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Corruption fight left without a body
The AKP administration’s effort to assign the Prime Ministry Inspection Board for the job has been rejected by both the EU and the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP. Since withdrawing the law draft, a responsible institution to fight against corruption still has not been determined.
The beginning of this debate between the EU and the government dates back to 2004 when the work was started to establish a supreme anti-corruption board. The law draft was prepared by the Financial Crimes Investigation Board and the EU General Secretariat, but was shelved by the AKP because of the "possibility of causing uneasiness for governmental applications."
Last year the AKP started work on assigning the job to the Prime Ministry Inspection Board and added the necessary legal adjustment to the law draft for the changes in Turkish Penal Code. The objectivity and impartiality of the inspection board raised debate as the board would not be able to evaluate corruption complaints without the approval of the prime minister.
The law draft for the changes in the Turkish Penal Code on fighting corruption to meet EU criteria was overshadowed by the military coup allegations last week. The opposition CHP insisted on removing the ninth article, which would make the Prime Ministry Inspection Board the agency to fight corruption.
EU and CHP disapproved
Both the CHP and the EU disapproved of this move. The EU disagreed with this plan saying it was the "inspection of public service corruption by the public service" and the CHP refused by saying that "the corrupting and the inspecting cannot be done by the same hands." On the CHP’s persistence, the article on the matter was removed from the law draft during the last night the Parliament worked before summer recession.
Two weeks ago the government announced a "strategy plan for fighting corruption" but there is currently no institution around to claim the strategy and run it. It is believed that the AKP administration will go back to the "independent supreme board" project of the EU and will bring that adjustment to Parliament after the recess.
