Anti-Corruption Program

Fighting Corruption in the Everyday Life

You do not have to bribe, you do not have to be a part of it – since 2000 we have been running a campaign aimed to change a common attitude towards the corruption. We want to limit not only its scope, but also the tolerance for „giving” and „accepting”.

Each year we conduct a survey on how the corruption we are dealing with on an everyday basis is perceived. The findings provide an input to what we call a barometer, which records changes in public attitudes towards corruption and indicates the scale and nature of corrupt patterns.

Additionally, each year we made a research on corruption in a chosen aspect of public life: health service, local government and public offices, in business or legislative. On the basis of the survey reports are produced. In 2003 we made an in depth survey on corruption in business. In the report Public opinion and entrepreneurs on corruption Anna Kubiak of Sociology Institute, University of Łódź analysed the results of a survey conducted for us by CBOS Centre for Public Opinion Polls: how the corruption we are dealing with on an everyday basis – in health care, public offices, etc – is perceived, and also how entrepreneurs perceive its impact and scope in the economy. The findings of the report were presented on few meetings with entrepreneurs (among others members of the Polish Chamber of Commerce, entrepreneurs from Chorzów), with policemen and on the conference organised by the Foundation for Accounting Development in Poland. The report was presented also during a public conference organized by the Foundation in September and posted on our website. www.przeciw-korupcji.org.pl.

For the fourth edition of the contest 55 journalists from 17 newspapers (national, regional and local), 3 radio stations and 3 TV channels submitted 138 pieces. We were accepting works produced September 16, 2002 – September 15, 2003 that featured corruption cases or revealed the corruption mechanisms. Criterias set for the articles included: honesty and objectivity of facts presented, following the described issue in a continuous manner, independent research and a journalistic skilfulness.

The Award’s Committee: Klaus Bachmann (freelance journalist), Krzysztof Bobiński (Unia & Polska), Teresa Bogucka (Gazeta Wyborcza), Marcin Król (Respublica), Justyna Duriasz-Bułhak (the Foundation for the Support of Rural Areas) and Janusz Buszyński (US Embassy), awarded 6 prizes:
- the First Prize of PLN 8 330 was awarded to:
Małgorzata Solecka and Andrzej Stankiewicz of Rzeczpospolita for a series of articles and features on famous corruption case in the Ministry of Health, entitled Medicals for Millions of Dollars.
- the Second Prize of PLN 4 760 was awarded, ex aequo, to: Józef Jerzy Jurecki of Tygodnik Podhalański for articles Untouchables and Untouchables Arrested, on corruption in the Tax Office in Zakopane; Marek Kęskrawiec of Newsweek for articles Father Nowok Farm and Father Called off and Jacek Bazan of the Superwizjer TVN editorial for Land Sale, materials being the result of a joint journalist investigation.
– the Third Prize of PLN 2 975 was awarded, ex aequo, to: Włodzimierz Frąckiewicz and Krystian Przysiecki of Coverage Section of the Polish Television Channel I for the Inconvenient broadcast on Always after 9 p.m.; Grzegorz Indulski and Michał Karnowski of Newsweek for the articles Łapiński’s Entanglement and Minister with FOZZ in the Background.
– special prize of PLN 4 000 was awarded to Marcin Kozarow of Polish Radio Pomorze and Kujawy for the radio emision on rural areas Frog – Plain Mongrel (prize sponsored by the Foundation for the Support of Rural Areas).

The prizes were sponsored by: US Embassy (PLN 11 937), Batory Foundation (PLN 11 863) and Foundation for the Support of Rural Areas (PLN 4 000).

After presentation of the awards Krzysztof Burnetko of Tygodnik Powszechny, Piotr Stasiński of Gazeta Wyborcza and Jan Skórzyński of Rzeczpospolita participated in a discussion Should a journalist keep his/her distance from the political authority? moderated by the member of the Award Committee, Krzysztof Bobiński.

Since 2001 the Program supports a Medical Task Force focusing on ethics in public health care. In 2003 the Task Force continued the campaign Wait in a Humane Way designed to improve general access to specialized medical services (a seminar organized on May 8, 2003, letters to the management of the Health Ministry) and organized a press conference on the scope and scale of corruption in the health service (June 30, 2003). Actions of the Task Force aimed to create a system of monitoring waiting lists for the rationed medical services: production and dissemination of information materials, organizing a seminar for the representatives of health care community, the employees of National Sickness Fund and Ministry of Health, as well as promotion of the issue in the press (Gazeta Wyborcza, Rzeczpospolita, Polityka) – resulted in the Health Minister taking action. In December 2003 the Ministry began to work on a system to administer the lists of patients waiting for the rationed specialized medical services and on establishing a ministerial advisory unit consis-ting of experts, Task Force representatives including.

People reporting corruption cases in Poland are from the legal point of view in a very disadvantageous position. On February 19, 2003 we organized a seminar during which specialists discussed on how they can be protected.

The discussion was opened by Małgorzata Rutkiewicz, the legal counsel of Anti-Corruption Program, who presented the exemplary cases reported to the Foundation in the framework of legal advisory service provided by the Program. Then Michael Adlem, director of Financial Advisory Services and Jacek Wojciechowicz of the World Bank presented the ways this problem is solved in other countries. The participants of the discussion included: judge Jacek Garstka from Ministry of Justice, Ryszard Kalisz, deputy to the Parliament, Social Democratic Alliance (SLD), Jan Pastwa from Civil Service Office, gen. Adam Rapacki from Deputy Police Commanding Officer, Dr Irena Rzeplińska, Legal Studies Institute, Polish Academy of Science, Krzysztof Szwedowski, Vice-President of the Supreme Chamber of Control (NIK), judge Andrzej Wąsek, profe-ssor at the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Małgorzata Wilkosz-Śliwa, spokesperson of the General Prosecutor and Janusz Wojciechowski, Deputy Speaker of the Lower House of the Parliament, Polish Peasant Party (PSL).

Since 2000 we have been providing legal advisory service for individuals who report to us corruption-related problems encountered in their daily lives. So far we handled 284 cases. We provide information on the possible means of regress and offer help in the appeal procedures. In 2003 in 12 cases we applied to the appropriate supervisory and controlling institutions and in 7 cases we turned to the prosecutor’s office for the investigation. In two cases we worked as the social observers during the trial at court. So far, the majority of cases concerned the local government misconducts. For instance, thanks to our actions Piła District Governor issued a regulation forbidding his employees to take up any additional posts coinciding with their official duties, what eliminated the violation of article 18 of Local Government Employees Act in the district of Piła. The Court in Zamość also changed its decision favouring a court employee as a party in one of the cases and assured that steps elimina-ting such situation in the future shall be taken.

Because of the constantly rising number of people in need of the legal aid, we invited the network of University Legal Clinics to include cases of corruption in their counsel services. Half of 16 existing University Legal Clinics agreed to expand the scope of their service. After the training, since February 2004, we will gradually handle the cases requiring legal intervention that are filed to the Program to the University Legal Clinics.

Public Scrutiny of Government at National Level

For 6 years Poland has been forming a corpus of civil service, which is to be a guaranty for an apolitical, professional set of employees of the public administration. However, the governments violate or circumvent the regulations of Civil Service Act, adopted in 1996. In the report Civil Service in the Republic of Poland: critical points, prepared for the Program by Krzysztof Burnetko, an analysis of the present state of civil service was presented together with the proposals of necessary changes. The report presented at a public conference in June 2003 and posted on our website www.przeciw-korupcji.org.pl attrac-ted media and politicians’ attention.

The continuation of this project will be a report on the procedures for employing the public administration staff. We also wish to advocate for the changes in the Civil Service Act in order to ensure an efficient functioning of an apoli-tical civil service corpus.

In September 2002 Polish government adopted an anti-corruption strategy. This document included numerous entries treated as strict obligations: it sta-ted precisely who must do what and in what time-limit. Anti-Corruption Program assumed the monitoring of this strategy. Every 6 months we verify if the government fulfilled the obligations adopted in the strategy and inform the public opinion the result of our findings.

In April and September 2003 during press conferences we presented two conclusions of subsequent stages of strategy implementation. In the conclusions we limit ourselves to state which obligations were fulfilled and whether there are any delays in the strategy’s implementation. Only when we have reliable and required data (e.g. project of public tendering act or regulation on the introduction of lessons on anti-corruption in schools) we elaborate on the character of the undertaken actions.

The deadline for the implementation of the government strategy is the end of 2003, therefore the next, final evaluation of its implementation will be presented to the public opinion in beginning of 2004. The results of the monitoring (posted our website www.przeciw-korupcji.org.pl, drew attention of the media and public opinion, since they were the only independent source of information on that issue.

In collaboration with the Helsinki Human Rights Foundation and the Social Communication Foundation we have been reviewing how political parties are fulfilling their pledge to fight corruption made during the parliamentary election campaign in 2001. We organise annual conferences attended by party representatives to evaluate the status of implementation of election promises. In 2003, the representatives of political parties were asked how they deal with their members being in the conflict of public and private or with those who violate the law. The participants of the conference were also reminded of the corruption cases in their parties disclosed by the media. Politicians discussed the conflict of interest procedures in their parties and agreed that there is still much to be done. No party, however, made any concrete pledge to discipline its members.

Public Scrutiny of Government at the Local Level

In 2000 we initiated the formation of a network of local civic groups to monitor the activity of the authorities and to organize educational campaign for a greater transparency of public life. Each year we train a group of leaders in the field of law, local government, leadership skills and work in local community. Training consists of nine meetings, two days each, organized every 4-5 weeks. The training of the third group of leaders lasted from November 2002 to October 2003. 25 persons participated, 6 of them already formed Local Groups in Gdynia, Oława, Lublin, Kraków, Lubaczów and Ostrołęka. In October 2003 we initiated the training of the fourth group of leaders with 24 participants. At present, 15 Local Civic Groups operate.

The individual civic groups engage in activity such as: setting up citizens’ helpdesks, monitoring access to information in local government offices, organi-zing workshops on the transparency of government and anti-corruption measures, outreach, particularly among youth, or cooperation with local media. In 2003 seven groups received grants for the implementation of their projects from Legal Education Program.

In September 2003, the leaders of Local Groups – graduates of our trainings – formed the Local Citizens Groups Association, registered in December 2003. The program provides the Association with technical and financial assistance.

The project initiated and co-funded by Agora S.A. and Polish-American Freedom Foundation aims to launch a social campaign for transparent operation of municipality offices. Local governments participating in the campaign implement a Model of Transparent Municipality prepared by the Anti-Corruption Program. This model, created for our Program and based on our expe-rience, recommends six principles for the efficient functioning of an office: transparency, predictability, accountability, professionalism, public participation and zero tolerance for corruption. The campaign initiated in November 2003 and planned for two years consists of two stages. In the pilot stage 16 communities (one in every province) will gradually implement the Model of Transparent Municipality with the help of experts. In the spring of 2004 a mass information campaign will begin, conducted mainly by Gazeta Wyborcza. Participation in the project will be open for the municipalities which will make a pledge to implement at least some of the elements of the Model. Minimal, standard and complete task sets are being prepared.

The Batory Foundation co-funds the project in the amount PLN 266 000 (grant for the Foundation of Local Democracy Development).

The publication Notes for Councillor was published in 5 000 copies and consists of two parts: information on anti-corruption regulations concerning local government employees and councillors and the presentation of Model of Transparent Municipality. In the beginning of 2003, 2 500 copies of Notes were distributed among the presidents of all newly-elected municipal councils in Poland. We wanted to provide them with knowledge on what the local government employees should avoid and a tool for the implementation of transparent procedures for a local government. The Notes are distributed also among the members of Local Civic Groups and other interested persons.

We work with the Czech, Slovak and Hungarian offices of Transparency International to build a coalition of officials, councillors and NGO leaders towards implementing transparency into local government offices in capital cities of the Visegrad countries. Each year the representatives of the cities meet to share the knowledge and experience and develop an anti-corruption action plan for their cities.

The first meeting took place in February 2003 in Prague, next one is organized by the Batory Foundation in May 2004 in Warsaw. During the meeting in Prague, officials from City Executive Office in Warsaw pledged to introduce separate service desks in district offices, develop a code of conduct for officials and city council and transparent rules for subsidising NGOs. In 2004, during a meeting to be organized by the Batory Foundation in Warsaw, an evaluation of the action plans will be presented by the teams from each city.

Civic education

In 2003 we continued our co-operation with the Civic Education Centre (CEC), which prepares teachers to introduce anti-corruption subjects in schools. Within the frames of the training prepared by the CEC, the employees of the Program conducted classes on the problem of corruption and the chances of combating it. We co-operate with CEC also on the introduction of corruption combating issues in tertiary education. We presented our experience in this matter on an UNDP international seminar on corruption in the educational system. During the 11th School for Young Community and Political Leaders organized by the School of Leaders Association, we provided training on corruption and corruption control.

In 2003, we organized the second edition of the contest for the best students’ paper on the legal, social, ethical and economic aspects of corruption. The Contest Committee which included: Alina Hussein (the Superior Chamber of Control), Dr Joanna Śmigielska (Institute of Applied Social Studies, Warsaw University), Dr Piotr Girdwoyń (Law and Administration Faculty, Warsaw University) and Dr Ryszard Żelichowski (Institute of Political Studies, the Polish Academy of Science) awarded three papers.
- the first prize of PLN 2 200 was awarded to Justyna Dębowska for the MA thesis Corruption at a higher education institution based on the experiences and opinions of the students of Łódź University and Łódź University of Technology, written under the guidance of Dr Anna Kubiak at the Faculty of Economy and Sociology, Institute of Sociology, Łódź University.
- the second prize of PLN 1 200 was awarded to Eliza Wancerz for the BA thesis Social and psychological impact of corruption in the opinions and attitudes of the students of the faculty of law, written under the guidance of Dr Krystyna Wojciechowska at the Out-of-town Faculty of the Bogdan Jański Higher School in Chełm.
- the third prize of PLN 800 was awarded to Katarzyna Sabała for the MA thesis Administrative and legal tools of preventing corruption in the local government, written under the guidance of Prof. Małgorzata Stahl at the Faculty of Law and Administration, Łódź University.

The additional prize for the winners is the opportunity to publish a part of their papers in Political Studies, the journal of the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Science (the Institute was granted PLN 5 000 for this purpose).

In 2003 the activities of the program were co-financed by the Open Society Justice Initiative (PLN 190,000.97), the World Bank (PLN 18,852.51), and US Embassy (PLN 11,937.60).