During an exchange of experience visit to Austria in the scope of the EEA Financial Mechanism 2014-2021 programme “International Police Cooperation and Combating Crime” project “Support for the establishment of a whistle-blowing system in Latvia”, several Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) representatives studied the experience and best practice of Austrian law enforcement agencies in working with whistle-blowers.
During the visit, participants discussed the Austrian approach to the fight against corruption, including in the field of promoting public awareness, explored current IT solutions, and studied the practice of digital forensics in pre-trial investigation.
During the experience exchange visit, which took place from 7-10 June 2022, KNAB representatives met with experts from the Austrian Public Prosecutor's Office for Combating Economic Crime and Corruption, which maintains and administrates the online reporting platform, and with representatives from the Austrian Federal Bureau of Anti-Corruption.
The exchange of experience visit was carried out in the scope of the “Support for the establishment of a whistle-blowing system in Latvia” project, where KNAB receives European Economic Area grants from Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway. The goal of the project is to promote public engagement in reporting corruption and other latent crimes, while simultaneously providing the public with a safe and convenient reporting channel, as well as improve the competence of KNAB in detecting corruptive criminal offences.