Control over the finances of senior officials of Tatarstan has been transferred to the anti-corruption policy department

The President of Tatarstan transferred the authority to control the income and expenses of the region's top officials, including the Prime Minister and his deputies, to his specialized unit - the department for anti-corruption policy. Now the structure headed by the former main fighter against economic crimes in the republic, Mars Badrutdinov, will check the accuracy of the information they provided. His administration does not call the president’s decision a tightening of measures, but speaks of the emergence of new opportunities for preventing corruption. Observers do not rule out “some kind of effect” from this decision and suggest “counting corrupt officials in the spring” - during the new declaration campaign.

Prime Minister Ildar Khalikov, his deputies, ministers, heads of state committees and departments will be placed under special anti-corruption control
Photo: Mikhail Sokolov, Kommersant

Yesterday, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov signed a decree “On measures to improve activities in the implementation of anti-corruption policy”, which transferred to his department on anti-corruption policy the functions of receiving information on income, property and property-related obligations of “persons holding public positions”, and verifying the accuracy this information and posting it on the Internet. In addition, this department is tasked with monitoring the expenses of officials, checking their compliance with “restrictions and prohibitions”, as well as “requirements for preventing or resolving conflicts of interest” in the performance of official duties.

Previously, these tasks were carried out by the Department of Civil Service and Personnel under the President of Tatarstan. It is expected that the transfer of powers will take place within a month. In this regard, a so-called sector for working with information from officials will be formed in the department and anti-corruption policy - as specifically noted in the decree - without the introduction of additional staffing positions (the department employs 9 people).

As Salavat Rakhimov, the chief adviser to the department for anti-corruption policy, explained to Kommersant, the unit he represents has been given powers to control the income and expenses of the republic's top officials - we are talking about about fifty officials, including Prime Minister Ildar Khalikov, his deputies, ministers, heads of state committees and departments. The rest of the army of Tatarstan civil servants, in numbers exceeding 4.5 thousand people, will continue to be supervised by the personnel services of the government agencies in which they work. Thus, according to the appendix to the decree, civil servants of the office of the President of the Republic will continue to submit reports on their income and property to the Department of Civil Service and Personnel under the President of Tatarstan, the Office of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic or government agencies - respectively, to their personnel departments.

Mr. Rakhimov does not consider the expansion of management functions to be a tougher fight against corruption, but believes that the president’s decision adds opportunities to this structure to prevent new manifestations of it. He also noted that the decree was adopted in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation, according to which federal officials, including the President of Tatarstan, report to the Office of the President of the Russian Federation on anti-corruption issues.

Professor of the Kazan National Research Technological University Sergei Sergeev does not rule out that “some effect” from the decision made by the President of Tatarstan will be: “We will count corrupt officials in the spring (based on the results of the declaration campaign. - Kommersant).” He noted the fact that anti-corruption control was transferred from “civil officials” of the department of civil service and personnel, headed by experienced apparatchik Alexander Belov, to “siloviki” - the department and anti-corruption policy, headed by Mars Badrutdinov, who has many years of experience in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, including as head of the republican department for combating economic crimes. At the same time, referring to the practice of democratic countries, he considers it necessary, along with strengthening “control from above,” to establish “control from below” by involving civil society in the fight against corruption.

Olga Kudrina

Corrupt officials will be counted in the spring