conducting financial investigations as most effective tools in fighting organized crime and corruption. She provided the participants with the latest publication on Asset recovery issued in the framework of the RAI regional project “Strengthening Anti-Corruption in South East Europe through Improving Asset Seizure Measures” with the support of UK Government and Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

The most interesting part on the first day of the School was the “ tour de table”session, whereas the representatives from each of the states presented and discussed national good practices related to the successful processing of corruption cases. The participants presented a plenty of interesting cases of corruption, prosecuted and adjudicated in their respective countries, in various areas such as : government, judiciary, regular police, boarder police, forest industry and agriculture, public procurement, health sector, thus witnessing that the corruption is a widespread phenomenon and has entered in all pores of the society which pushes forward a strong coordinated and comprehensive action and cooperation, both national and international. The participants gave an overview on the competences of the national anti corruption agencies which, in many cases had played the crucial role in investigating the high –profile corruption cases. They lively discussed the need for lawfully obtaining the investigative tools and methods in line with the human rights standards and the necessity for promoting the system of whistleblowers and encouraging the citizens to report corruption in order to increase the effective investigation and prosecution of these cases and confiscation of proceeds of the crimes.

Day Two and Three

RAI participants were pleased to receive training from Lawrie Day and Warren Barlow of AML Consulting (Global) Ltd. First of all, they were introduced into the matter of developing financial intelligence in corruption cases through presentations on relationship of corruption to terrorism and the importance of the OSINT (Open Source to Develop Financial Intelligence) platform as a tool in the financial investigations of corruption cases and money laundering cases. The experts delivered an interactive exercise on the company’s own immersive platform, View360 Global™. The bespoke exercise focused on a regional based corruption case study that featured aspects of terrorist financing and followed inputs on the topics of the relationship between corruption and terrorism the previous day by the two Subject Matter Experts.

The View360 Global™ platform enabled the participants from 11 jurisdictions to participate using their own language which is translated to the facilitators in English. This innovative method of interactive training has been used by AML Consulting (Global) Ltd in 11 countries and was last used this month in Skopje when AML Consulting (Global) delivered a 3 day workshop on international cooperation, mutual legal assistance and asset recovery for the Regional Anti Corruption Initiative under the auspices of another regional asset recovery project.

A presentation of the national practice in prosecution of corruption cases was held by the Prosecutor from at the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Mirza Hukeljic, PhD.
The last day ( 4 th July) of the School, the attendees got the certificates after taking an evaluation test and finalized their participation with a visit to the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council.

Young practitioners from the SEE had the pleasure to participate at the RAI Summer Junior School, which for the first time has been organized in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the part of the social program, they will use the unique opportunity to feel the traditional hospitality of their hosts and will establish a longstanding professional networking and friendship.

Please see the Summer School Agenda for more details on its content.