| Criminal charges are becoming a key mechanism for resolving property disputes Having seen enough of the scandalous battles of large “business entities” sorting out their economic relations with the help of prosecutors, judges, bailiffs and riot police, ordinary Russians seem to have decided that this path is the most effective method of resolving a property dispute today. Getting a criminal case initiated against an opponent is often much easier than defeating him in an open civil trial. Despite the fact that legal reform in Russia has been moving toward the creation of an independent court for more than ten years, it has remained an executive body. In the sense that the court is happy to fulfill orders received. The main “customer” is still the law enforcement system. And therefore, Russians now turn to the services of the prosecutor’s office even if we are talking about a banal division of an apartment. The prosecutor's office is happy to respond by initiating criminal cases, even if we are talking about civil disputes.
Lawyers are increasingly complaining that cases are being initiated on completely civil issues - division of property, apartment or inheritance disputes, conflicts between business competitors. Of course, it is often difficult to draw the line between a transaction made under the influence of deception and fraud. But in such complex cases, criminal prosecution must be preceded by civil or arbitration proceedings. “If the line cannot be drawn, then it is necessary to be guided by the principle of the presumption of innocence and proceed from the fact that the transaction is not criminal,” says lawyer Yuri Kostanov.
In part, by the way, the prosecutor’s office was pushed into a criminal bias by legal reform. One of its results was supposed to be the ousting of the prosecutor's office from economic life. For this purpose, her powers to participate in civil proceedings were limited. However, in fact, the prosecutor's office only increased its pressure on the economy. “The prosecutor’s office has been deprived of the right to sue for any reason, and now it is using the tool remaining at its disposal - initiating a criminal case,” lawyer Anna Panicheva told Vremya Novostey. “And often this tool is used in ordinary property disputes, if one of the disputants has connections in law enforcement agencies.”
It must be said that the prosecutor's office and the police have always considered a criminal case to be the most effective way to resolve a dispute. “This is an old disease,” says Yuri Kostanov, who worked for many years in the Soviet prosecutor’s office. - I remember how, after the next decree on amnesty for speculators, I was faced with the fact that investigators, stopping criminal cases by their decree, turned the confiscated property into state income. Although this was illegal, it was necessary to go to court and declare the transaction invalid and then confiscate what the parties received under it for the state’s income.”
Over the past years, law enforcement agencies have improved their skills and in any economic dispute they can tip the scales in the right direction. In addition, if in Soviet times the prosecutor's office was hired to drop cases, now there is great demand for initiating them. Moreover, even if the case later falls apart in court, the damage caused to those accused of a crime can be catastrophic. “The Investigative Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs spent almost five years investigating the case of transactions in industrial diamonds, which the Investigative Committee considered illegal,” Mr. Kostanov gave an example. - But in this case, you should first go to the arbitration court, and only then look for evidence of illegal trafficking in precious stones and their theft. It ended with all the defendants being acquitted. But over these five years, the entire industry for the production of diamond tools in Russia collapsed. “I can’t accuse anyone of corruption, but it was precisely in those years that the De Beers Corporation, again at that time, suddenly decided to invest $200 million in advertising jewelry in our country.”
However, not only individuals and companies, but also the state today are making full use of criminal means, and therefore law enforcement agencies are using a “criminal ax to try to regulate the subtlest mechanism of the economy.” According to lawyers, such cases will become increasingly fashionable. “The trend is growing with the appearance of certain people in the prosecutor’s office and the worsening position of judges,” says Mara Polyakova, chairman of the Independent Expert Legal Council. - This is due to many factors: shortcomings in the legislation, a political order that turned the prosecutor’s office from a legal body into a security agency, and the unequal position of the prosecution and lawyers. Finally, the fact that the last professionals literally survived from the prosecutor’s office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.”
There is, however, another opinion. Professor at the Moscow Institute of Economics, Politics and Law, Honored Lawyer of Russia Sergei Pashin believes that such trends may also indicate the agony of the prosecutor’s office. Plans for its restructuring, in particular for joining the Ministry of Justice, still remain relevant and are being discussed in the Kremlin. And Vladimir Ustinov’s department is trying to demonstrate an active fight against economic crime in order to “stay with its own.” Yuri KOLESOV |
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