IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION STANDARDS IN THE ECONOMIC SPACE

Abstract

Corruption as an anti-social phenomenon was initially considered in the moral, social and legal dimension. It was not until the 1970s that corruption began to be studied as an economic category and became a subject of systemic economic analysis. It should be emphasized that in legal practice, corruption is most often interpreted as a socially dangerous illegal phenomenon, which is a consequence of blackmail, bribery, venality of officials that use their authority for personal enrichment, disregarding the interests of other members of society. Therefore, corruption is usually seen as a type of offense and criminal actions of officials in contradiction to the interests of the state and its citizens. And anti-corruption measures are associated with the improvement of the current legislation in terms of ensuring the inevitability of responsibility for corruption and corruption-related offenses. At the same time, given that corruption is inseparable from the shadow economy, it is necessary to study these two phenomena as a single system and consider anti-corruption policy as a key component of the fight against the shadow economy. The world community, in particular the EU, has a well-developed system of state regulation, which many countries are guided by. Despite this, the budgets of EU countries lose a certain amount each year from corruption schemes in the economic sphere. The aim of the article is to study the theoretical and institutional foundations of anti-corruption policy as a component of the fight against shadow economy to update the powers of relevant authorities in terms of their implementation in international anti-corruption standards in the economic space. In Ukraine, anti-corruption policy is implemented in the context of the creation of an institutional system to prevent and combat corruption, which includes specialized organizations, legislation, the formation of special mechanisms to prevent and combat corruption, etc. At present, the following bodies have already been established and are functioning in Ukraine: National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP), National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), Asset Recovery and Management Agency, High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine, and some tasks in the field of combating corruption are performed by the prosecutor's office and the National Police of Ukraine. The State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine collects, analyzes and publishes information on suspected cases of withdrawal of funds of possible criminal origin. The results of the conducted research indicate that most of the goals set by the Anti-Corruption Strategy for 2014-2017 were not achieved in the previous years. Consequently, measures should continue to be taken both to increase the effectiveness of institutional mechanisms for preventing and countering corruption and to eliminate corruption risks in different sectors (primarily those where there is a high experience of corruption and/or the worst perception of corruption of the institutions involved). The combination of both approaches can give the greatest result in reducing the level of corruption in the coming years, so this is the basis of the proposed draft concept of anti-corruption policy for 2020-2024. The implementation of international standards contributed both to the development of the system of prevention and counteraction to corruption (including specialized institutions) and to the reduction of corruption in some sectors by eliminating corruption risks, which were systemic and structural in nature. Further implementation of these commitments and intentions will have a positive impact on reducing corruption and demonstrates the political will at all levels to achieve tangible results of implementing anti-corruption policies.