Rustem Zagidullin: «Public control has the greatest potential in preventing corruption»
The Minister of Justice of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustem Zagidullin spoke about how anti-corruption examination of documents is conducted in Tatarstan, whether ordinary citizens are allowed to do this work, and how ordinary Tatarstan residents assess the effectiveness of the fight against corruption in the republic in an interview with the newspaper «Respublika Tatarstan».
Rustem Ildusovich, how is the work to combat corruption organized in Tatarstan?
The main document in this work is the National Anti-Corruption Plan, approved by the President of Russia. The seventh National Plan is currently being implemented, and in 2025 it is planned to adopt a new document that will determine the priority areas for the fight against corruption in the coming years.
In addition, the state program «Implementation of the Anti-Corruption Policy of the Republic of Tatarstan», approved by the Government of the Republic in 2014, is in effect. It is one of the main documents regulating the prevention of corruption offenses.
The program is aimed at developing intolerance towards corrupt behavior in society, conducting anti-corruption expertise of regulatory legal acts, and involving the public in this work.
Since January 1, 2024, the program «Implementation of the Anti-Corruption Policy of the Republic of Tatarstan» has been presented in a new edition. It is divided into two parts: project and process. The first is aimed at conducting research, competitions, and developing methodological materials. Process activities are focused on performing the functions of government bodies and solving current problems. These include conducting inspections, anti-corruption expertise of regulatory legal acts, as well as seminars and lectures.
Indicators are provided to assess the effectiveness of the program. Last year, they all reached the planned values. 7.8 thousand educational events were organized, anti-corruption expertise was carried out on more than 30 thousand draft regulatory legal acts, over 6 thousand materials were published in the media, about 800 employees were trained.
The Ministry of Justice of Tatarstan conducts anti-corruption expertise of legal acts. How is this process organized?
Anti-corruption expertise - is an important tool, because the adoption of a normative legal act containing corruption factors creates conditions for abuse and violation of citizens' rights.
There is a multi-level system of anti-corruption expertise in the Republic of Tatarstan. It can be considered using the example of draft resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Tatarstan, which are developed by republican authorities. For example, projects in the field of construction are developed by the Ministry of Construction, Architecture and Housing and Public Utilities of the Republic of Tatarstan, in the field of health care - by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Tatarstan. The initial examination of the project is carried out by the department that prepared the document. After receiving the anti-corruption opinion, the project is sent to the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Tatarstan. Such a system minimizes the possibility of adopting an act containing corruption factors.
In addition to the examination of projects, our Ministry conducts anti-corruption expertise of municipal acts. But here the mechanism is different: the examination is organized after the adoption of a legal act. Therefore, corruption-generating factors can be used for selfish offenses. For example, in the acts on the organization of meals for students in general educational institutions of one of the districts of the republic, the department identified a corruption-generating factor: the list of documents required to include children in the list of recipients of social support was not specified. This could lead to an illegal refusal to provide such measures.
To eliminate and prevent similar violations, information on identified corruption-generating factors is sent to the heads of municipalities.
How often are corruption-generating factors identified in documents?
In the first half of 2024, about a thousand projects underwent an examination at the republican level. Most of them are draft resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Tatarstan. They identified 8 corruption-generating factors. In 2023 and in the first half of this year, more than 38 thousand municipal acts were examined. Corruption-generating factors were identified in 818 of them.
Can ordinary citizens participate in anti-corruption examination?
Public control has the greatest potential in preventing corruption. The state creates various forms of public participation in this activity. One of the forms of public prevention is independent anti-corruption expertise.
It can be carried out by persons accredited by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation as independent experts. Today, about 30 people are accredited in Tatarstan.
To conduct an independent examination, all projects developed by public authorities are posted on the official website of the body with an indication of the deadlines.
An independent expert can choose any project and send an opinion on it. Last year, 11 opinions of independent experts were received, in 2022 - more than 100. To stimulate independent anti-corruption expertise, a competition of independent experts has been held in the republic since 2016. Its winners receive cash prizes.
At first glance, it may seem strange how anti-corruption expertise is related to ordinary citizens who do not even have an idea about it.
The implementation of the rights, guarantees and obligations of citizens is carried out on the basis of regulatory legal acts. The absence of deadlines, criteria for decision-making, as well as the uncertainty of the duties of officials can lead to a violation of rights - for example, to the impossibility of receiving social support measures. Therefore, anti-corruption expertise directly affects the interests of each citizen.
Are there enough personnel for effective prevention of corruption and other offenses?
Issues of personnel provision are now relevant for both the government and business. Staff turnover leads to renewal of the staff of government bodies, and employees with no experience are hired. Therefore, it is important to retain employees with work experience who can act as mentors.
Today, about 66 percent of employees in government bodies and 73 percent in local government have more than three years of work experience.
Another tool for improving the level of professional training of new employees is training. This is also relevant for employees involved in corruption prevention.
For example, the Higher School of Public and Municipal Administration conducts specialized courses, where about 500 employees are trained annually.
The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Tatarstan has created an internship platform for newly appointed state and municipal employees
«Anti-corruption expertise of regulatory legal acts. Development of draft regulatory legal acts». In 2023, 8 state and 16 municipal employees were trained.
Could you describe the state of combating corruption in the republic in general?
An effective tool for assessing the state of corruption is sociological research.
Such research is conducted in the Republic of Tatarstan annually. For example, in 2011, 60 percent of Tatarstan residents confirmed the impact of corruption on their lives, calling it a serious social problem. By 2023, this figure had dropped to 46.5 percent.
Since 2011, the number of respondents who have ever found themselves in a corrupt situation has decreased by half - from 21.2 to 9.9 percent. According to the survey results, having found themselves in a corrupt situation, 22.5 percent of respondents reported the fact of corruption.
Residents assessed the level of corruption in Tatarstan as average. At the same time, 16.5 percent of residents noted its high level, while in 2016 this figure was 15.7 percent. Despite the positive dynamics, we have something to work on.
There are reserves for strengthening prevention in the area of anti-corruption propaganda and citizen involvement. Survey results show that a significant number of respondents - 52.2 percent - do not report cases of corruption, considering it useless. In addition, the number of residents willing to take part in anti-corruption events is decreasing.
A quarter of respondents note that there is insufficient information about the problem of corruption in the media. Moreover, 12 percent of respondents do not know about the existing problem at all, which indicates a low level of public awareness.
80 percent of Tatarstan residents generally positively assess the work of government bodies in the republic to combat corruption.
Residents should have an active civic position. There is no need to be afraid to report cases of corruption to the appropriate authorities.
The newspaper «Respublika Tatarstan» together with the press service of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Tatarstan