More Control Over the Finances of Public Officials
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Klemenčič told a debate hosted in Ravne na Koroškem by the local student organisation that by European standards Slovenia was lagging behind strongly when it comes to provisions in this field.
He said that it should be possible to adopt an improved or new legislation if only those who decide on this will not be afraid of it.
"If you do not have to fear that you are in a way signing your own death sentence, you should have no problem passing such a law," said Klemenčič, who has been experiencing turbulent times since publishing in January a report incriminating PM Janez Janša as well as former opposition leader Zoran Janković.
He explained that compulsory registration of assets by public office holders was introduced in 1994, while in 2004 the anti-graft commission was established, which started conducting oversight.
"This system already existed for more than ten years and now we see total shock simply because we did what the law demanded of us," said Klemenčič, whose commission took a close look at the sources of the assets of all heads of parliamentary parties last year.
He argued that the obligation to account for one's assets is one of the key elements in limiting white collar crime and political corruption. While Slovenia was one of the first transitional countries to introduce this in the 1990s, it failed to put in place a system that would effectively secure this.
Klemenčič argued there must me something wrong with a system where a number of state-owned companies performed at sub-par levels for 20 years without a single case of anyone in charge of these companies being held accountable.
"We have a system that is extremely burdened by corruption risk and by politics and we have absolutely no principle of accountability," he added, speaking of networks and systemic corruption that is hard to tackle.