How the department fights corruption – the agency's version

The State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences (hereinafter the 'Department') has taken a number of organisational and practical measures over the 6 months of the current year in order to fulfil the requirements of the Law of Ukraine 'On Combating Corruption', Presidential Decrees, and resolutions and decisions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine aimed at further strengthening the fight against organised crime and corruption.
In order to properly implement the action plan for the realisation of the Concept for Combating Corruption in Ukraine 'On the Path to Integrity' for the period up to 2010, approved by the order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 15.08.2007 No. 657, the Department has carried out the following work. For instance, a corresponding action plan was developed for 2009 regarding the conduct of preventative work among the personnel of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine, the prevention of the commission of offences with signs of corruption, official crimes, and so on.
In accordance with this plan, and in order to ensure the personnel of the State Penitentiary Service adhere to the requirements of anti-corruption legislation, as well as to continue conducting preventative work to avoid the commission of offences with signs of corruption, work plans for the first and second halves of 2009 and a plan of measures aimed at combating corruption in 2009 were developed and put into effect in the territorial management bodies.
Employees of all services of the territorial management bodies of the Department, in accordance with the planned measures, are constantly carrying out checks in their areas of activity regarding the adherence by personnel of correctional institutions and pre-trial detention centres to the requirements of the Laws of Ukraine 'On Combating Corruption', 'On Civil Service', and other regulatory legal acts of anti-corruption legislation.
In order to organise and conduct proper preventative work and prevent the commission of corrupt acts by personnel, working groups on the organisation of the implementation of anti-corruption legislation are operating in the departments, correctional institutions, and pre-trial detention centres. Functional duties have been developed for the employees who are members of these groups, and meetings are held at least once a quarter. The working group is entrusted with the functions of carrying out an analysis of the activities of the bodies and institutions of the penal system, forecasting the development of situations in all areas of the activity of the penal system, and monitoring the implementation by the services of the territorial administration, bodies, and correctional institutions of the developed measures regarding adherence to anti-corruption legislation.
To carry out a systematic analysis, determine the assessment of the operational situation and the results of the work of the units and services of the institutions, and ensure control over the conduct of preventative and other measures, cases on combating corruption and crimes in the sphere of production, economic, and financial activities have been opened in the institutions, and a specific employee has been designated who is directly responsible for this area of work. A plan of operational and preventative measures has been developed, in accordance with which the work is being carried out.
The implementation of the requirements of the Law of Ukraine 'On Combating Corruption' in the bodies, correctional institutions, and pre-trial detention centres was reviewed quarterly at operational meetings with the respective heads. Particular attention when considering this issue was paid to the prevention of corrupt acts among personnel. Preventative measures were taken regarding employees about whom operational information regarding their violation of anti-corruption legislation was received. As a result of this work, certain employees submitted resignation letters from the bodies of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine.
As a result of a complex of preventative and operational-investigative measures in the first half of the current year, 45 employees (first half of 2008 – 46) of the bodies, correctional institutions, and pre-trial detention centres who committed offences with signs of corruption were identified and held administratively liable, namely: in the Zaporizhzhia region – 8, in the Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, and Kherson regions – 4 each, in the Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions – 3 each, in the Volyn, Lviv, and Chernihiv regions – 2 each, and in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Zhytomyr, Zakarpattia, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, and Ternopil regions – one each.
Violations of anti-corruption legislation were committed by 20 employees of the supervision and security units of correctional colonies, 9 employees of the regime and security department of pre-trial detention centres, 6 from the socio-psychological service, 4 from the security department of correctional colonies, one each from the medical and utility services, a head of an institution, a deputy head of an institution, an acting deputy head of a colony, and a chief accountant.
In their structure, the corrupt acts committed by personnel are facts of illegal receipt of monetary remuneration for the transfer to convicts of items whose circulation in places of deprivation of liberty is prohibited. As a result of violations of the requirements of Article 1 of the Law of Ukraine 'On Combating Corruption', the courts have held 40 employees administratively liable (28 junior, 9 middle, and 3 senior command staff of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine).
For the violation of special restrictions aimed at preventing corruption, provided for by Article 5 of the aforementioned Law, which was expressed in moonlighting, assisting legal entities in their business activities, and granting illegal advantages to a convict, 5 employees were held administratively liable by the courts (3 junior and one each of middle and senior command staff).
With regard to all these persons, the courts applied financial penalties in the amount of 400 to 850 UAH.
For each identified fact of a corrupt act or entry into non-official relations committed by the personnel of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine, a comprehensive and objective inspection is conducted, and the materials based on its results are sent to the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) or the Ministry of Internal Affairs for a decision regarding the administrative liability of such persons in accordance with the requirements of the Law of Ukraine 'On Combating Corruption'.
Employees of the HR apparatus, together with the internal security service, mandatorily carry out a thorough and comprehensive check of candidates for service in the State Penitentiary Service with the aim of excluding the recruitment of persons who have previously been convicted and are prone to committing offences.
In order to prevent the commission by personnel of offences with signs of corruption, in the system of official training in the central apparatus of the Department, in the bodies, correctional institutions, and pre-trial detention centres, classes were conducted on studying the requirements of the laws of Ukraine 'On Combating Corruption', 'On Civil Service', and other regulatory legal acts on these issues.
During the reporting period, the issue of the state of organisation of work regarding adherence by the personnel of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine to the requirements of anti-corruption legislation was reviewed at an administrative meeting of the Department's leadership (27.04.2009) and at a meeting of the Department's board (20.06.2009).
Employees of the internal security service conducted inspections of the state of organisation of work regarding adherence by personnel to the requirements of anti-corruption legislation. Employees responsible for this area of work were pointed to shortcomings, and practical assistance was provided for their elimination. Certain officials of correctional institutions and pre-trial detention centres were held disciplinarily liable based on the results of the inspections.
In the bodies, correctional institutions, and pre-trial detention centres of the penal system, employees who are prone to violations of official discipline, entering into non-official relations, and improper behaviour in everyday life have been identified. Individual preventative conversations are held with these employees, during which the inadmissibility of committing corrupt acts or other violations of the norms of current legislation is emphasised.
For the purpose of preventing violations of official discipline, increasing the role of the collective in the upbringing of personnel, and strengthening discipline and legality, measures are being taken to activate the activity of the Council of Assemblies of middle and senior command staff.
The issue of adherence by the personnel of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine to anti-corruption legislation and the implementation of measures aimed at preventing negative phenomena related to manifestations of corruption remains under the constant control of the Department.
Internal Security and Investigation Department of the Department