The topic of corruption is particularly painful in our society because corruption is a pest that we all suffer from according to Jeff Hershberg Criminal Lawyer.
Let’s say that you have become a witness to bribery. Now, who should you turn to?
What is corruption?
Corruption is a broad concept and generally refers to the situation in which one person acts for themselves or for someone else who does not benefit from them by violating their official duties.
Corruption can take any form such as bribery, influence trading, manipulation of accounting records to conceal or facilitate corruption, etc.
Important! Corruption and conflict of interest are two different phenomena. A conflict of interest will only arise if the satisfaction of private interest is made subject to the decision of a public official who is not impartial to the private interest in question. For example, if the child of the Chief Architect requests that he be issued a construction permit, the Chief Architect will be in conflict of interest and will have to withdraw from consideration of the file, ie. to pass it on to someone else who is not interested in deciding on it.
Who should you report it to?
If you have witnessed corruption in the public sector, you will as a rule address the alert to the administrative structure in which the person works. Not always, however. The guidance for many competent authorities is as follows:
Does the person to whom you will be signaling hold a senior government position or not? If yes, e.g. the person is the territorial director of the NRA or the director of the Regional Health Insurance Fund, directly writes to the “Commission for Combating Corruption and Confiscation of Illegally Acquired Property”.
If the person does not hold a government position, the keyword will be “inspectorate”. Inspectors monitor compliance with laws and ethics. Inspectorates have been set up in many places, some of which are:
to the Council of Ministers;
to each line ministry;
to the Supreme Judicial Council;
to the Social Assistance Agency;
to the National Revenue Agency.
Alerts are also reported to the immediate supervisor of the person whose activities you report.
Even if you go wrong and send the signal to the wrong authority, it will forward it to the correct authority.
Reporting is completely free
Most public institutions’ websites have an online reporting platform or telephone numbers for such alerts.
The departments or institutions investigate allegations of corruption and conflicts of interest of senior government officials, such as. ministers, deputies, mayors, municipal councilors, chief architects, members of regulatory bodies, judges, prosecutors, investigators and more.
You do not have to use online platforms. You can send a letter by mail, make a phone call or go to a place and say what you know. However, if you decide to give information verbally, it is good to watch if explanations are recorded.
Separately, boxes of suggestions and suggestions are placed in the premises of the public institutions in which you can put in a complaint.
