Dark joke

The representative of the Central Bank proposed to abolish bank secrecy

The fight against crime in the banking system can lead to the complete abolition of banking secrecy in Russia. A representative of the Central Bank at yesterday's meeting of the interregional banking council under the Federation Council took the initiative to provide law enforcement agencies with full access to information representing bank secrecy. The revolutionary proposal did not find support not only among bankers, but even among representatives of the law enforcement agencies themselves. However, council members present at the meeting urge not to take the statement too seriously. Like, in fact, it was a dark joke from a representative of the Central Bank, who himself was tired of too often having to act as a buffer between bankers and investigative authorities.

Speaking yesterday at a council meeting dedicated to improving the efficiency of interaction between the banking community and law enforcement agencies, the director of the legal department of the Central Bank, Sergei Golubev, said that “now law enforcement agencies, one way or another, have access to bank secrets - either legally or illegally.” “For example, within the structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, only the department for combating economic crimes has access to receive bank documents. But all other departments can receive this information through OBEP,” he explained. Despite the fact that, according to Mr. Golubev, the security forces themselves violate the law, he has no reason not to trust law enforcement officers: “We must look at this problem more honestly. Why should we doubt law enforcement when they need access to bank secrecy?” The Central Bank agrees to allow departments access to bank secrets only on the condition that the law stipulates the criminal liability of the person who gains access to this secret, as well as the property liability of law enforcement agencies.

In addition, the representative of the Central Bank proposed to consider the issue of the number of inspections of banks that the Bank of Russia can conduct, as well as to re-legalize inspections carried out at the request of law enforcement agencies. “They should be carried out without restrictions,” says Mr. Golubev. According to a representative of the Central Bank, the Criminal Procedure Code should be amended, giving law enforcement agencies the ability to inspect banks during the investigation. In addition, Mr. Golubev believes, it is necessary to establish liability for banks’ failure to provide the required information or for providing false information.

The broad gesture of the Central Bank, offering to open access to banking secrets, was not appreciated by representatives of law enforcement agencies, who were also present at the meeting in the Federation Council. In particular, a representative of the Prosecutor General's Office, Yevgeny Malashenko, said that there is no need for access to bank secrecy for all law enforcement agencies. “If during operational investigative actions it is impossible to obtain information through the court or the prosecutor’s office, then you can contact Rosfinmonitoring,” Mr. Malashenko reminded the audience. In addition, the current system of training police officers does not provide a sufficient number of highly qualified specialists who are able to wisely manage the provided opportunity to access banking information.

One of the co-chairs of the council, head of the Association of Russian Banks Garegin Tosunyan, considers the idea of ​​abolishing bank secrecy absurd. However, Mr. Tosunyan urged not to take the proposal of the Central Bank representative literally, “after all, this is not only about providing law enforcement agencies with access to bank secrets, but also about the fact that this can only be done if they agree to bear criminal and administrative responsibility for this information.” “I think it was a dark joke by Mr. Golubev,” says Pavel Medvedev, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Credit Institutions and Financial Markets, who was also present at the event. - After all, the Central Bank, just like commercial banks, is under pressure from law enforcement agencies. These were just words of despair."

Natalia ROMANOVA