The 9th session of the CIS Interstate Council for Countering Corruption (ICCC) will take place in Dushanbe on September 19.

According to the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption of Tajikistan, the meeting will bring together representatives of Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Armenia and Belarus to discuss the key issues of combating corruption in the named countries.  

Tajikistan’s anticorruption agency and the Prosecutor-General’s Office of the Russian Federation are expected to sign a cooperation agreement on the margins of the session.    

The previous 8th session of the Interstate Council for Countering Corruption took place in Yekaterinburg, Russia on July 4, 2023. During that meeting, Tajikistan was elected co-chairperson of the Council.  

Established in accordance with an agreement of October 25, 2013, the ICCC is the body of sectoral cooperation of the CIS and is intended to organize and coordinate, within its competence, the fight against corruption, as well as to review the implementation of the obligations of the participants of the Agreement in the field of fight against corruption, to ensure constructive cooperation with international organizations and their structures.

The main activities of the ICCC are: promotion of convergence and harmonization of national anti-corruption legislation; working out proposals for the development of the legal framework for cooperation; and coordinating interaction of the competent authorities of the States-participants of the Agreement, as well as interested bodies of the CIS in the fight against corruption.

In a report released at a news conference in Dushanbe, the head of the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption under the President of Tajikistan, Major-General Sulaimon Sultonzoda, revealed on August 9, 2024 that the anticorruption agency has uncovered 1,267 corruption and economic crimes over the first six months of this year.

According to him, criminal proceedings have been instituted against 694 individuals. 

Over the reporting period, the highest number of corruption cases—151—has reportedly been identified within the executive bodies of local authorities in cities and districts.

Sultonzoda also highlighted other highly corrupt sectors: education and science with 100 crimes, power distribution networks with 80 crimes, healthcare and social protection with 74 crimes, defense with 70 crimes, land management and real estate registration with 54 crimes, agriculture with 50 crimes, and the banking sector with 35 crimes.