Translated material
Corruption in law
The Council of Legislators discussed the legal support for the anti-corruption plan
Yesterday, the Council of Legislators under the Federation Council of Russia joined the discussion of the national anti-corruption plan , or more precisely, its legislative support. Head of State Dmitry Medvedev attended the council meeting for the first time, calling the fight against corruption one of the main tasks of his presidency. As a result of the discussion, it became clear that the prosecutor’s office has a chance to win back some of the lost powers from the but absolutely autonomous Investigative Committee (ICI) created under it, and a body legislatively responsible for the fight against corruption may appear in Russia.The president has taken an active approach to corruption: a month ago he created a council to counter this, in the head of state’s opinion, systemic threat to Russia’s development. During this time, the council developed a national anti-corruption plan, which the head of the Kremlin administration, Sergei Naryshkin, presented to Medvedev a week ago. Now is the time to discuss the details of the national plan at the Council of Legislators.
Speaking at the Federation Council, the president expressed his desire for the anti-corruption plan to take the form of laws within six months. “We must enter the new year with modern anti-corruption legislation,” Mr. Medvedev said.
The President briefed the Council of Legislators on the details of the plan. One of them will be the emergence of a definition of corruption in Russian legislation, which is currently absent. Medvedev's plan also contains special requirements for government officials and judges. The President proposes to reduce the categories of persons in respect of whom a special procedure for legal proceedings in criminal cases is applied.
Administrative liability of legal entities involved in acts of corruption should also become a legislative innovation. In particular, it is planned to introduce a disqualification procedure as a type of administrative punishment. Mr. Medvedev noted: “These are the positions that we take upon ourselves after joining several conventions - the UN Convention against Corruption and the Council of Europe Convention on Criminal Liability for Corruption.”
The President did not ignore the topic of anti-corruption examination of draft laws. “We must lay down criteria for what is being studied and for what, for what opportunities, so that the legal clearing is not loosened,” said the head of state. “After all, if I want to talk about this topic, even I, considering that although I have not been practicing law for a long time, I am ready to break down any law in half an hour and show there a dozen opportunities for abuse.”
Dmitry Medvedev expressed his belief that officials entering the civil service should transfer assets into trust management. “It is necessary to develop a full-fledged procedure for transferring assets into trust management, to require the alienation of these assets in favor of persons who are not relatives or friends of the person,” he said. Mr. Medvedev also noted that the boards of directors of companies, including those with state participation, should be freed from a significant part of the officials on them. “The state position can be voiced by one chairman of the board of directors. “Everyone else is engaged in lobbying or feeding,” the president said harshly. “If the chairman of the board of directors in a joint-stock company that is controlled by the state or in which the state has a stake is a completely understandable thing, then why are there a dozen mid-level clerks?”
The president called electronic document management one of the tools to fight corruption: “You know that in many countries documents are sent over the Internet and other actions are performed. Firstly, it’s fast, and secondly, it’s completely fair. This minimizes communication with an official; over the Internet or other communication system, extorting a bribe is much more difficult and traces remain.”
In general, the president believes that the fight against corruption is “a matter of honor for the state.”
Speaker of the Federation Council Sergei Mironov also shared his proposals with those present. For example, on the introduction of confiscation of property for misuse of budget funds and funds of state extra-budgetary funds. Moreover, confiscation should apply not only to the corrupt official, but also to members of his family. “This punishment should also be applied in case of abuse of power, illegal participation of an official in business activities and official forgery,” the speaker said. He advocated the abolition of suspended sentences for corruption crimes and the tightening of criminal legislation for such types of crimes.
During a discussion at a meeting of the Council of Legislators, Minister of Justice Alexander Konovalov proposed returning to the practice of “involving prosecutors at the earliest possible stage of the investigation.” About a year ago, with the creation of the Investigative Committee, the prosecutor's office lost the right not only to initiate, investigate and terminate criminal cases, but also to actually supervise the investigation. If previously the prosecutor could tell the investigator what he should do, now his instructions are purely advisory in nature. The Prosecutor General's Office has always advocated returning this function to it. And yesterday, Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Buksman, of course, warmly supported the proposal of the Minister of Justice. “Life demands this. The practice that existed before, and this is exactly what happened, has fully justified itself,” he said. To which the president replied that “in this case, this needs to be seriously discussed,” and instructed the Minister of Justice to formalize this proposal in writing.
After the meeting, Sergei Mironov assured journalists that the task set by the president - to enter the new year with a full package of anti-corruption legislation - will be fulfilled.
The Duma is also ready to implement the anti-corruption plan. The speaker of the lower house of parliament, chairman of the supreme council of the United Russia party, Boris Gryzlov, speaking yesterday at the Congress of National Business of Russia, promised that a plan to combat corruption would be approved in Russia in 2008. “Creating incentives for broad economic development is impossible without reducing the level of corruption and administrative barriers. In the coming months, an anti-corruption plan should be approved, which provides, in particular, for the modernization of the legislative and regulatory framework,” said Mr. Gryzlov.
Member of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy and Entrepreneurship, deputy of the United Russia faction Oleg Valenchuk, in a conversation with a Vremya Novostey correspondent, noted that “the development of state policy in the field of combating corruption is impossible without a deep revision of the legislative framework. The current situation requires from us maximum transparency of power and a reduction in administrative barriers, and this requires the same “transparent”, understandable and professionally written laws that exclude the slightest possibility of double interpretation.”
Following the meeting of the Council of Legislators, it was decided to create a working group to develop proposals for the national anti-corruption plan and for its implementation. The Council of Legislators recommended that the Federal Assembly of Russia introduce a number of amendments to the current legislation, providing for the identification of a body responsible for combating corruption. “We also proposed that the government take comprehensive measures to ensure conditions of free competition in commodity and financial markets, eliminate discrimination and monopolism in access to the infrastructure of natural monopolies,” said Senator Amir Gallyamov after the meeting.