The third part of the address of the President Shavkat Mirziyoyev at the anti-corruption meeting on Wednesday was devoted to further actions. He instructed Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov to fire the chiefs of the compliance control teams in 117 ministries and departments.
“Honest, dedicated and professional people must be appointed in their place, and that they must be given specific goals”.
“Ministers will have to personally appoint compliance officers and will bear political responsibility for corruption in their departments.”
“The working methods of the Anti-Corruption Agency will be completely changed. As part of the experiment, compliance control in five structures - the Ministries of Health, Construction, Water Resources, as well as Uzbekneftegaz and Uzsuvtaminot - will be transferred to the Agency.
“At the end of every year, the Agency will have to report to the National Council on how many corruption factors were eliminated in these departments and what improvements people felt.”
“In addition, the agency, together with ministers, governors and mayors will conduct quarterly probe in districts in at least three of the most corrupt areas, deeply study everyday and systemic corruption and develop specific measures - which processes need to be digitalized and which bureaucratic procedures need to be abolished.”
“Within two months, a "road map" will be developed based on the recommendations of international rating organizations with a clear list of tasks for each ministry and department. Proposals will also be made to punish the leaders who made delay.”
“I propose to completely renew the personnel of provincial anti-corruption councils and appoint the heads of provincial councils of people's deputies as their heads.”
“It is big time for Uzbekistan to adopt a law on declarations of public servants. While, the public’s opinion on this issue will be of great importance.”
“The relevant departments must publish a Bill for public input as soon as possible and submit it for consideration by April 1.”
“The Law needs to include liability for illicit enrichment. That is, a public servant will have to prove origin of assets.
“I urge the National Anti-Corruption Council and parliamentary committees to develop proposals based on international standards.”
“Meanwhile, the use of official transport and foreign-made furniture should be significantly reduced, replacing them with domestic analogues.”
“Conflicts of interest and purchases of goods and services at much higher prices are mainly present in the public procurement.”
“In general, there are more than 50 types of goods and services that can be purchased directly. However, not a single leader has proposed excluding them from the list of direct purchases and transferring them to a competitive basis to reduce prices”.
“The Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Accounts Chamber, together with the parliamentary committees responsible for the budget, have been instructed to reduce direct purchases by half. By the end of the year, an electronic system based on artificial intelligence will be launched to identify and prevent violations in the public procurement.”
“An expert commission will also be created to develop an electronic platform that will display average market prices for goods for public procurement, and the data will be updated regularly.”
“While, prices for goods and services purchased at public expense should not exceed average market prices by more than 20%. Violation of this requirement will entail liability and fines.”
