The 7th session of the CIS Interstate Anticorruption Council that was held yesterday via video link resulted in signing of an agreement under which the parties agreed to extradite fugitive corrupt officials to each other, Nur.kz reported today.
The CIS Interstate Anticorruption Council members include Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan and it was noted that the competent agencies of these countries during this year have carried out work to coordinate the draft agreement on corruption prevention cooperation.
The draft agreement itself was developed back in 2008, but consensus and mutually acceptable wording on it were reached only in 2022.
Kazakhstan’s anticorruption agency says the parties agreed to :provide assistance in corruption-related criminal proceedings, conduct coordinated and concerted investigation-and-search operations, preventive operations and special operations on corruption-related crimes; cooperate in the field of tracing, detain and extraditing persons who have committed corruption-related crimes, and return of proceeds of corruption; create and use information systems in in the field of combating corruption; develop strategies, programs and plans of cooperation in combating corruption; exchange the results of anti-corruption monitoring; and improve the qualification of personnel.
Recall, CIS heads of state who met in Astana, Kazakhstan on October 14 signed a package of documents, including the agreement on cooperation between the CIS member nations in countering corruption.
The CIS Interstate Anti-Corruption Council was set up in 2013. It comprises the heads of the relevant agencies of the CIS countries. The council is responsible for identifying the priority areas for cooperation and adopting joint effective measures against corruption, assessing the implementation of anti-corruption commitments of the CIS states, coordinating technical assistance programs in combating corruption.
