Further reading Grupo Cívico Etica y Transparencia (TI Nicaragua): www.eyt.org.ni Notes 1. Other bills that would have had a positive impact on corruption were presented in the reporting period but either not discussed or not approved. They include a bill on the judicial career structure and a bill protecting state property. 2. Although making budget information available on the Internet is a positive step, a related and unresolved problem is that the budget does not include full information on tax revenue. The NGO network Coordinadora Civil has complained about this failure for two consecutive years. 3. The supreme court is able to submit draft laws to the legislature about judicial matters.
Norway Corruption Perceptions Index 2004 score: 8.9 (8th out of 146 countries) Conventions: Council of Europe Civil Law Convention on Corruption (signed November 1999; not yet ratified) Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ratified March 2004) OECD Anti-Bribery Convention (ratified December 1998) UN Convention against Corruption (signed December 2003; not yet ratified) UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (ratified September 2003) Legal and institutional changes • Parliament enacted three new sections of the civil penal code in July 2003. The provisions are stricter than the ones they replace and comply with the Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption, but in some respects they go further than required. They introduce the concept of ‘improper advantage’, a standard whose scope will eventually be determined by case law. The jurisdiction of the rules is universal, applying within Norway, as well as to Norwegian nationals acting abroad. Section 276(a) stipulates that any person actively supplying, or passively accepting, an offer of improper advantage in connection with a post, office or commission will be punishable by fines or imprisonment up to three years. Section 276(b) criminalises gross corruption with sentences of up to 10 years. Police investigative powers will increase when gross corruption is suspected, with courts empowered to sanction the surveillance of communications. Section 276(c) criminalises trading in influence. • Some of the recommendations made in 2002 by the Council of Europe’s evaluation body, GRECO, have yet to be implemented, including legal clarification of the right or duty of public servants to report unlawful, improper or unethical behaviour, or behaviour involving maladministration. This lack of clarity means not all allegations of impropriety in the public sector are reported to the police or prosecutor’s office. In June 2004 the government announced it would review the issue. It also announced new ‘quarantine
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