On 29 June 2021, the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania adopted a new Law on Prevention of Corruption, which, as of 1 January 2022, replaced the corruption prevention regulation adopted almost 20 years ago. According to the requirements of the new law, the entire public sector (municipalities, water management companies, heat supply companies, waste management companies and any municipal or state-owned companies) must ensure the requirements for creating a corruption-proof environment. The public sector must either recruit new staff (which would entail significant additional costs); or create units responsible for creating a corruption-proof environment (which would entail even higher costs); or delegate the creation of a corruption-proof environment to the municipal council’s anti-corruption commission. In all cases, the persons responsible for creating a corruption-proof environment must have sufficient legal expertise and at the same time cannot be directly subordinate to the management. However, the executive manager is responsible for fulfilling the above requirements.

Given that in any case corruption does not bode well, PROTEGO provides services to create a corruption-proof environment:

• Drafting of the procedure descriptions for the implementation of corruption prevention measures to determine the likelihood of corruption occurring in the company and drafting of the rules for the monitoring of the implementation plan of the corruption prevention measures according to the internal structure, scope and needs of the company’s employees;
• Preparation of anti-corruption programmes tailored to the company’s specific structure, mode of operation and needs, taking into account the anti-corruption programme approved by the company’s constituent;
• Preparation of an implementation plan for the measures of the anti-corruption programme. Adapting the plan to the structure, activities, available funding and taking into account the anti-corruption programmes and measures approved by the company’s constituent;
• Continuous revision of the anti-corruption implementation plan in accordance with the monitoring of the plan and the current situation, as well as advice on its progress;
• Evaluation of existing (current version) and/or new internal regulations adopted by the company from an anti-corruption point of view and submission of recommendations;
• Identification of private conflicts of interest and provision of recommendations and advice on the prevention and management of such conflicts;
• Monitoring the likelihood of corruption;
• Preparation of reports on the likelihood of corruption, which must be submitted to the constituent and the Special Investigation Service (STT).