Violations of anti-corruption legislation have been identified.

The Prosecutor's Office of the Braslaŭ District conducted an inspection in May of this year to verify compliance with anti-corruption legislation by the Department of Agriculture and Food of the Braslaŭ District Executive Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Department) and enterprises of the district's agro-industrial complex.

Article 5 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus dated July 15, 2015 No. 305-Z "On Combating Corruption" (hereinafter referred to as the Law) stipulates that the fight against corruption is carried out by state bodies and other organizations through the comprehensive application of planning and coordination of the activities of state bodies and other organizations in combating corruption, establishing restrictions and special requirements aimed at ensuring financial control over state officials and equivalent persons to prevent manifestations of corruption.

The results of the inspection indicate that the Department is taking certain measures aimed at countering corruption manifestations; however, the work being carried out in this direction does not fully meet the requirements of the legislation.

An important role in countering corruption manifestations is assigned to anti-corruption commissions; however, as the inspection revealed, there are organizational shortcomings in their activities, including in planning anti-corruption measures.

Weakened control over compliance with anti-corruption legislation, lack of coordination in implementing measures to counter corruption by subordinate organizations of the agro-industrial complex of the district, which are part of the management system for agriculture and food, contribute to the commission of corruption offenses and crimes by officials and equivalent persons of agricultural enterprises. At the same time, the agricultural sector remains the most susceptible to corruption manifestations.

Thus, in 2021, the Braslaŭ District Court convicted 3 officials of agricultural organizations in the district for committing crimes under Article 427 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus related to the distortion of state statistical reporting data and concealment of livestock deaths, imposing various types of penalties. In 2022, the Braslaŭ District Court convicted 5 officials of agricultural organizations in the district for committing crimes under Article 427 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus related to the distortion of state statistical reporting data and concealment of livestock deaths, imposing various types of penalties. The former head of one of the enterprises was sentenced to imprisonment for committing a serious crime under part 3 of Article 426 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus.

For each initiated and investigated criminal case of the specified category, the preliminary investigation body sent proposals to the Department to eliminate violations of the legislation. However, the facts of crimes committed by officials and equivalent persons of agricultural enterprises in the district were not considered at the commission meetings.

In this regard, the activities of the commission require activation to effectively implement the tasks and functions provided for in its further work.

As a result of the inspection, violations of the requirements of the legislation on public procurement of goods (works, services) were also identified, committed by agricultural organizations in the district in 2022 and in the past period of 2023.

The reasons for the identified violations were the disregard for anti-corruption legislation by certain officials of agricultural organizations in the district, the insufficient role of human resources services in countering anti-corruption manifestations, which was facilitated by inadequate control from the management of enterprises in this direction.

Based on the results of the inspection, a proposal was submitted to the Braslaŭ District Executive Committee, raising the issue of disciplinary responsibility for the guilty officials.

Deputy Prosecutor of the Braslaŭ District S.P. Harbus