Lithuania. The Anti-corruption Commission. Specialized Investigations Service (SIS)

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1 Lithuania The Anti-corruption Commission 1. History On 16 October 2001 the Seimas adopted the Anti-corruption Law and approved the new composition of the Anticorruption Commission which was established in the Seimas instead of the Commission for the Investigation of Economic Crimes. 2. Function The Anti-corruption Commission analyses crimes involving corruption, hears reports of certain institutions on their fight against corruption and submits proposals to the institutions, the Government and the Seimas. The Commission drafts decisions of the Seimas on controlling and restricting these crimes. The Commission has the right to access to information of all enterprises, offices and institutions as well as to invite the present and former state officials to give explanations. Specialized Investigations Service (SIS) 1. History In support of the Government action plan and in order to implement the Government resolution entitled Regarding Means for Improving the Prevention of Corruption (issued on 15 March 1996), the Government issued a resolution on 18 February 1997, creating an independent, specialized unit within the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The unit is called the Specialized Investigations Service, or SIS. Its purpose is to combat corruption, organized crime (inasmuch as it is connected with corruption), and crimes committed against the civil service. Since the adoption of the Act of Independence in 1990, efforts have been made to forestall corruption in Lithuania. Nevertheless, there were clear traces of symbiosis of organized crime groups and corrupt public officials. With corruption invading into government institutions and the crime situation getting worse, the general public began to lose confidence in law enforcement and other bodies, and the rule of law was put at risk. With that in mind, the Government established the Special Investigation Service under the Ministry of the Interior on 18 February The tasks of the Service were to collect and use intelligence about criminal associations and corrupt public officials as well as carry out prevention activities. Why was a separate law on the Special Investigation Service adopted? With a view to increasing independence of the Special Investigation Service (STT) and

2 strengthening its effectiveness as well as to widening possibilities of combating corruption in the executive branch, a decision was made to re-organize the STT, a body accountable to the Government, to an agency accountable to the President and the Parliament (Seimas). Such a law, adopted on 2 May 2000, has paved the ground for strengthening anti-corruption efforts of the STT. The law provides for the following: (1)The STT is a guarantor and coordinator of the National Anti-Corruption Program; (2)The STT is given powers to combat corruption at the highest levels of government; (3)The definition of corruption strengthens the possibilities of halting this phenomenon; (4)It ensures co-ordination when disclosing corruption and corruption related crimes; (5)It creates better conditions to train employees in the anti-corruption area; (6)It contributes to Lithuania's efforts in joining the European Union. As an agency accountable to the President and the Seimas, the STT has become operative since 1 June To ensure the independence of its investigations, the STT has an Investigations Division, operating in all its four field offices. Other divisions include the Department of Intelligence Activities, Department of Corruption Prevention, Division of Legal Affairs, Personnel and Internal Investigations, etc. 2. Structure The SIS is comprised of Information Accumulation, Analysis and Forecasting, Anticorruption, Organized Crime Monitoring, Interrogation and other Divisions. The SIS has branches in the large cities of Lithuania: Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipeda, Siauliai and Panevezys. (1)Establishment and Abolition of the Special Investigation Service and its Units i. The Service shall be established and abolished by a separate law. ii. The Service may consist of boards, divisions, branches and other units. iii. The units of the Service shall be established, reorganized, and abolished, and the number of the staff shall be approved by the Director of the Service. (2)The Staff of the Special Investigation Service i. The staff of the Service shall be officers, public servants and contractual employees. ii. The status of the officers of the Special Investigation Service shall be established by this Law, the Law on Public Service and the Statute of the Special Investigation Service, the status of the public servants employed at the Service shall be established by the Law on the Public Service, the status of contractual employees by the Labor Code and other legal acts. iii. The procedure of appointment and dismissal, suspension from duty and disciplinary responsibility of officers of the Service shall be determined by the Statute of the Service. (3)The Management of the Special Investigation Service i. A candidate to the post of the Director of the Special Investigation Service shall be nominated to the Seimas by the President of the Republic of Lithuania who shall also appoint and dismiss the Director of the Service, by and with the consent of the Seimas. The Director shall be appointed for a term of five years but he may hold this post no longer than for two terms in succession. ii. The First Deputy Director and the Deputy Director shall be appointed and

3 dismissed by the President of the Republic by the advice of the Director. iii. In the absence of the Director of the Special Investigation Services, one of his Deputies shall act for him. (4)Grounds for the Dismissal of the Director of the Special Investigation Service and His Deputies i. The Director and Deputy Directors of the Special Investigations Service shall be dismissed from office in the event of: (i)resignation; (ii)breach of the oath; (iii)coming into effect of a conviction; (iv)ill health attested by an opinion of an appropriate medical examining commission; (v)transfer by their own consent to another job; (vi)transpiring of the circumstances referred to in Article 15; (vii)termination of their term in office; (viii)reaching the age of 62 and 6 months; (ix)loss of the citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania. ii. The Director of the Special Investigation Service and his deputies, upon reaching the age referred to in Art. 34 (1) of the Statute of the Special Investigation Service or having served the period provided by law to receive the state pension for officers and servicemen, and if their term of office has not been extended in the prescribed manner or the extended term of office has expired, may be dismissed from office. iii. Disputes relating to the dismissal from office shall be settled in the manner set forth in the Law on Administrative Proceedings. 3. Function The Special Investigation Service: (1)Carries out intelligence activities in detecting corruption-related crimes; conducts interviews and preliminary investigations; (2)Collects, stores, analyses and sums up the information about corruption and related social and economic phenomena; (3)Jointly with other public bodies and civil society organizations implements crime control and prevention measures and anti-corruption education programmes. Functions of the Special Investigation Service The Special Investigation Service shall: (1)Carry out operational activities in detecting and preventing corruption-related criminal acts;

4 (2)Conduct a pre-trial investigation of corruption-related criminal acts; (3)Co-operate with other law enforcement institutions in the manner laid down by legal acts; (4)Collect, store, analyze and sum up the information about corruption and related social and economic phenomena; (5)On the basis of the available information prepare and implement corruption prevention and other measures; (6)Jointly with other law enforcement institutions implement crime control and prevention programmes; (7)Report in writing, at least twice a year, to the President of the Republic and the Chairman of the Seimas about the results of the Service s activities and submit its proposals how to make the activities more effective. The primary tasks of the SIS in the field of anticorruption activity are: (1)To collect, store, analyze, classify, act on, and, in need be, distribute to other units and services of the Ministry of Internal Affairs intelligence and other kinds of information about corrupt state officials and civil servants. (2)To combat potential corruption among state officials and civil servants, especially in the area of law-enforcement (3)To solve crimes committed by corrupt individuals and crimes committed against the civil service, to interrogate and carry out preliminary investigative work in such criminal cases, and to take steps to prevent such crimes from being committed in the first place. 4. Achievement One of the key developments in the anti-corruption arena was the adoption of the National Anti-Corruption Programme by the Seimas on 17 January The Programme, stretching untill 2007, involves all the government bodies and departments, non-governmental organisations and the academia in the fight against corruption. The STT has drafted a law on the prevention of corruption (adopted in May 2002). The STT staff have taken part in international events and and developed joint projects with the experts from other countries. During the first six months of 1999, the Special Investigations Service and its field offices made further efforts in the fight against corruption and abuse of office in budgetary, credit and financial institutions, with the focus on corruption among public officials and civil servants in public tenders, privatization and foreign investments.

5 The SIS continues to develop a framework of information and analysis for preventing corruption. The Service collects, analyses and collates different kinds of information from various sources. During the first 6 months of the year 1999, the SIS filed 50 cases based on investigation. 43 of these cases were initiated in the Investigation Division of the SIS, the other 7 in the prosecution offices and investigation department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. During the same period, 134 civil service offences were registered in Lithuania (48, or 35.8 %, of which were solved by SIS agents). Those offences include 23 incidents of bribe taking (passive bribery) the SIS disclosed (15, or 65.2 %,). The SIS has also cleared 12 cases of abuse of office, 2 cases of malfeasance related to document handling, 15 cases of bribe-giving (active bribery), 2 cases of nonfeasance (failure to perform one s official duties), 1 case of acceptance of undue remuneration, and 1 case of exceeding one s authority, as well as a variety of other miscellaneous cases. During the first 6 months of 1999, the SIS disclosed a total of 62 offences and crimes. Within the framework of PHARE, the SIS took an active part in an interagency study, The Preliminary Evaluation of Corruption in Lithuania and Development of a Strategy to Fight Corruption. Within the framework of the PHARE Catch-up Facility, Community assistance will be provided to design a comprehensive national policy for combating corruption. 5. Contact Headquarters A. Jakšto St. 6, Vilnius STT Director Povilas Malakauskas Tel: Corruption Prevention Department Šermukšnių St. 3, Vilnius kestutis@stt.lt 6. Resources Centre for Crime Prevention in Lithuania 1. History The rapid growth of crime rate in Lithuania, the discouraging structural development of crime and failure to control it by administrative measures, as well as the lack of organisation and co-ordination in preventive activities designed to eliminate the causes and conditions of crime on a large scale were the objective factors that stimulated the preparation of the project of the Centre for Crime Prevention in

6 Lithuania (CCPL) and its foundation. We were encouraged by positive experience of Western European countries in solving similar problems. On 17 July 1997, the foundation agreement of the public institution "Centre for Crime Prevention in Lithuania" initiated by the Representative Office of the United Nations Development Program in Lithuania and prepared by the Law Institute in co-operation with other research and practical institutions was signed at the Ministry of Justice. On 8 October 1997, the Centre for Crime Prevention in Lithuania was registered as a public non-profit institution. 2. Structure The Centre for Crime Prevention in Lithuania is managed by the General Meeting of Founders and Partners, the Council, the Board and the administration of the Centre. The General Meeting is the supreme governing body of the Centre. An advisory body, the Council, consisting of at least 15 appointed and elected members, is formed by the Meeting for a period of three years. The Minister of Justice Vytautas Pakalniškis was elected the first chairman of the Council. The Board is a joint management body formed by the Meeting. The first meeting of the founders obliged the Council to perform part of the founders' functions and appointed Director of the Law Institute Antanas Dapšys the Chairman of the Board. In the Board Members are: 1. Audrius Bakaveckas - Advisor to Association of Local Authorities in Lithuania on Legal issues. 2. Antanas Dapšys. - Advisor to President of the Republic of Lithuania on issues of Law enforcement institutions. 3. Vytautas Greičius - Head of the Supreme Court. 4. Violeta Murauskaitė - the Secretary of the Ministry of Social Security and Labour. 5. Vytautas Navickas - Deputy Commissar General of the Police Department under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. 6. Vytautas Pakalniškis - Chairman of the Council of CCPL, Chairman of the Senate of Law University of Lithuania. 7. Remigijus Šimašius - member of Council of city Vilnius. 8. Raimondas Šukys - Deputy Chairman of Committee on Legal Affairs of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania. The executive institution of the Centre is the administration managed by a director appointed upon the decision of the Meeting. 3. Function

7 Goals and Objectives of the Centre for Crime Prevention in Lithuania (CCPL): to develop scientifically based policy for crime prevention and elimination of conditions and circumstances for crime to flourish as a priority and strategic crime control policy; to initiate, organize and co-ordinate crime prevention programs and measures in accordance with legal, social, economic and other reforms implemented in Lithuania; to develop and implement an efficient system of crime prevention in Lithuania which would enable to forecast and stop crime by reducing its level and improving the protection of rights and interests of the population; to provide information, analytical, scientific, methodological and other support for the subjects of crime prevention; to develop regional and international co-operation in the area of crime prevention. 4. Contact Centre for Crime Prevention in Lithuania J.Basanavičiaus st. 35-3, LT-03109, Vilnius Tel./Fax (+370 5) nplc@nplc.lt 5. Resources

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