Uzbekistan Adopts 2025 Anti-Corruption Plan

Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan of 21 April 2025 No. UP-71 “On Measures for Effectively Organising Achievement of Priority Objectives to Further Improve Anti-Corruption System” (Ўзбекистон Республикаси Президентининг Фармони, 21.04.2025 йилдаги ПФ-71-сон «Коррупцияга қарши курашиш тизимини янада такомиллаштириш бўйича белгиланган устувор вазифалар ижросини самарали ташкил этишга доир чора-тадбирлар тўғрисида») provides, in particular, for the following measures:

Adopt a 2025-2026 State Anti-Corruption Programme;
Establish a precise list of corruption crimes and introduce more severe liability for their commission;
Put forward suggestions on how to prevent the misuse of public funds, in particular, with regard to the detection of corruption risks and their mitigation/elimination;
Draft and adopt legal acts on asset declaration and transparency of the civil service recruitment;
Improve the existing legal acts to eliminate the legal loopholes creating opportunities for corruption also by exploring the causes and prerequisites for corruption offences in different areas and formulate suggestions on how to remove them;
Strengthen role of Parliament in preventing corruption, in particular, by granting it the function to detect corruption risks in the three ministries and authorities receiving the most important public funding and provide suggestions on how to mitigate/eliminate them on an annual basis;
Oblige the candidates to the posts of ministers to submit draft anti-corruption plans in considering their candidacies;
Oblige the National Anti-Corruption Council (Коррупцияга қарши курашиш миллий кенгаши) to adopt annually a regional “road map” for preventing and combating corruption covering the prevention of petty corruption and creation of the atmosphere of non-tolerance of corruption, and exercise control over its implementation together with the President of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, khokims (heads of the local executive bodies – note of the editor), regions and the city of Tashkent, prosecutors and heads of the internal affairs bodies;
Build capacity of the prosecution and local government bodies in countering corruption, including in detecting and mitigating/eliminating corruption risks;
Train the civil servants holding the offices vulnerable to corruption and the officers of internal anti-corruption control units of ministries and agencies;
Deepen professional knowledge about and expertise of the members of the regional councils in combating corruption and adopt measures for enhancing effectiveness of their performance in countering systemic and petty corruption;
Assessment of effectiveness of the measures aimed at eliminating corruption risks in the activities of control (oversight) bodies;
Build capacity of civil society organisations in combating corruption and involve not-for-profit organisations in monitoring the implementation of provisions of the UN Convention against Corruption;
Introduce more severe requirements for spending budgetary and extra-budgetary funds also in public procurement, in particular, by introducing liability for the officials who have allowed procurement in violation of the acceptable threshold of difference between the procurement and market price of a good, work, service, formulate suggestions on how to reduce the types of the goods, works, services procured under direct contracts by at least two times, and incorporate international anti-corruption standards in the processes of implementation of major investment projects;
Create a system of assessment of investment projects with the participation of international financial institutions and foreign public financial organisations based on the international anti-corruption standards and introduce public oversight of such projects;
Remove an excessive bureaucratic burden and mitigate/eliminate corruption risks associated with the provision of public services;
Establish a system of operative assessment of the quality and integrity of provision of public services and introduce personal responsibility for heads of ministries, agencies and khokims of districts (towns) rated as “insufficient”;
Expand the range of projects covered by the National information system “Transparent construction” also by including the projects involving international organisations in it;
Merge all existing electronic systems of registration of crimes and incidents of law enforcement bodies in a single platform;
Launch an online platform based on artificial intelligence that would provide answers to the questions of the general public sent via mobile phones in a simple and convenient manner;
Develop mechanisms for countering corruption in the cyberspace;
Raise public awareness about the fight against corruption;
Adopt measures for mitigating/eliminating corruption risks in providing subsidized loans to natural and legal persons;
Take measures for improving performance of the country in the Corruption Perceptions Index etc.

Personal responsibility for high-quality, timely and unconditional implementation of the tasks defined by the Decree is imposed on the heads of ministries and agencies.