Centre for Prevention and Countering Corruption and Organized Crime (CPCCOC)

The Centre for Prevention and Countering Corruption and Organized Crime (CPCCOC) is a specialised administrative structure at the Council of Ministers to provide analysis and solutions and implement governmental policy in preventing and countering organised crime and corruption, where the two spheres overlap, through developing specific intervention systems to coordinate efforts in these areas. It was established to implement the national BORKOR project (under whose name the Centre is publicly known) aimed at innovative solution models, based on partner collaboration. A Consultative Council, which includes representatives of the executive, legislative and judiciary power as well as of the Court of Auditors manages and performs methodological supervision of the activities of the Centre. CPCCOC’s functions are not operative, but rather analytical and consultative: preventive control over bills prepared by the executive to identify shortcomings related to the Centre’s priorities; impact assessments in terms of corruption risks; analysing legal acts, rules, administrative procedures and processes in terms of those priorities.
The project is of long term and cooperative nature (ongoing collaboration with project partners as well as with other state agencies and NGOs) and is considered relatively sustainable. It has a certain positive impact, its budget is relatively high in view of its impact, and its effectiveness and efficiency remain limited due to variety of external and internal reasons related to the overall situation of countering corruption and organised crime in the country e.g. overlaps in the institutional framework, lack of political will, lack of proper management, etc.

The BORKOR project is assigned through the Centre to support the legislative, judicial and executive power in Bulgaria. It has to develop specific intervention systems to coordinate suppression of organised crime and corruption.
At the heart of the Centre is the BORKOR software, which aims at identifying weak spots and developing network measures against corruption. Since the establishment of the Centre its efforts have been focused on acquiring a cyber-system of the type V-Modell XT claimed to be a unique highly-technological instrument with no analogue in the world, to be used in developing anti-corruption measures.

The Council of Ministers consults regularly and as of the end of 2016 adopted almost 70 per cent of the measures the Centre suggested on the legislative acts it was consulted on. The Centre publicises widely on its websites its opinions on draft laws and thematic reports, disseminates its findings and activities in the media and organises regular round tables and other dissemination and capacity building events with project partners and other actors involved.

The initial institutional and conceptual framework of the project was developed in Germany and was adapted to the specific context in Bulgaria by a German expert advising the Bulgarian government. The Centre supports all institutions dealing with its priorities – countering organised crime and corruption - through a complex software model and robust analytical activity. Thus, once transferred and fairly successfully working in Bulgaria, the model has proven its transferability in other country contexts as well.

Detailed annual reports are regularly published on the website of the Centre.

Multi-agency cooperation at the national institutions’ level and across civil sector
• National Assembly
• Council of Ministers
• The National Inspectorate
• Supreme Judicial council
• Supreme Court of Cassation
• Supreme Administrative Court
• National Court of Auditors
• State Agency for National Security
• National Police Service
• National Revenue Agency
• Prosecution Office and the investigative magistrates within it
• International Organisations
• European Commission- OLAF
• State Agency for Refugees
• Bulgarian Academy of Science
The Centre has permanent partnerships with the National Assembly, Ministries, Supreme Judicial Council, National Audit Office, Supreme Administrative Court, Supreme Court of Cassation, NGOs etc.In one of its latest projects on analysing the asylum legislation of the EU and the countering of organised crime and corruption related to migration, numerous actors were involved such as the Ministry of Interior, the State Agency for National Security, Bulgarian Red Cross, Bulgarian Helsinki Committee) .

Considered relatively high in view of its impact - for 2017 the budget of the Centre is 1 849 000 BGN (appr. 948 205 EUR). With a spending of BGN 10.3 million (over EUR 5 million) in a three-year period (2011-
2013).
The Centre has also been criticised for unjustified spending of public money.

http://borkor.government.bg/bg/page/427
http://www.capital.bg/politika_i_ikonomika/bulgaria/
2016/03/25/2730311_pomnite_li_borkor/

European Commission COM (2014) 38 final
European Commission progress report COM (2017) 43 final
Annual Report of the Centre for Prevention and Countering Corruption and Organized Crime (2016)
Rules of Organisation of the CPCCOC
http://borkor.government.bg/bg/page/427

The framework of the project is established to prevent corruption and organised crime by identifying weaknesses, shortcomings, contradictions in the proposed legislation and analysing relevant risks. These objectives are still relevant in view of deficiencies of state policy established so far. In its 2017 progress report under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism the European Commission stresses that Bulgaria still faces challenges in countering corruption. Moreover, a lot of the activities are organised in partnership with relevant stakeholders, which makes the output even more relevant.
The Centre has given a number of opinions on draft legislation, including legislation on countering terrorism, amendments in the Criminal Code of various nature, which makes its analyses highly relevant not only with regard to the common areas of countering organised crime and corruption, but also to the criminal justice sphere itself.

The Centre exercises preventive control by consulting every bill prepared by the executive. In fulfilment this function, 112 bills were analysed from November 2013 until September 2015. However, the continuous lack of practical results from its work has drawn repeated criticisms from civil society and the media.
In its Anti-Corruption report from 2014 the European Commission pointed that the institutional framework for fighting corruption and organised crime in Bulgaria remains fragmented and that gaps exist in implementing transparency and anti-corruption provisions. It also stated that the results of the BORKOR program remain to be seen. The major reasons for its allegedly low effectiveness is the overall situation regarding countering corruption and organised crime in the country e.g. duplication in the institutional framework, lack of political will, including the lack of consistent management (the Consultative Council has also not had a session since 2013 and is not performing regularly its duties).

There is not enough information to assess how many indictment acts or convictions were issued as a result of the Centre risk identification or what the monetary effect is of Centre’s action. The Centre only offers recommendations and has no operative power. Therefore, implementation is left to the respective bodies, many of which do not act timely or efficiently.

The Centre is acting in close partnerships with many state agencies and NGOs and the results of these joint efforts have in general a positive effect for both state policy and society. However, there is no empirical evidence about the concrete impact of the Centre’s work since it is also mainly concerned with prevention, analysis and consultancy which makes it harder to measure without a special system for monitoring and measurement.

The sustainability of the practice is enhanced through the roundtables and various projects organised by the Centre. One recent example is the project on examining the refugee crisis, the national security risks it poses and possible solutions which involved a lot of actors from the civil sector - NGOs and universities. This allows for the stakeholders to get familiar with the possible weaknesses in the legislative framework and makes the BORKOR programme more self-reliant.

The project involves a lot of partners in the process of monitoring the legislation for weaknesses and loopholes. These partners include NGOs, ministries, municipalities, universities, agencies and institutions.