Conducting audits in Slovak municipalities

Background

• The decentralization of public authority, transfer of the competences, powers and public resources to local and regional government has brought many positives, but it also means an increase in perceived corruption at this level of governance.

• As it is clear from the current poll , almost one third of citizens perceive the corruption in local government as very extended in the long term.

Background

Local council, local government(FOCUS, November 2009/March 2006/May 2004/March 2002/October 1999,

% of respondents)

27

25

20

19

20

20

25

28

25

23

24

8

5

16

20

22

24

28

25

28

28

10

8

9 14November 2009

March 2006

May 2004

March 2002

October 1999

bribery exists and is widespread it exists and is less widespreadit exists but cano not judge its occurence bribery does not existsdo not know whether bribery exists in this area

The most vulnerable areas according to the poll

" According to your opinion, in which of the following areas corruption or

clientelism occur?" (each area assessed individually)

1= in this area corruption and clientelism occur2= corruption and clientelism do not occur in this area 3= N/A, this area is not in our municipality9= no opinion

The most vulnerable areas according to the poll

Source: FOCUS for TI Slovakia, November 2007

AREA 1 2 3 9

recruitment policy 50,6 21 3,9 24,6

selling of municipal real estates 40,8 19,1 11 29,2

issuing of distinct permissions 40,6 28,7 2,4 28,2

public procurement 36,3 23,4 3,4 36,9

construction proceeding 35,2 29,1 5,2 30,5

renting of non-residential spaces 32,9 26 11,7 29,5

renting of flats 27,5 26,1 19,4 27,1

selling of flats into individual assets 26,1 26,1 20,1 27,8

selling of flats into individual assets 26,1 26,1 20,1 27,8

Development of audit strategy - history

• Since its establishment, TI Slovakia is actively dealing with the municipalities, their administration and the problems stated before.

• In late 2008, the newly elected mayor of Martin, Andrej Hrnčiar, approached TI Slovakia in search of a transparency package.

• TI Slovakia and Martin launched the project called „Transparent city“ and its team of experts developed strategy and methodology for carrying out the audits in municipalities.

• The project creates tools by which public can do both: to monitor activities of local administration and to analyse them - and, eventually, participate in it.

Methodology

• public property sales and leasing policy• recruitment policy/staffing• policy of civic participation in municipal

decision-making• access to information policy: accessing vs.

disclosing • communication/media policy• ethical infrastructure and conflict of

interest of elected representatives• ethical infrastructure and conflict of

interest of the City Hall employees • ethical infrastructure and conflict of

interest of employees of municipal companies

• land use planning and construction policy• grant-giving policy• policy of transparency of legal entities

constituted and established by municipality• public procurement policy• policy of public-private partnerships• housing policy• policy of allocation of places in municipal

social care facilities• policy of budgeting and informing public

about it• policy of public order

The project usually consists of three phases and primarily concentrates on 17 municipal policies which were identified as key municipal policies:

I. phase

• Aim: – identification of the areas that are

the most vulnerable to corruption

• Precondition:– establishment of the team

consisting of the TI Slovakia experts and the City Hall employees and deputies

• Output:– audit report

• Activity: – audit of the current state of the 17

policies stated before– gathering data about particular

policies from the City Hall employees through questionnaires

– meetings and consultations with the city deputies and relevant emploees

– own research on the city rules and procedures and webchecking

– analysis of the data and documents - assessment of the questionnaires

The basic concept through which TI Slovakia evaluate the policies is

Corruption = Monopoly + Discretionary power – Transparency**Klitgaard, R. Controlling Corruption. Berkeley and los Angeles, university of California Press, 1998.

II. phase

• Aim: – development of anti-corruption

recommendations and particular rules for each of the 17 policies.

• Precondition:– local government can choose

priority areas (policies) for which it would consider adoption of anti-corruption measurements

• Output:– report: anti-corruption

recommendations

• Activity: – meetings with local government– development of anti-corruption

recommendations built for the particular conditions of given local government

– methodology is also based on Klitgaard's formula, so the recommendations are focused on the process of transparency increasing and decreasing of discretionary power in particular policies in local government.

– inspiration also comes from the best practises abroad

II. phase

• many recommendations concern active disclosure of information through the municipal web page and introduction of electronic register for various kinds of applications

• strengthening protection and rules for potential whistleblowers - as a protection for employees who report inappropriate behaviour in their office/department.

• method of the random selection when deciding on allocation of local government social flats

• recommendation to conduct auction when deciding about renting or selling flats

• using e-auctions in public procurement• draft of the Code of Conduct• introduction of Ethics Commissioner

Examples of best practises:

III. phase

• Aim: – assistance (training, discussions,

workshops ) with the process of adopting of anti-corruption recommendation

• Precondition:– the will of local government to

change situation and implement recommendations into legislative

• Output:– adoption of new regulations into

municipal legislative

• Activity: – discussions between TI and local

government about the anti-corruption recommendations

– drafts of new by-laws and regulations adapted to municipal conditions

– TI assistance with implementation of these regulations

– training/workshops of the elected representatives and relevant employees of the City Hall organized by TI

Experiences of TI Slovakia with audits

• TI Slovakia executed audits in the following municipalities:

Martin - was given the UN Public Service Award in the category

“Preventing and Combating Corruption in the Public Service” for its anti-corruption reforms

Žiar nad Hronom Prievidza Banská Bystrica Bratislava-Ružinov

Experiences of TI Slovakia with audits

• Other experiences?

Summary

• The project has impact on everyone who is a part of the public life.• After successful implementation of anti-corruption recommendation

the public can monitor, judge and react on the local administration more efficient.

• The added value of this is that the local administration can win back the public trust in the processes of execution of local government administration. This, subsequently, is reflected on the public participation in public affairs.

• From the point of view of the employees and elected representatives of municipality, the project sets clear rules in decision-making processes.

• As the result, this limits the space for corruption behaviour.

Thank you for your attention