Parliamentary Group

Assembly of the Republic-Palace of S. Bento-1249-068 Lisbon-Phone: 21391 9233-Fax: 21391 7456 Email: gpcds@pp. parlamento.pt-http://cdsnoparlamento.pp. parliamento.pt

DRAFT RESOLUTION NO. 38 /XI

MEASURES TO COMBAT CORRUPTION

Exhibition of reasons

I

Corruption is a deformation of ethics and the sense of duty, whose existence and causes

dates back to the creation of political and legally organized societies with powers

defined, separate and independent, in states organized in organisms

devolved, legal and territorially, and attributions and bounded competences.

The institution of democratic regimes in the various European countries accentuated the

trend of reinforcement of state powers, extending in the most varied strands of the

daily life of citizens: from health to safety, from spatial planning to

infrastructure or the quality of life for social protection.

It is this extended set of powers, attributions and powers of the State, exercised

on the most diverse forms and legal coatings, which makes it increasingly demanding, and

pressing, the existence of mechanisms that guarantee strict compliance with the law by

who decides, the exemption from public function and the strict respect for the principles

fundamental as that of the equality of all citizens before the law, in the article

13. of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic as a fundamental right.

It becomes thus necessary to create a legal regime that guarantees forms of

transparent relationship with the diverse decentralized modes of government (such as

the municipalities), the servers of the state and the citizens, in a balance not always easy

of finding. Perhaps for that's right, and it's not today, corruption has an effect

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corrosive to the quality of democracy that cannot, nor should, be belittled. The

corruption-which is different from the mere suspicition of its existence-alastra in societies

open, being, often, the part taken by the whole in the face of disclosure of

insinuations, suspicions or hints of corruption or cronyism, shattering the confidence of the

citizens across the system.

On the other hand, corruption deepens, even more so, existing inequalities in the

society, creating the conviction (apparent but also real) that not all citizens

are treated equally by the State. For all this, their combat is a must

all who defend the State of Democratic Law. In fact, the phenomena of

corruption are of varying forms and manifested in the most disparate ways, having

as a common element in its essence the exercise of public functions or entitlement

of public powers.

Perhaps for all this, in recent times, fighting corruption has been finding.

political, and media agenda, of the Country and been the subject of successive appeals of the most

varied political sectors (to be started by the Head of State), judicial bodies and by the

civil society in general.

For the CDS-PP this combat is always and the violation of the duties of the post by

holders of organs of sovereignty, councillors and officials have very serious effects on the whole

system, with negative political and socio-economic implications for the whole

public administration and for society at large.

II

In October 2006, the GRECO (Group of States Against Corruption)-a

intergovernmental organization that promotes measures to combat the washing of

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money and financing of terrorist acts-released a report that concluded that

Portugal has the necessary and sufficient legal mechanisms for the combat of the crime of

money laundering and financing of terrorist activities, but fails,

particularly, in its application and implementation. In accordance with the said report, one of the

deficiencies of our system is the lack of means of the Police Judiciary and the Ministry

Public in the prevention and punishment of these crimes, concluding that " (...) lack the

structures, human means and financial resources for the corresponding research ".

Particularly in what concerns the Judiciary Police, in addition to fighting a deficit

of about two hundreds of researchers in the current legal framework, it imposes to strengthen the

means of a department which, having no operational skills, does not cease to have

a relevant importance in the criminal investigation process: we refer to the

Scientific Police Laboratory, whose reinforcement, in human and material means, is

absolutely necessary and in about four dozen elements.

On the other hand, and report of the Transparency International for 2009 reveals that Portugal

has been getting worse in this ranking from year to year, having gone from the 26ª position in

2007 to 32ª in 2008 and dropped now to 35ª. This ranking measures the levels

perceptions of corruption in the Public Administration based on polls

carried out by 10 independent organizations. However, Portugal, they remain ahead of

countries such as Italy or Greece, which should, on the one hand, refute visions

"catastrophic" that are sometimes presented to us, but mainly constitute a factor

additional to be able to search for and further strengthen the measures to combat the

corruption.

By the exposed, and in conclusion, the reasons for the unsuccessful fight against corruption, our

see, fall mainly in the lack of resources and the failures in communication, coordination and

cooperation between criminal police bodies and public agencies that resulted in the

abandonment of ongoing investigations: of the 1,521 investigations reported since 2002,

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only 407 were finalised and given by closed, not having been ever issued

any order of forfeiture even, even though it is mandatory in cases of corruption.

III

These are the concerns of the CDS-PP in presenting the present Draft Resolution

which focus on two key axes:

 The reinforcement of means, materials, human and financial;

 The improvement of the legislative body in the direction of strengthening cooperation and

sharing of information between the various security forces and services;

In fact, in the face of the systematic complaints of insufficiency of the means awarded to the

prevention and investigation of the crime of corruption, the CDS-PP proposed to strengthen the

Judicial Police budget when discussing the State Budgets for

2007, 2008 and 2009. It is, in our view, an important measure that does not

has lost its topicality, so on it insists, now on the form of recommendation to the

Government.

On the other hand, the clarification of skills that is meant to be concerned with the

operation of the recently created Internal Security System, the effectiveness of the

coordination of the action of the various security forces and services, because of manifest lack of

means, it has been, insufficient.

In these terms, and under the provisions of Article 156º of the Constitution of the Republic

Portuguese, the Assembly of the Republic recommends to the Government:

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1-That proceed to the reinforcement of the material, human and financial means of the Police

Judicial, specifically promoting the full padding of the frame of

researchers;

2-In particular, to undertake the reinforcement of the framework of researchers assigned to the

realization of expertise within the framework of the Police Scientific Police Laboratory

Judicial;

3-That proceed, within the framework of the internal security system, to provide it

of appropriate skills in the sharing of information and coordination between the

various forces and security services;

Palace of S. Bento, December 7, 2009.

The Deputies,