The Committee also reviewed the Proposal for the election of Anti-Corruption Agency Board member, jointly submitted by the Association of Journalists of Serbia and the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia, 2015 Report on the public prosecutor’s offices’ activity on the suppression of criminality and protection of constitutionality, State Prosecutorial Council 2015 Activity Report and the Proposal of the Decision on the election of Deputy Public Prosecutor, submitted by the High Judicial Council.

The Anti-Corruption Agency 2015 Activity Report, accompanied by the Report on the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy of the Republic of Serbia for the period 2013-2018 and the Action Plan for its implementation was presented by Agency Director Tatjana Babic. Babic said that the Report contains information on the Agency itself, an overview of the results achieved in 2015, challenges it is faced with, recommendations how to improve the fight against corruption, overview of the normative framework, as well as the report on the implementation of the strategy and financial report.

Speaking of the Agency’s results in 2015 Babic that the number of complaints filed against officials who have failed to report assets and income is on the rise, being 17.4% higher than in 2014, which testifies to the Agency’s recognisability and the citizens’ trust, as well as the officials’ unwillingness to register their assets. Still, she opined that most officials abide by the Agency’s decisions and 83% of them have acted in accordance with the recommendations and do file reports on assets and income. The Agency has received 277 reports on officials’ assets and income and last year 91 political subjects, 62 political parties and 92 civic groups had submitted financial reports for 2014 to the Agency. However, seeing how civic groups and non-parliamentary political parties are at the forefront of financial report submitters, the Agency had filed 217 misdemeanour charges said Babic. She also spoke of corruption risk assessment the Agency provided to certain bills. The Agency had identifies 75 areas as susceptible to corruption in the public sector, said Babic. In the Report, the Agency also offers recommendations to the National Assembly such as the need to pass a new law which would contain more precise and stricter rules for officials and expand the Agency’s authority. It also proposed expanding the required registration of public officials’ assets and income to include their closest relations, to make corruption risk assessment a component part of laws, to have the Agency act on anonymous reports, institute compulsory integrity training for public sector employees, complete the election of Agency Board members so that the body can function in its full capacity, and have Agency representatives attend all National Assembly sittings when a bill it had given a corruption risk assessment is being discussed.

The Committee members will vote on the Conclusion Proposal at a subsequent sitting.

The Committee then proceeded to consider the Proposal for the election of Anti-Corruption Agency Board member, jointly submitted by the Association of Journalists of Serbia and the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia. Committee Chairman Petar Petrovic said that the two submitters have come to an agreement and after more than a year nominated a single candidate for the election of Anti-Corruption Agency Board member, Zivojin Rakocevic. The Committee members endorsed the nomination by majority vote and forwarded the Proposal to the National Assembly.

Zorica Stojsic, Deputy Republic Public Prosecutor, presented the 2015 Report on the public prosecutor’s offices’ activity on the suppression of criminality and protection of constitutionality to the Committee members.

She said that the Report was compiled based on the individual reports of all the public prosecutor’s offices in the Republic of Serbia and contains their actions on criminal cases, civil and administrative cases and commercial misdemeanours, juvenile crime and the work of the Department for hi-tech crime. Stojsic said that public prosecutor’s offices had received 485,508 cases, mostly criminal – more than 350,000, 2,700 civil and administrative cases and 122,621 other. Charges were filed against almost 182,000 persons, 8,330 of which were minors, 1,110 less than 14 years of age, and almost 60,000 were unknown offenders. Speaking of the structure of crime, most of the offenses were against property, marriage and family, security and traffic, commerce, with domestic violence on the rise by 31.65% and commercial crime by 9.38% compared to 2014. The number of cases at the Department for hi-tech crime had also risen, said Stojsic.

The Committee members accepted the 2015 Report on the public prosecutor’s offices’ activity on the suppression of criminality and protection of constitutionality by majority vote and forwarded it to the National Assembly for consideration and ruling.

The State Prosecutorial Council 2015 Activity Report was presented by Tatjana Lagumdzija, elective member of the State Prosecutorial Council.

She said that, within its authority, the State Prosecutorial Council made decisions concerning the nomination of candidates for the election of public prosecutors. 2,013 charges were filed in 2015, which is 4.52% more than in 2014, with disciplinary charges in the lead. In 2015 the State Prosecutorial Council had 17 regular and 25 extraordinary sessions, amended the Rules of Procedure and pursuant to them launched the procedure for the election of Republic Public Prosecutor, deputies in higher public prosecutor’s offices and prosecutors in public prosecutor’s offices in the Republic of Serbia. It had also begun the procedure for the selection of candidates for members of the State Prosecutorial Council Electoral Commission.

Speaking about the prosecutors’ disciplinary accountability, Lagumdzija said that the number of cases has risen by 106% compared to 2014 i.e. from 127 to 262. Charges were filed against 313 holders of prosecutorial office, which is a 125% rise, filed by private citizens, anonymous persons and holders of prosecutorial office. Lagumdzija also emphasised the State Prosecutorial Council’s participation in the European integration process, especially the drafting of action plans for Chapter 23, as well as realisation of project IPA 12 and cooperation with international organisations.

The Committee members accepted the State Prosecutorial Council 2015 Activity Report by majority vote and forwarded it to the National Assembly for consideration and ruling.

And finally, the Committee reviewed the Proposal of the Decision on the election of Deputy Public Prosecutor, submitted by the High Judicial Council, accepted it unanimously and forwarded it to the National Assembly for consideration and ruling.

The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairman Petar Petrovic and attended by the following Committee members and deputy members: Slavisa Bulatovic, Dordje Komlenski, Dusan Petrovic, Jovan Palalic, Sreto Peric, Zarko Micin, Balint Pasztor, Biljana Pantic Pilja, Dr Aleksandar Martinovic, Vjerica Radeta, Dusan Pavlovic, Marko Parezanovic, Mihailo Jokic, Miletic Mihajlovic and Nenad Milic.