Instituto de Estudios Políticos y Derecho Público "Dr. Humberto J. La Roche"
de la Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas de la Universidad del Zulia
Maracaibo, Venezuela
Esta publicación cientíca en formato digital es continuidad de la revista impresa
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Vol.41 N° 77
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2023
Recibido el 23/02/23 Aceptado el 26/03/23
ISSN 0798- 1406 ~ De pó si to le gal pp 198502ZU132
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avan ces o re sul ta dos de in ves ti ga ción en las áreas de Cien cia Po lí ti ca y De re cho Pú bli-
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Vol. 41, Nº 77 (2023), 352-368
IEPDP-Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas - LUZ
Prevention of corruption oenses
by public ocials: Experience from
European Union countries
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.4177.24
Sergey Petkov *
Valerii Bortniak **
Liudmyla Savranchuk ***
Dariya Vitiuk ****
Iryna Turchyn-Kukarina *****
Abstract
The article analyzes the eectiveness of preventive anti-
corruption measures in the countries of the European Union
EU. The study involved comparison and forecasting methods.
The results showed that the EU is leading its eorts to develop
anti-corruption legislative initiatives and their implementation at
national and international level. Whistle-blower protection laws adopted in
EU countries are important tools for exposing illegal activities committed
in organizations. Transparency of public administration in Denmark and
Finland contributes to the maintenance of moral and legal standards
in society. The Danish Code of Conduct in the Public Sector and the
Finnish Anti-Corruption Guide for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
have become documents that help promote corruption-free business
relationships. The Finnish Harmaa (gray) project is an example of how
data analytics helps law enforcement agencies process large volumes of
data to prevent corruption oenses. It is concluded that the initiatives of
EU countries to prevent corruption of ocials can become an example for
Ukraine during post-war recovery.
Keywords: corruption; whistle-blower protection; international
transparency; passive bribery; asset tracing.
* Doctor of Legal Sciences, Professor, Department of Public and Private Law, V.I. Vernadsky Taurida
National University, 01042, Kyiv, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4160-767X
** PhD., of Legal Sciences, Rector, V. I. Vernadsky Taurida National University, 01042, Kyiv, Ukraine.
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1285-966X
*** PhD., of Legal Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of Public Management and Administration,
National Academy of Internal Aairs, 03035, Kyiv, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-
0002-7467-2681
**** PhD., of Legal Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of Theoretical and Legal Disciplines,
Educational and Scientic Institute of Law, State Tax University, 08205, Irpin, Ukraine. ORCID ID:
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3457-9984
***** PhD., of Legal Sciences, Lecturer, Department of Social Work and Management of Socio-cultural
Activities Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology, Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatiuk National Pedagogical
University, 46024, Ternopil, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5341-8254
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Prevención de delitos de corrupción por parte de
funcionarios: Experiencia de países de la Unión Europea
Resumen
El artículo analiza la ecacia de las medidas preventivas anticorrupción
en los países de la Unión Europea UE. El estudio involucró métodos de
comparación y pronóstico. Los resultados mostraron que la UE dirige
sus esfuerzos para desarrollar iniciativas legislativas anticorrupción y su
implementación a nivel nacional e internacional. Las leyes de protección
de denunciantes adoptadas en los países de la UE son herramientas
importantes para exponer las actividades ilegales cometidas en las
organizaciones. La transparencia de la administración pública en
Dinamarca y Finlandia contribuye al mantenimiento de las normas morales
y legales de la sociedad. El Código danés de conducta en el sector público
y la Guía anticorrupción nlandesa para pequeñas y medianas empresas
se han convertido en documentos que ayudan a promover relaciones
comerciales libres de corrupción. El proyecto nlandés Harmaa (gris) es un
ejemplo de cómo el análisis de datos ayuda a los organismos encargados de
hacer cumplir la ley a procesar grandes volúmenes de datos para prevenir
delitos de corrupción. Se concluye que las iniciativas de los países de la UE
para prevenir la corrupción de los funcionarios pueden convertirse en un
ejemplo para Ucrania durante la recuperación de la posguerra.
Palabras clave: corrupción; protección de denunciantes; transparencia
internacional; soborno pasivo; rastreo de activos.
Introduction
Corruption aects both the public and private sectors. Corruption
reduces investment, harms productivity and economic growth, which
increases obstacles to the ecient allocation of public resources (Ceschel
et al., 2022). As a result, corruption can increase mistrust of government,
weaken the strength of national climate policies, and harm sustainable
economic development (Ma et al., 2022). Peculiarities of corruption crimes
cause diculties in the course of their prevention.
A number of post-Soviet countries still have considerable legislative
uncertainty in the issues of vagueness of law-making procedures, in the
presence of norms that create additional opportunities for corruption. This
is evidenced by the long-term separation from the closedness and lack of
control of representatives of the authorities. This situation inevitably leads
to corruption.
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Sergey Petkov, Valerii Bortniak, Liudmyla Savranchuk, Dariya Vitiuk y Iryna Turchyn-Kukarina
Prevention of corruption oenses by public ocials: Experience from European Union countries
The growth of corruption literacy and condence in the eectiveness of
proven solutions harden anti-corruption activity (Matorera, 2022). Against
this background, various countries have developed an interest in ghting
corruption not only with the help of counter-policies to punish corruption.
A preventive policy designed to limit the potential consequences is being
developed.
Special attention should be paid to the prevention of corruption
crimes during military conicts. Martial law requires the improvement of
preventive anti-corruption measures. The appropriate institutional system
must meet international standards and best global practice (Shylo, 2022).
It is also important to take into account the peculiarities of the country’s
legal system.
The results of the prevention and counteraction of corruption in Ukraine
are adversely aected by the inadequately developed relevant legislative,
organizational and functional component of the state mechanism, the
uncompleted anti-corruption reform (Trepak, 2020; Prokopenko et al.,
2023). Systemic corruptors skilfully adapt to legislative novelties, new anti-
corruption bodies of the country.
In view of the foregoing, the aim of the article is to analyse the
implementation of preventive anti-corruption measures in the EU countries.
The aim involved the fullment of the following research objectives: 1)
summarize the main current components of the legislative regulation of
the prevention of corruption crimes committed by ocials in the EU and
Ukraine; 2) analyse the current state and prospects for the prevention of
corruption crimes committed by ocials in a number of EU countries.
1. Literature review
The work of Trepak (2020) became the main instrument and
background for this research. The research was focused on identifying and
describing the main types of corruption. Special attention was paid to the
types of corruption prevention methods. It was substantiated in the study
that the prevention of corruption is the titular (primary and main) form of
combating corruption. The work by Matorera (2022) had an inuence on
the author’s position on the issue under research.
The author conducted a comprehensive analysis of corruption, its
causes, driving forces, hiding strategies. Attention was paid to the growing
anti-corruption activity and the key success factors.
Amendments were taken into account during the study (Duri, 2021;
Nikitenko et al., 2023). The importance of using modern tools to prevent
and ght corruption and economic crime was emphasized. The author
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focused on the need to use the public register of beneciaries of property
rights, the development of international cooperation in the investigation
and prosecution of corruption schemes, economic crimes.
Abazi (2020) studied the main components of the EU Whistle-blower
Directive. The author concluded that it is based on best practice in many
respects. The author emphasized that the Directive contains a broad
denition of who can be a whistle-blower, covering a wide range of policy
areas.
The ndings of Vian et al. (2022), who analysed the volume and type of
evidence on whistleblowing as an anti-corruption strategy, is worth noting.
The author concluded that research on the detection of violations can help
increase the eectiveness of eorts to prevent and ght corruption. The
work of Berendt and Schiner (2022) was used when shaping the author’s
position. It emphasizes that the whistleblowing has a major impact on
democracy and business. They concluded that modern technologies can
provide a truly anonymous message.
Adam and Fazekas (2021), Halai et al. (2021) analysed academic
and professional studies in the eld of digitalization of anti-corruption
activities and substantiated the impact of IT technologies on combating
and preventing corruption. The authors summarize modern technological
achievements, their implementation in various national legal systems,
and provide an idea of information technology as a tool for preventing
and combating corruption. The evidence of both the anti-corruption
eectiveness of ICT and the misuse of technology for corrupt purposes was
carefully studied.
The article by Shylo (2022) analysing changes and amendments to the
current legislation of Ukraine regarding the prevention of corruption under
martial law deserves attention. The author emphasized that the novelties
are aimed at the preventive strike against corruption, which is cooperation
with the enemy under martial law. The author carried out an analysis of the
implementation of the functioning of the institute of authorized units for
the prevention and detection of corruption during martial law in Ukraine.
In their work, Luna-Pla and Nicolás-Carlock (2020) analysed the
indicators of the company’s corruption risk, in particular, in the ownership
and management structures. The authors outlined such relevant vectors
as objectivity, subjectivity, implementation in practice. They substantiated
the need to expand the exchange of information, with the help of which
the public and private sectors can collect relevant data for the creation of
eective networks for the prevention of corruption.
An active study of the issues under research conrms the fact that special
attention must be paid to the prevention of corruption crimes committed
by ocials. The diversity of scientic research in this eld is also noted.
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Sergey Petkov, Valerii Bortniak, Liudmyla Savranchuk, Dariya Vitiuk y Iryna Turchyn-Kukarina
Prevention of corruption oenses by public ocials: Experience from European Union countries
Therefore, it is urgent to carry out research according to new research
criteria.
2. Methods
The conducted research was based on a complex use of a set of methods
and research techniques that enabled the coverage of the chosen research
topic. Figure 1 illustrates the architecture of applying scientic and
methodological tools.
Figure 1. Research design. Source: prepared by the authors.
The authors used the method of comparison to determine the criteria
of similarity of preventive mechanisms in the eld of eradicating the
corruption component from the activities of ocials, transforming the
discretion of their powers on the territory of Europe. This method made it
possible to determine the eectiveness of the mechanisms for preventing
corruption crimes committed by ocials declared by the EU member
states. The method of abstraction was used to track the reformation in the
eld of corruption crimes in connection with the digitization of the powers
of ocials, the limitation of communication with those requesting certain
services.
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The forecasting method was applied to cover the issue of the
intensication of corruption crimes committed by ocials on the territory
of the EU by analysing the retrospective development of this criminal
phenomenon. Based on the research results, this method made it possible to
build a reasonable assumption about the further need to test the European
tools for ghting corruption among ocials during the post-war recovery
of Ukraine.
The grouping method was used to arrange data and make a ranking based
on the level of corruption perception in the EU member states. The historical
legal method made it possible to track the formation of the legal framework
for combating corruption crimes in the EU in stages. The implementation
of anti-corruption declarations and programmes was analysed using a
comparative analysis of documents in dierent jurisdictions.
The universal preventive anti-corruption mechanisms were described
through a synergistic approach. The elementary theoretical synthesis was
used to establish the basic essence of complex means and methods of
preventing corruption crimes on the basis of scientic positions and well-
founded assumptions derived by representatives of law schools. The relative
and average indicators of the development of the corruption component
among ocials in Europe were taken into account in the research.
The authors considered the general principles of preventing corruption crimes
as a system that involves the competences of dierent levels of government and
informants connected by exchange relations in their various combinations. This
approach made it possible to consider the preventive anti-corruption activities
through the prism of declared international principles and systemic internal
conditions of states.
The statistical method was indispensable at various stages of the research. It
was used to analyse the dynamics of various aspects of the implementation of the
preventive anti-corruption measures at the national and subnational levels, as well
as to study a signicant volume of information on the results of the actions of the
studied states.
3. Results
According to Eurobarometer (Armstrong, 2022), an average of 68% of
26,509 respondents to a 2022 pan-European survey said that corruption is
widespread in their country (Table 1).
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Sergey Petkov, Valerii Bortniak, Liudmyla Savranchuk, Dariya Vitiuk y Iryna Turchyn-Kukarina
Prevention of corruption oenses by public ocials: Experience from European Union countries
Table 1. Corruption Perception Index for 2018-2022 according to
Transparency International 2022.
Place in the
classication of
EU countries
EU country
2018
Corruption
Perception
Index
2019
Corruption
Perception
Index
2020
Corruption
Perception
Index
2021
Corruption
Perception
Index
2022
Corruption
Perception
Index
1Denmark 88 87 88 88 90
2 Finland 85 86 85 88 87
3Sweden 85 85 85 85 83
4 Netherlands 82 82 82 82 80
5 Germany 80 80 80 80 79
6 Ireland 73 74 72 74 77
6Luxembourg 81 80 80 81 77
7 Estonia 73 74 75 74 74
8Belgium 75 75 76 73 73
9France 72 69 69 71 72
10 Austria 76 77 76 74 71
11 Lithuania 59 60 60 61 62
11 Portugal 64 62 61 62 62
12 Spain 58 62 62 61 60
13 Latvia 58 56 57 59 59
14 Czech
Republic 59 56 54 54 56
14 Italy 52 53 53 56 56
14 Slovenia 60 60 60 57 56
15 Poland 60 58 56 56 55
16 Slovakia 50 50 49 52 53
17 Cyprus 59 58 57 53 52
17 Greece 45 48 50 49 52
18 Malta 54 54 53 54 51
19 Croatia 48 47 47 47 50
20 Romania 47 44 44 45 46
21 Bulgaria 42 43 44 42 43
22 Hungary 46 44 44 43 42
Source: Transparency International 2022.
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So, corruption is the least common in Denmark and Finland as of
2022. Undue inuence on decision-making, poor enforcement of integrity
guarantees, and threats to the rule of law continue to undermine the
eectiveness of lower-rated EU governments.
On June 24, 2021, Denmark passed the Whistleblower Protection Act
(Retsinformation, 2021). This law requires private and public employers
with more than 50 employees to set up a hotline for reporting violations.
It is worth noting that the Act (Retsinformation, 2021) does not state that
whistleblowers may be able to report information anonymously. Reports
can be about violations of EU law, Danish national law, and violations
related to bribery, corruption, sexual harassment. Therefore, the scope of
the Directive on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law
(European Parliament, 2019) is expanded.
The Government of Finland adopted the rst National Anti-Corruption
Strategy in May 2021. The short-term goal of the strategy is to strengthen the
prevention and ght against corruption. The long-term goal of the strategy
is to build a society in which corruption cannot take hold. Prevention and
ght against corruption in Finland should focus on such forms of corruption
as favouritism of friends and acquaintances, unethical mutual aid, conicts
of interest.
Companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, should
promote good business practices and corruption-free business relations
both in Finland and abroad (Figure 2). This can be implemented with the
help of the developed anti-corruption guide for small and medium-sized
enterprises (Ministry of Economic Aairs and Employment of Finland,
2020).
Figure 2. The mechanism of combating corruption at enterprises (grouped by
the author on the basis Finnish Anti-corruption Guide for SMES).
In Finland, the Whistleblower Protection Act (Finlex, 2022) also
entered into force on January 1, 2023. Small private sector organizations
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Sergey Petkov, Valerii Bortniak, Liudmyla Savranchuk, Dariya Vitiuk y Iryna Turchyn-Kukarina
Prevention of corruption oenses by public ocials: Experience from European Union countries
from dierent groups of companies with less than 250 employees can share
resources related to whistleblowing channels. Organizations with fewer
than 50 employees are exempt from the obligation to establish a breach
notication channel, but may create one voluntarily. The new law applies to
reports of serious violations of EU law.
The Finnish Harmaa (Grey) project (Finnish Government, 2020)
developed as part of the National Strategy and Action Plan for Combating
the Shadow Economy and Financial Crime for 2020-2023 is worth noting.
The main goal of the Finnish Harmaa (Grey) project is to develop methods
based on data analytics.
The project was created to process large data volumes for law enforcement
systems, and identify cases that require more detailed information for
investigation. The data analysis tool was created to strengthen Finland’s
capacity to prevent corruption, ght the shadow economy and nancial
crimes.
Non-transparent rules for nancing political parties and insucient
enforcement of foreign bribery laws remain problematic points in Denmark.
Structural corruption still exists in Finland. High-risk sectors include the
construction sector, public procurement, public planning and politics.
Enforcement of foreign bribery laws is also inadequate in Finland.
According to the 2022 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), the level of
corruption in Ukraine is assessed at 33 points (Transparency International,
2022). This shows that there is still a high level of corruption in the country.
One of the reasons for this situation in the country is the legislation that
was created according to Soviet approaches. Ukraine still has parallel
structures of administrative and criminal responsibility for corruption-
related oenses.
This results in the duplication of anti-corruption measures and their
reduced eectiveness. For example, there was a dicult situation regarding
the dierentiation of the composition of the administrative oense provided
for in Article 172-2 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Oenses and
the composition of the crime provided for in Article 368 of the Criminal Code
of Ukraine (Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, 1984; Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine,
2001). Both articles establish responsibility for receiving benets or bribes
for the commission or omission of actions using the ocial position.
The result was the exclusion of Article 172-2 from the Code of Ukraine
on Administrative Oenses. The introduction of this change was justied
by the need to bring national legislation into compliance with the standards
of the EU Criminal Law Convention on Corruption ratied by Ukraine.
Corruption in Ukraine should be fully criminalized taking into account the
international experience in this eld.
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The sanctions of Part 3 of Article 172-4, Part 2 of Article 172-5, Part
3 of Article 172-6, Part 2 of Article 172-9-1 of the Article provides for
the imposition of penalties in the form of a certain amount of ne with
conscation of the received income or remuneration. Deprivation of the
right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a period of
one year is also provided. In other words, establishing enhanced liability
for qualied oenses, the legislator implies the imposition of three types of
sanctions on persons.
This situation conicts with Part 2 of Article 25 of the Code of Ukraine
on Administrative Oenses. It contains the provision that a person may be
charged with a basic or basic and additional penalty for one administrative
oense. So, the inconsistency of the provisions of the Code on Administrative
Oenses leads to a violation of the principle of legality.
The National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) was established
in Ukraine. The NACP is responsible for the development of anti-corruption
policy and prevention of corruption. As of February 2023, there are 44,891
entries in the Unied State Register of Corrupt Ocials or corruption-
related oenses. They include 14,147 records for criminal oenses, 28,897
for administrative and 1,783 for disciplinary oenses (National Agency for
the Prevention of Corruption, 2023).
In June 2022, Ukraine adopted the Anti-Corruption Strategy for 2021-
2025 (Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, 2022a). The main principles of anti-
corruption policy are to optimize the functions of the state and local self-
government in order to minimize corruption risks. They also include the
digital transformation of the exercise of powers by state authorities and
local self-government bodies.
In 2014, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) was
established in Ukraine, which is the central executive body with a special
status. The NABU is tasked to combat corruption and other criminal
oenses committed by high-ranking ocials authorized to perform the
functions of the state or local self-government. As of December 31, 2022, 716
proceedings are in progress, 413 persons have been notied of suspicion,
799 persons have been charged, 414 indictments have been issued, and 99
guilty verdicts have been issued (NABU, 2023).
Under martial law, there was a need to make the necessary changes to
the anti-corruption legislation. Targeted anti-corruption gift restrictions
were introduced (Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, 2022b). The provision
became necessary for the participation of public servants in charitable,
volunteer, other activities aimed at helping the Armed Forces of Ukraine
and aected persons. Provision is made for the introduction of a temporary
regulatory model of behaviour of a public servant, only on the condition
that the purpose of the gift itself and the subject of its receipt are combined.
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Prevention of corruption oenses by public ocials: Experience from European Union countries
In 2021, separate issues of whistle-blower protection were legislated
in Ukraine (Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, 2021). In addition to the head,
the whistle-blower can now report a violation to an authorized division
(person) of the body, legal entity in which the whistle-blower works, is
serving or training, or on whose behalf he performs work. It is worth noting
that whistle-blowers can use internal, regular or external channels to report
possible facts of corruption or corruption-related oenses. The possibility
of sending anonymous messages is legislated.
It was not possible to complete several tasks that were important for
the implementation of the anti-corruption reform in the pre-war period.
As of February 2023, Ukraine has not reformed the Constitutional Court
with a view to the amendments of the Venice Commission. The state anti-
corruption programme for 2023-2025 has not been adopted. The obligation
of political parties to submit reports to the NACP has been suspended.
The risk of the adoption of draft laws that remove procurement from the
scope of the Law of Ukraine “On Public Procurement” is being minimized
in part. The scandal with overpayments for food for the military indicates
the existence of such abuses. It is necessary to restore the declaration of
ocials, to strengthen the autonomy of the SAP. Military aggression on
the part of the Russian Federation has suspended the implementation of
the Unied Portal for Whistle-blowers of Corruption or Corruption-related
Oenses.
In July 2022, the National Council for the Recovery of Ukraine from
the War developed the Draft Plan for the Recovery of Ukraine (Anti-
corruption policy, 2022). It provides for the development and application
of a comprehensive anti-corruption policy. The Plan envisages fullment
of Ukraine’s international anti-corruption obligations, independence
and eective work of anti-corruption bodies. Eorts will also be aimed at
promoting a culture of integrity, eliminating corruption risks during the
martial law and the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.
4. Discussion
It can be stated that the reform on the prevention and counteraction of
corruption should be aimed at combating the forms, manifestations, and
dynamics of corruption in particular countries. It must correspond to the
country’s institutional mechanisms and procedures. UNCAC reports from
dierent countries can help identify good practices that can be spread
and adopted (Huter and Scaturro, 2021). The researchers also emphasize
that the supporting documents of the UNCAC can be a guide to ensure an
eective anti-corruption policy.
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Current studies on corruption should focus on dening, measuring and
forecasting this phenomenon. This must be done in such a way that the
mechanisms and methods of its prevention can be implemented adequately
(Luna-Pla and Nicolás-Carlock, 2020; Petkov, 2020). According to
researchers, these goals, organize the strategies that should be implemented
to study this phenomenon. They also serve as a guide for evaluating previous
approaches to corruption prevention, their limitations, and their potential
for further improvement.
The EU Whistle-blower Protection Directive lls an important gap in
legislation. Its adoption is the result of several decades of gradual change
in Europe aimed at strengthening the whistle-blower protection. The
EU Whistle-blower Directive is an important legal development, but it is
only on the way towards real protection, rather than changes the rules for
whistle-blowers in the EU (Abazi, 2020).
The interpretation of whistle-blower denitions of reported abuse is
important. There is also a need to reduce the burden of proof on whistle-
blowers. The imposition of strong sanctions to protect whistle-blowers
against retaliation is necessary for their eective protection (Iwasaki, 2023;
Kopotun, 2023). Whistleblowing and anonymous reports should be based
on the three pillars of whistle-blower protection and incentives (Berendt and
Schiner, 2022). They should combine anonymity in a formal and technical
sense, whistle-blower protection through laws, other norms and practices,
including organizational culture. Documents on policies, factors associated
with whistleblowing, and whistleblowing outcomes should be spread (Vian
et al., 2022). According to the researchers, this can help countries make
whistleblowing a sectoral strategy to prevent and ght corruption.
The considered corruption prevention instruments include innovative
tools for reporting violations, transparency portals, and distributed ledger
technology. Information and communication technologies can also provide
new opportunities for corruption through the dark web, cryptocurrencies or
misuse of such technologies as centralized databases (Adam and Fazekas,
2021).
According to the researchers, the impact of using such tools depends
on their relevance to the local context, including support and skills to
use technology. A list of factors that should be taken into account when
implementing relevant innovative systems was made as a result of
studying the anti-corruption experience of countries with dierent legal
systems (Halai et al., 2021).
The need for further implementation of measures aimed at spreading
the global anti-corruption standard of behaviour in Ukraine was stated. It
is advisable to create expert groups with the interaction of the scientic
community, government agencies, business and representatives of civil
364
Sergey Petkov, Valerii Bortniak, Liudmyla Savranchuk, Dariya Vitiuk y Iryna Turchyn-Kukarina
Prevention of corruption oenses by public ocials: Experience from European Union countries
society (Topchii et al., 2021). They should deal with the detection of corrupt
practices, their assessment and classication.
The targeted nature of anti-corruption gift restrictions is directly related
to the legal regime of martial law. This conrms the innovative nature of
such restrictions. They provide for maintaining a “lter” for possible illegal
acts by public ocials even during martial law in Ukraine (Kolomoets et
al., 2022).
It can be concluded that the prevention and the ght against corruption
oenses should be eective. But the public authorities should not act
through violating the principles and rights of a person who is brought to
administrative responsibility (Solovyova, 2022).
Conclusions
International conventions, standards and guiding principles adopted
by the UN, OECD, and the Council of Europe to govern the prevention of
corruption are global cooperation tools. The EU corruption prevention
initiatives are similar because of the legislation integration processes, active
international coordination of corruption prevention measures.
Information and communication technologies can contribute to the
prevention of corruption crimes by inuencing public control in various
ways. They enable reporting of corruption, promote transparency and
accountability, facilitate citizen participation and interaction between
government and citizens.
The public administration and data transparency in Denmark and Finland
ensure that citizens have the opportunity to participate in the development
of society and preventing corruption. The public administration bodies
of EU countries, such as Denmark and Finland, realize the importance of
their actions for the welfare of society in implementing their powers. They
consider management activities prestigious, and value their reputation.
Ukraine failed to complete several tasks that were important for the
implementation of the anti-corruption reform before the war. The necessary
changes to the legislation on the prevention of corruption are being made
under martial law in the country. At the same time, the initiatives of the
EU countries in the eld of prevention of corruption crimes committed by
ocials can become an example for Ukraine in the post-war recovery.
365
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Vol. 41 Nº 77 (2023): 352-368
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