TI-Estonia reviewed public procurements and corruption in local governments
TI-Estonia reviewed public procurement in local government bodies at a round table late last month, aimed at raising awareness of corruption risks.
The biggest potential for corruption lies in the procurements in the
IT sector and in construction, according to Tom Annikve, member of the
board of Public Procurements Centre NGO.
"Municipalities in Estonia have different experience in organizing
procurements," said Annikve. "Larger municipalities usually have good
competence as smaller ones tend to lack knowledge." He pointed out
Tallinn as the local government unit with the best competence in
arranging public procurement.
The round table on January 28 was attended by representatives from
local government bodies, law enforcement agencies, national
governement institutions and state procurement agencies.
The prosecutor's office explained its rationale of handling corruption
investigations of local government officials. There has been some
criticism that law enforcement agencies are too keen to publicise the
launch of an investigation, thus hampering the work of local
government bodies.
Law enforcement authorities don't initiate investigations on
corruption cases easily as there is high burden of proof to cross,
leading public prosecutor Lavly Lepp told the round table.
"The decision to start proceedings is made by several people after
thorough considerations, and the disclosure of proceedings is
postponed as much as possible to protect the presumption of innocence
and avoid early labeling of suspects in the media," said Lepp.
TI-Estonia believes that on the one hand, the doubled number of
corruption related investigations may reflect the effectiveness of law
enforcement bodies. On the other hand, when it comes to the violation
of public procurement rules, lack of skill and incompetence might also
be the problem. "In many cases the law is infringed due to lack of
knowledge, because in some local municipalities the knowledge of legal
regulations is insufficient,"said Asso Prii, board member of
TI-Estonia.
"To avoid corrupt acts in local municipalities, the initiative must
come from municipalities itself," Prii added. "In order to prevent
corruption-related links, higher awareness of local municipalities is
needed."
The significant growth in EU structural funds allocated to Estonia,
compared with the previous years, will entail more public procurements
in local municipalities, TI-Estonia said. "The big sums of money are
likely to increase the corruption risk and entail flaws when
organizing public procurements in local municipalities," Prii said.
"To reduce risks, local municipalities need to improve their skills in
organizing procurements and stand against corruption temptations."
TI-Estonia is a recipient of a grant from Open Estonia Foundation.
Additional information: Asso Prii, member of the board of TI-Estonia,
tel +372 55 64 6371; +372 6 844 074, info@transparency.ee
