CHANGES TO CRIME PREVENTION OFFICE TO EXPEDITE WORK

ZAGREB, Feb 8 (Hina) - Recent changes to the USKOK law will diminish the number of cases falling under the jurisdiction of the Office for the Prevention of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) by 5,000- 6,000, which threatened to swamp its work, USKOK acting manager Dragan Novosel told Hina on Friday. The changes to the law went into force immediately upon publication in the Narodne Novine national gazette on Feb. 6. "Some provisions have been changed to more precisely determine the scope of USKOK's work, in keeping with the basic goals for which it was established, namely preventing corruption and organised crime, and not minor smuggling," said Novosel. USKOK continues to be competent for the prosecution of crimes for the perpetration of which the law stipulates imprisonment in excess of three years, or if the crime was committed in two or more states, but only if it was committed as part of a criminal organisation and not by an individual or group. The second major alteration refers to which courts are in charge of prosecuting bribery. USKOK is still competent for all cases of corruption, but the changes enable all Croatian courts to prosecute them and not only the four county ones (Zagreb, Osijek, Split, Rijeka) as before. The third change was requested by the judges. Candidates for USKOK staff will no longer be requested to sign a statement in which they consent to being submitted to security checks. (hina) ha