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According to the STT report, in response to recent major ecological disasters (fire at the tire processing plant in Alytus, discharge of sewage into the Curonian lagoon), 4 corruption risk analyzes were conducted, during which corruption risks from inspections were not adequately managed.
STT’s corruption prevention specialists evaluated the activities of AAD’s structural units operating in Vilnius, Panevėžys and Utena, Kaunas, Marijampolė and Alytus, Šiauliai and Telšiai counties from the anti-corruption point of view, monitoring and controlling the economic entities.
“It is notable that the merger of regional environmental protection departments has increased anti-corruption potential. There are real opportunities not only to apply corruption prevention measures centrally, but also to form uniform standards of resistance to corruption. However, After conducting corruption risk analysis, we noted the different inspection practices of economic entities, other changes necessary to reduce corruption risks in the field of environmental protection ”, says Svetlana Krasilnikova, Head of the Prevention Board of the corruption.
Inspections are sometimes formal
The analysis found that the environmental risk assessment of economic operators, on which the frequency of inspections should depend, may not always reflect the true level of environmental risk, since this procedure is often carried out through a formally subjective decision of an AAD employee, which may create a risk of corruption due to human factors. .
It was found that the AAD inspection plan does not specify the purpose of the inspections of economic operators and the specific scope of the inspections. AAD officials must decide for themselves on the purpose and scope of the inspection, which can create a risk of corruption.
Unscheduled operational inspections of entities involved in potentially illegal waste management activities are not carried out on their own initiative.
The analysis revealed that there is no unscheduled operational control of the entities involved in potentially illegal waste management activities on their own initiative.
For example, there are advertisements in public spaces offering waste disposal services. The ads do not reveal the identity of the service providers, so there is a risk of potentially illegal activity.
In this way, illegal landfills can appear and increase, polluting the environment, which could be avoided by carrying out unscheduled operational controls. However, it has been noted that unscheduled inspections require additional measures to reduce the risk of corruption. It has been found that currently only one staff member often participates in unscheduled inspections, posing a real risk that potential offenders will try to reach an agreement with the inspection officer.
Polluters avoid the obligation to compensate for damage to nature
It should be noted that the risks of conflicts of interest are not sufficiently managed. For example, there have been cases where the list of controlled entities does not include those entities that employ close associates of officials identified in their declarations of private interests.
There have also been cases where hunting groups, whose members are officers of the AAD structural units, are inspected by their colleagues, other inspectors from the same structural units, or even persons subordinate to the members of the hunting groups.
The corruption risk analysis has identified situations in which polluters evade the obligation to compensate for environmental damage. For example, when people were penalized for air pollution infractions, waste incineration, due to insufficient initiative of environmental officials, no action was taken to compensate for the damage to the environment.
The Ministry of the Environment and AAD STT recommended improving the procedure for drawing up the list of controlled economic entities, to establish a clear procedure for selecting companies for scheduled inspections. It is also recommended that at least two employees conduct unscheduled inspections. It is suggested that the AAD consider monitoring public spaces to identify and control those who may be involved in environmentally illegal activities.
The Department of Environmental Protection under the Ministry of the Environment must inform the STT within 3 months how it has taken into account or plans to take into account the recommendations provided in the corruption risk analysis.
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