The Special Investigation Service of the Republic of Lithuania (STT), as the Project leader, having the consortium between Lithuania (Lead MS), Romania (Junior partner) and Finland (Junior partner) successfully implemented European Union Twinning Project “Support to the strengthening of the operational capacities of the Law Enforcement Agencies of the Republic of Moldova in the field of investigation of criminal acts of corruption”.
The overall objective of the Project was to strengthen the institutional capacities of the National Anti-Corruption Centre (NAC), Anti-Corruption Prosecutor\'s Office (APO), Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), General Police Inspectorate (GPI) and Customs Service, in order to increase the efficiency in the fight against corruption and to strengthen the investigative capacities of the above-mentioned institutions in the field of prevention and investigation of criminal acts of corruption.
The Project achieved the following results:
1. Capacities of the NAC, Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Office, MIA, GPI and Customs Service to combat corruption through the appropriate use of special investigative techniques, methods and equipment are strengthened.
2. Decision-making, internal procedures as well as interagency co-operation, co-ordination and communication related to investigation of criminal cases of corruption are enhanced in line with EU best practices.
3. Capacities of the NAC to conduct professional integrity testing in the public sector built up in line with best EU and international practices and respecting human rights.
During the implementation of the Project, recommendations for improving investigative capacities of the NAC, APO, MIA, GPI and Customs on processing corruption cases with close cooperation with prosecutors, including high-level corruption cases and cases with corruptive element in order to build solid, logical and understandable case for court procedure have been published. Moreover Guidelines on coordination of communication defining the decision-making process, internal procedures as well as interagency co-operation in the course of investigation of criminal cases of corruption have been developed.
Lithuanian, Finnish and Romanian experts also organised training. During the trainings, officials of Moldovan authorities in the line with the best EU practices were briefed on opportunities to use of special investigative techniques, methods and equipment in investigation of corruption cases (in financial investigations, criminal intelligence, etc.).
„This Project is an opportunity for the STT and other Lithuanian authorities to share the long-standing experience which will allow Moldovan law enforcement institutions to strengthen anti-corruption environment and to choose the most appropriate model for combating corruption. I believe that our cooperation will last even after the Project, because only working together we can achieve the best results,” says the leader of the Project, STT Director, Žydrūnas Bartkus.
STT, as the Project Leader, was responsible for successful implementation of the Project. Partners of the Project were: Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania, Police Department under the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Lithuania, Prosecutor General’s of the Republic of Lithuania, Lithuanian Customs, Junior partners – Romanian and Finnish Anti-Corruption Authorities.
The project was implemented through a Twinning Contract estimated at a maximum of EUR 1,000,000
The EU Twinning Project is one of EU instruments to help candidate countries and new Member States to integrate into the EU. These projects bring together institutions from different countries to help the newcomers to take over the experience from the old EU Member States.
This is already the 4th EU Twinning Project, implemented by the Special Investigation Service of the Republic of Lithuania. STT also implemented EU Twinning Projects in Azerbaijan, Croatia and Macedonia.
