Hungary to join International Anti-Corruption Academy (adds deputy PM)

The IACA will provide training, research and cooperation to police forces, court bodies, NGOs, researchers and private companies. It will offer a comprehensive approach to fighting corruption.

    The founding countries, including Hungary, will sign the organisation s founding documents later on Thursday. More than 25 countries have expressed their willingness to join IACA which has been set up as a joint initiative by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Republic of Austria, the European Anti-Fraud Office and other stakeholders.

    UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon addressed the conference on Thursday and expressed his full support to the organisation.

    Hungary s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice, Tibor Navracsics told the conference that "corruption cannot be overcome within the confines of one single country, in the fight against it all available international resources must be utilised."

     "Hungarians have a special dimension in this matter: political corruption, revealing the abuses of power in recent years. Regardless of this, I believe the fight against corruption is especially important because it kills trust in society and when there s no trust in society, then the core essence of democracy is killed," Navracsics said.

    Prior to the conference he held bilateral talks with Austrian Justice Minister Claudia Bandion-Ortner and gave her an outline of Hungary s main plans in the area of justice during its EU presidency in January-June next year. Bandion-Ortner presented recent measures Austria had introduced to fight corruption.