Chekist's demarche

Who torpedoes the law on parliamentary control

“If the law is “taken down”, then we will say that nothing can be done under the current government, we need to change the government to hell. In 2011 we will change. If the authorities want Kyrgyzstan, they will get it,” says Gennady Gudkov, retired FSB colonel and State Duma deputy from A Just Russia. For more than a year, he has been preparing a bill on parliamentary control commissions (CPC), which, in his opinion, will become the most powerful tool in the fight against corruption and power lawlessness. But the bill may not even pass the first reading. The New Times dealt with the situation
A portrait of Felix Dzerzhinsky peeps out from behind the Interpolice commemorative sign in the office of the Socialist-Revolutionary Gennady Gudkov. Nearby flaunts the medal "130th Anniversary of the Birth" of the chief of the Cheka, a star from the operational department of the FSB of Russia and a pennant of the operational department of the FSO. It is all the more surprising that the “man of the system” and a representative of the “second leg of the party in power” suddenly went out into the public space with sharp criticism of this very corporation: Gennady Gudkov published an open letter to the president and prime minister, trying to convince them - not under the rug, as is usually done, and openly - in the need for a draft law on parliamentary control.

Who to control?
The essence of the bill is that any opposition faction in the State Duma will be able to initiate the creation of a special parliamentary commission, which will receive the broadest powers. Members of the commission will be able to get acquainted with any closed criminal, civil and other case, in which the proceedings are completed or the court decision has entered into legal force.

* * The Commissioner for Human Rights has had a similar right since 1996. Such a commission will have access to all documents of organizations, ministries and departments, it will have the authority to call any official up to the minister, and attendance will be strictly mandatory. And measures will be taken against deviators, up to bringing them to criminal and constitutional legal liability (if we are talking about senior officials of the executive branch). The developers believe: “If the law is adopted, many corrupt officials will face a choice: either stop breaking the law or pack their bags,” said Dmitry Gorovtsov, one of the authors of the bill, a member of the expert council of the Commission on Legislative Support for Combating Corruption. The main task of the law is the implementation of constant monitoring and control over the executive branch, and this is its main difference from the existing law “On Parliamentary Investigations”. If a commission is created to clarify the facts and circumstances of a particular case or emergency, then the CPC works constantly, during the entire term of deputy or senatorial powers. Without a special law, a parliamentary investigation is an ineffective measure: when the deputies began to study the catastrophe at the SSH HPP, the presence of officials was optional, and the investigation itself went behind the scenes.

Retired FSB colonel and State Duma deputy

from Just Russia

Gennady Gudkov:

„

The country will plunge into the swamp of the systemic

crisis with easily predictable consequences

”
Born in pain

The working group that developed the draft law on parliamentary control included deputies from three factions (SR, Communist Party and United Russia), representatives of the government apparatus and the presidential administration. “At a meeting with faction deputies in September 2008, Gudkov asked Putin what he thought about parliamentary control, he said: “Prepare a bill, I don’t mind, such control is needed.” We hoped for support,” Gorovtsov told The New Times. Throughout 2009, the group was engaged in the development and polishing of the law, it was submitted to the Duma in December 2009 on an inter-factional basis - representatives of three of the four factions acted as co-authors (according to Gorovtsov, Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Igor Lebedev refused to participate in the project). However, within a week, four out of five United Russia members withdrew their signatures. Anatoly Ivanov, a member of the Committee on Labor and Social Policy of the State Duma, explained to The New Times why he was the only one who decided to leave his signature: “This bill is necessary, especially now, in conditions of total corruption, it can become a tool for deputies in the fight against this phenomenon. There were requests at the first stage of work to withdraw my signature, but I said that I consider it necessary. And the leaders of the faction agreed that I should remain among the co-authors.” Problems with the draft began even before it was registered in the State Duma: at the initiative of Gennady Gudkov, the future law was sent to Vladimir Putin and the presidential administration for review. But besides the addressees, other government officials also got acquainted with the document. “They decided to torpedo the submission of this bill to the Duma at the distant approaches,” says Gorovtsov. “I tell them: why do we need your feedback, we didn’t ask you about it.” But this no longer mattered: government officials put pressure on the legal department of the State Duma so that it found items of expenditure in the document - in this case, not a review, but a government conclusion is needed (see p. 40). As a result, Gudkov and the Committee on Constitutional Legislation received a negative opinion signed by Deputy Prime Minister and head of the government apparatus Sergei Sobyanin. According to the authors of the bill, this conclusion does not stand up to scrutiny. One of the key theses is as follows: “It should be noted that article 12 of the draft law on responsibility for counteracting the exercise of parliamentary control specifies constitutional and legal responsibility, although the corresponding concept is not provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation.” “This term appeared in the specialized literature as early as 1973,” Gorovtsov opposes. - The current legislation provides for such liability, the Constitution provides for this mechanism - the initiation of an impeachment procedure, for example. The appointment of the Commissioner for Human Rights, auditors of the Accounts Chamber are all examples of constitutional and legal responsibility.” All these arguments are set out point by point in an open letter to Putin and Medvedev, which the authors of the bill, headed by Gudkov, published in a dozen newspapers and posted on the Internet.

Retired FSB Colonel and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin:

„

If you watched the debates of your colleagues, say, in the British Parliament, it’s as if everything is going on with us, word for word everything is the same

”
Chekist's demarche

“The law on parliamentary control is aimed at giving the parliament a function that keeps the executive branch from total theft,” Gennady Gudkov said in an interview with The New Times. - Massive corruption is explained by the lack of transparency and lack of control of power with huge powers. Naturally, such a bill causes hysteria in the corridors of the executive branch, they don’t know what to think of so as not to miss it.” According to Gudkov, the open letter is not a challenge to the system, but an attempt to reach out to sensible people in the government and administration. “If not for the media, our initiative could have been quietly put on the brakes. In the Duma, the overwhelming majority on the sidelines are in favor. Everyone is tired of the role of extras and everyone understands that the country is moving by leaps and bounds towards a systemic political crisis. Kyrgyzstan will still seem to us a very calm, ordinary ordinary event.”

Theater of one premiere

According to Gudkov, today parliamentarians have no real levers of influence: “Even the deputies of the ruling party do not have a fucking power. These are political switchmen, extras in the legislative process. That is why we have such a sluggish, uninteresting and lack of initiative parliament.”
„

We have a government

this is such Santa Claus, who,

if you smile well at him,

lick one place

he will give you a gift

” The first deputy chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party Ivan Melnikov (his signature is also on the open letter) told The New Times: “The two existing forms of control - the annual report of the government and the parliamentary investigation - are non-working mechanisms. The report turns into a theater of one actor, and the investigations, which are sometimes sharp at the initial stage, in most cases get into such a jungle that the authors themselves sometimes do not know how to further apply what they "unearthed". "Theater of one actor", according to the communists, happened on Tuesday, April 20th. The government's report was supported by the vast majority of deputies (316 votes in favor, 84 against). The deputies did not have a single acute question for Vladimir Putin. Moreover, even those that were more like toasts: “the implementation of the government’s anti-crisis measures continues…”, “in 2009 the government implemented a number of measures aimed at stimulating innovative activity and innovative activity of enterprises…”, “this year one of the most important components of the social policy of the state was the increase and valorization of pensions ... ”Voting did not bring surprises: the United Russia and the Liberal Democratic Party in full force are in favor, the Communist Party is against, the SR left its deputies the right to free choice. Gennady Gudkov declined to vote. Outcome is known.

"Now is the moment of truth"

“Our government is such a Santa Claus, who, if you give him a good smile, lick one place, he will give you a gift,” Gudkov believes. “And if you misbehave, then you won’t get a damn thing.” The way people vote for this bill will show what all this talk about fighting corruption, about fighting terrorism, which is a product of corruption, is worth. Now is the moment of truth. Stop staring, let's define positions. “The most important link we are counting on, the presidential side, is trying not to escalate the situation of the Gorovtsy. - There are signals that a positive conclusion of the presidential administration on our bill is being formed. It has not yet been officially received, but proposals, feedback and amendments are submitted until May 11. Taking into account the existing support from the regional legislative assemblies, with a positive response from the presidential side, the government's conclusion will be leveled. This is not a budget or finances, this is a matter of constitutional law and state building, and the last word belongs to the presidential side.” Anatoly Ivanov, United Russia, is also counting on the president: “Gudkov says that he coordinated the bill in the Kremlin. If this is so, if the presidential administration supports it, then there is a prospect. If the Presidential Administration does not support the bill, obviously, it will not pass, given the position of the United Russia faction.
“Either reform from above, or problems from below,” Gudkov is convinced. “Let our government choose, and the Russians themselves will decide where to move. They like such a government, they like such orders - for God's sake! Let them live and not complain.”