The Beavers are in a cage
The Ministry of Justice gave a negative opinion on the draft government resolution regulating the issue of Bank of Russia bonds ("beavers"). The remarks of the Ministry of Justice are so significant that they nullify the attempts of the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance to legitimize the issue of these securities in a form convenient for themselves.

Bank of Russia bonds appeared on the market immediately after the August crisis. However, the Federal Securities Commission considered their issue illegal and stopped the production of "beavers". Then the government decided to develop and introduce changes to the legislation that would allow the Central Bank to issue bonds. At the beginning of July, the president signed the corresponding amendments. All that remained was to adopt a government decree regulating the issue procedure. This is where the difficulties began.
Draft government resolutions and regulations on the specifics of beaver emissions were prepared by the Ministry of Finance on July 30 and submitted for consideration to the Central Bank, the Federal Commission for the Securities Market and the Ministry of Justice. Already on August 2, the Ministry of Justice submitted its comments. As stated in a letter from Deputy Minister of Justice Sergei Yudushkin sent to the Ministry of Finance, “the projects need significant revision.”
Lawyers believe that certain provisions of the projects are contrary to the law. At the same time, changes to the laws “On the Bank of Russia” and “On the Securities Market” approved by the president allowed the government to approve the specifics of the issue of “beavers” only in accordance with current legislation.
The dissatisfaction of the Ministry of Justice was caused by the most significant, from the point of view of the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance, points of the projects. According to the draft of the Ministry of Finance, registration of a bond issue does not require registration of the decision on the issue, the issue prospectus and the report on the results of the placement. It was proposed to leave the registration procedure itself at the discretion of the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance. But the Ministry of Justice considered that the procedure for registering an issue is enshrined in the law “On the Securities Market” and is not subject to change.
Andrei Vorontsov, deputy head of the Ministry of Finance's internal public debt management department, told Kommersant that some of the Justice Ministry's comments have already been taken into account - the corresponding draft resolution was sent to the government on August 9. However, he admitted that contradictions in the positions of the departments remained. “The Ministry of Finance proceeds from the fact that the specifics of the circulation of these bonds will be established, and the Ministry of Justice says: let’s do it in a general manner,” Vorontsov said.
So the Ministry of Justice now plays the role of the “main enemy” of Central Bank bonds, which was performed by the Federal Securities Commission. Which is not surprising - the Ministry of Justice is known for its close ties with the presidential administration, which has always had a negative attitude towards the idea of issuing Bank of Russia bonds.
PETER Kommersant-RUSHAILO

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 144 dated 08/13/1999, p. 7

Authors:

Peter Rushailo