// UNREAL MONEY

The State Duma adopted in the first reading a package of amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences, introducing the concept of disqualification of officials. As Andrei Tsarikovsky, deputy head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), said, these amendments will help significantly reduce the number of antimonopoly violations, of which at least 50% occur with the participation of officials. They will be punished for an act or omission that results in a violation of competition law. For this, officials face fines from 20 thousand to 50 thousand rubles. or disqualification for a period of six months to three years. These measures will apply to officials at all levels of government, including law enforcement officials and the Central Bank. At the same time, the amendments offer exemption from liability if the person involved in the violation reports it to the FAS. It does not matter whether the applicant has evidence of a violation in hand or not, what is important is his participation in the investigation and proof of violations. The authors of the project hope to reduce the number of antitrust violations, and market participants, despite the fact that the amendments increase fines for them as well, have already declared support for the project. However, some deputies fear that the project gives too many uncontrollable rights to the FAS itself.

// REAL MONEY

The unemployed will be sent to Sochi

Rostrud and the administration of the Krasnodar Territory intend to sign an agreement in March on attracting unemployed people to Olympic construction projects in Sochi. The program costs about 280 million rubles. in 2009, it provides for the creation of several tens of thousands of jobs, some of which will be occupied by unemployed people from other regions: the authorities are ready to bear the costs of their retraining. Previously, the idea of employment at Olympic construction sites was expressed by the head of the Ministry of Health, Tatyana Golikova, and the head of the Ministry of Transport, Igor Levitin, promised that the ministry would create 50 thousand jobs in Sochi. Now, Vladimir Zhukov, deputy presidential envoy in the Southern Federal District, has announced employment in Sochi for Russians left unemployed due to the crisis, estimating Sochi’s need for labor at 90 thousand people. According to the head of Rostrud, Yuri Gertsiy, for those who want to work in Sochi, material incentives are provided: they are promised lifting allowances in the amount of up to 56 thousand rubles, compensation for transportation costs (up to 5 thousand rubles), rental housing (up to 550 rubles . per day for up to three months). Rostrud hopes that internal migration will help in the fight against unemployment, and expects that this year at least 100 thousand people will find new jobs in another city or region. According to experts, the Krasnodar Territory is unlikely to be interested in a large flow of migrants, but temporary jobs for non-residents may well appear in Sochi.

Unemployment in Russia (million people)

The total number of unemployed at the end of January was 6.1

Registered unemployed as of February 25 - 1,969

Simple and part-time employment as of February 25 - 0.996

Forecast of the Ministry of Health for 2009 (registered unemployment) - 2.2-2.8

Forecasts of independent analysts for 2009 (total unemployment) - 8.5-9

// UNREAL MONEY

The prosecutor's office has taken on the collectors

The Prosecutor General's Office announced plans to strengthen supervision over the activities of collection agencies. The attention of prosecutors to the activities of debt collectors was drawn to the Federal Bailiff Service (FSSP), which reported that cases of gross violations of the law by debt collectors have become more frequent in the regions. The bailiffs are concerned that some collectors are taking on the functions of government bodies, including the bailiffs themselves. Such cases were identified in the Chita region and Altai Territory, where collectors, according to the FSSP, restricted the travel of debtors abroad, and also placed announcements in the media on behalf of bailiffs about the search for debtors by the police. Prosecutors also discovered the use of “illegal methods of influencing people” by collectors in the Omsk, Vladimir, Penza, Samara and Chelyabinsk regions. It turned out that collectors often threatened the life and health of debtors, intimidated them and even beat them, invaded homes, and spread false information about citizens. The Prosecutor General's Office plans to conduct inspections of collection agencies as applications are received, including from citizens. According to market participants, the interest of prosecutors in collectors is associated with increased demand for the latter’s services due to an increase in overdue debt from banks. As of January 1, 2009, the level of overdue debt on loans to individuals was 3.8%; by the second quarter, according to experts, overdue debt could reach 4.5-5%. By the end of the year, according to the forecast of the Ministry of Finance, the volume of non-repayments on bank loans may increase to 10%.

// REAL MONEY

Passengers will pay for new rules

The Government of the Russian Federation has approved new rules for the transportation of passengers by buses, trolleybuses and trams, as well as in taxis. The document provides passengers with additional rights, while simultaneously tightening requirements for carriers. In particular, according to the new rules, “a passenger taxi must contain rules for using the corresponding vehicle, which are provided to the charterer upon his request,” and “the charterer issues to the charterer a cash receipt or a receipt in the form of a strict reporting form confirming payment for the use of the passenger taxi.” The rules also define in detail the procedure for detecting items forgotten by passengers and the rules for returning them to their owners. When forgotten items are found on transport, “if the check does not establish the presence of items in the forgotten items that threaten the life and health of passengers,” the conductor, driver or bus station official draws up an act with a detailed description of the appearance of the items found and the circumstances of their discovery, a copy of which is given to the person who discovered forgotten things. If a passenger at an intermediate stop “discovers that he has forgotten things in the vehicle, this passenger has the right to contact the duty officer of any bus station where the stop is made.” The duty officer “upon a written request from the passenger is obliged to immediately send a telegram, fax, e-mail message or telephone message to the nearest bus station along the route of the vehicle, indicating in them the place occupied by the passenger, a description of the forgotten things and the requirement to forward them to the passenger’s location” . At the same time, “all expenses associated with the return of items (sending a telegram, fax or telephone message, packaging, transportation, etc.) are borne by their owner.” Let us recall that legislative regulation of the passenger transportation market began anew with the adoption of the federal law “Charter of Road Transport and Urban Ground Electric Transport,” which came into force in May 2008, but required by-laws for implementation.

// REAL MONEY

Every fifth ruble was taken out of mutual funds

The outflow of private investors' funds from open-end mutual funds, which began in August last year, continues for the seventh month in a row. However, if previously funds were withdrawn against the backdrop of a falling stock market, then in February, according to the Kommersant newspaper, based on data from Investfunds.ru, shareholders withdrew 1.4 billion rubles, despite the growth of stock indices by 6.3-7. 2%. Outflow was recorded in most management companies, but the leaders in outflow were Rosbank Management Company (RUB 377.15 million), Uralsib (RUB 304.89 million) and Troika Dialog (RUB 189.83 million). The most funds from shareholders were attracted by Ingosstrakh-Investments (RUB 34.4 million) and Leader (RUB 10.94 million). Experts state that the stock market does not inspire confidence in private investors. Analysts attribute this to multimillion-dollar outflows of funds from mixed investment funds, stocks and bonds. In particular, investors are exiting bond funds to buy currencies. Against the general background in February, only money market funds stood out, which representatives of management companies explain by the transfer of shareholders from mutual funds of stocks and bonds, as well as by the fact that the majority of the portfolio of money market funds consists of deposits, the rates on which, as a rule, are two percentage points higher higher than for deposits for individuals. However, the local influx into money market funds does not affect the overall picture: in general, 10.1 billion rubles were withdrawn from mutual funds during the crisis, that is, every fifth ruble.

Outflow and inflow to open mutual funds in February (RUB million)

Mixed investment funds -553.04

Bond funds -442.53

Equity funds -307.65

Money market funds +57.71

Other funds -154.49

Source: Kommersant, N037 dated March 3, 2009.

// UNREAL MONEY

Hooligans will be shown a red card

Last week, Deputy Head of the Moscow City Internal Affairs Directorate Vyacheslav Kozlov announced a bill prepared by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, which provides for the removal of football hooligans from stadiums and a ban on fans accused of hooliganism and provoking riots from attending matches. The bill is called “On ensuring law and order and public safety during sports and other public events in the Russian Federation.” It describes the responsibilities of the police, event organizers, administration of sports facilities and the rights of participants. Among other things, the Ministry of Internal Affairs intends to legally delimit the holding of “high-risk” matches by day. In Moscow, these are primarily games with the participation of CSKA and Spartak, as well as meetings of the St. Petersburg Zenit with capital clubs. “To maintain order at each match, from 1.5 thousand to 3 thousand police officers are required,” explained Kozlov. “And the organizers are not interested in where we get reserves to ensure order. As a result, if several serious games are taking place in the city at once teams, we are forced to expose other areas." He said that the Moscow City Internal Affairs Directorate has already proposed to the Russian Football Union (RFU) and the Premier League to develop a special calendar of games for the 2009 season. “In particular, the Moscow City Internal Affairs Directorate wants no more than two matches or no more than one high-risk category match to be played per day,” said Vyacheslav Kozlov. “We have long been organizing matches on different days with the participation of not only CSKA and Spartak, but also other teams with warring fans,” said RFU representative Anton Malosolov, adding that it is possible to ban hooligans from attending matches only if there is an electronic database containing photographs of violators. “Only the court should have the right to ban fans from going to football, otherwise the police will only embitter the fans,” says Ivan Katanaev, leader of the Spartak fan club “Fratria”.

Based on materials from the Kommersant newspaper.

The column is led by Dmitry Polonsky

Officials face disqualification