Chair:
Boris Demidov, General Manager, Transparency International Russia, Moscow, Russia

Panellists:
Dr. Yuri Baulin, Senior Fellow, Kharkiv Center for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption, Yaroslav Mudry National Legal Academy of Ukraine, Kharkiv, Ukraine
Dr. Boris Volzhenkin, Director, St Petersburg Center for the Study of Organised Crime and Corruption, St Petersburg State University Law School, St Petersburg, Russia

Discussant:
Dennis G. Fitzgerald, ABA/CEELI
Nadia Rednak, IMF
Steven Sampson, Ph.D. Social Anthropology
Bjoern Rohde-Liebenau, TI Germany

Papers presented to the workshop:
Briefings about the research centres of the speakers, plus one paper on the TraCCC program of American University, Washington D.C., traccc@american.edu, corruptcenter@jurfak.spb.ru

In the introduction, Mr. Demidov formulated some thoughts on the need for regional co-operation in addressing the problem of corruption in the very specific geopolitical context of Russia and Ukraine. Given the size and great diversity of the region, TI Russia sees no point in focusing on locally limited anti-corruption projects, e.g. in Moscow. As the countries of the former Soviet Union face similar problems and need similar solutions, they should form broad coalitions involving all walks of life.

A condition sine qua non for fighting corruption effectively is the conducting of in-depth analysis and research on the topic, making available concrete data on procedures and cases. Mr. Demidov thus introduced the speakers as pure academicians, serving NGOs and law enforcement practitioners by providing background information and spreading knowledge about the phenomenon of organized crime and corruption.

Contribution by Yuri Baulin

Mr. Baulin presented the Kharkiv Centre as a section of the law faculty, set up following an agreement between the TraCCC program of American University of Washington, D.C., and the National Law Academy of Kharkiv, Ukraine, founded in November 1998.

The TraCCC program has grown to support analogical centres in 5 cities in Russia (St Petersburg, Moscow, Ekaterinburg, Irkutsk and Vladivostok).

The main tasks of the United Research Centres (URC) include:

• generating and publishing original research on trends in organized crime and corruption from their regions
• mentoring junior scholars and students through a Small grants Programme
• hosting/attending local/international conferences on related issues; involving representatives of the executive, legislature and judiciary; publishing conference manuals
• conducting seminars for practitioners from law enforcement bodies
• thematic approach to studying human trafficking, drug trafficking, economic crimes and international corruption
• setting up a library fund to provide publications to universities as well as practitioners all over Ukraine and Russia

In addition to the financing of the local programmes through US Government grant funds, the American University TraCCC program provides the most valuable methodological input to the Ukrainian/Russian researchers. The research is carried out in close co-operation with overseas academicians.

The director of the St Petersburg Centre, Mr. Volzhenkin, briefly presented the 1-year-old St Petersburg initiative as being very similar to the Kharkiv program. He gave proof of the very coalition-like structure of the multinational research initiative, by naming a couple of important publications, such as:

• the URCs' magazine Organized Crime and Corruption, which has recently been issued for the 5th time in Ekaterinburg. It provides in-depth information on the issue, as well as on the activities of the URCs.
• quarterly magazine Judicial Practice (taken over from other editors), issued 24 times so far. This is a documentation of specific, real cases from St Petersburg and the northern region.

The centres do not only have a purely academic interest. Mr. Volzhenkin elaborated on the difficulty of setting up an anti-corruption law in Russia, though a lot of activities have been launched since 1992. All draft laws were rejected either by the parliament or the president.

On the other hand, he reported that all courts in St Petersburg are fully computerised, i.e. a database of cases is theoretically in place. The question of who should have access to this information is under discussion, however. The researcher's clear claim it is something to which every interested citizen should have access. (Until the recent past, the judicial sector appeared to be one of the less transparent spheres of the countries in question. Investigative journalists are facing enormous problems in obtaining objective information.)

Main Themes Covered

1. The definition of organised crime and corruption: is it a legal problem?
2. The structure of the research centres, the financial sustainability of the programmes/conditions and criteria on the donors' side
3. The visibility of the URCs, impact of the research activities/possible difficulties
4. Opportunities for co-operation with international organisations and development programmes (e.g. OECE, ABA/CEELI) in the future

Main Conclusions

1. Organised crime and corruption cannot solely be defined as a legal problem. They are an issue of broader sociological interest. But a clearly structured and unbiased legal framework has to be established in order to identify corruption as a crime, to investigate these crimes, and to make corruption punishable. The URCs' activities are thus following a prevention-oriented approach.
   
   
2. The fellowship and grant structure of the different programmes provides good perspectives for sustainability. Every single initiative is awarded a certain budget for achieving a very concrete outcome, e.g. 60 small grants for the Kharkiv Centre will result in 60 research papers. The US partners appreciate the outcomes of the programmes and are likely to extend the financial support after the initial grants expire.
   
   
3. Organised crime and corruption are officially acknowledged to be a major problem. The governments of Russia and Ukraine have committed themselves to fight this very destructive phenomenon. So, there is an interest in the activities of the URCs; they are not hindered in their activities.

   Special seminars as well as conferences are addressing practitioners from law enforcement bodies (police, security services, ministries of justice). The mass media are present at all larger events. Visibility and freedom for intensive research are ensured.

   The implementation of concrete governmental anti-corruption measures is another, problematic issue. The centres hope to be involved in any such action.

4. Due to the young age of most of the URCs, co-operation with other international development organisations is not yet established, though it is certainly desirable.