Anti-Corruption Bill Proposed
Officials said today that President Saakashvili submitted on January 27 to the parliament for consideration draft law considering “simplifying the procedures of arresting those officials suspected in corruption, or in other crimes.”
“Under the new legislative initiative, a prosecutor and a suspect may make a deal. The court may commute punishment or release a suspect, if he pleads guilty and names other officials involved in illegal activities,” Prosecutor General Irakli Okruashvili said on January 29 at a joint news briefing with Secretary of the National Security Council Vano Merabishvili and Justice Minister Zurab Adeishvili.
Okruashvili said a prosecutor will also have the right to file civil lawsuit against those high rank officials, who are suspected of misappropriation of state funds, as well as to expropriate their property if the court proves that it was possessed illegally.
The Prosecutor General and the Secretary of the National Security Council called on the Parliament to discuss and adopt the draft law as soon as possible.
