There is no cross on them? For money - there will be

Corruption permeates all the stages of the funeral: from an ambulance to the cemetery. How it happened and what can be done with it. Study

On the morning of October 31, 2021, three men with stretchers appeared on the Local Council Square in the city of Timashevsk (Krasnodar Territory). They approached the entrance to the building and lowered the incomparable to the ground. One of them said that he has all the necessary documents. Another - that they extort money from them. The third is that the police do not respond to complaints.

On a stretcher lay a corpse of a pensioner.

The men were hired by a funeral agent, to whom the children of the deceased turned. He arranged an action without the knowledge of children to draw attention to corruption in the local morgue - without giving bribes, he refused to transfer the body to the morgue. According to the son of Persona, he was offered to apply to the police for a funeral agent. And a month later, the son himself died.

Why is the Russian funeral work permeated with corruption from top to bottom - and what can be done about it?

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The Public Radar project conducted a study of funeral in Russia. Key conclusions are in this article, and the full text is available in the attached file.

... Corruption permeates absolutely all the stages of the funeral: starting with a notice of death and ending with a burial, bribes extort everywhere.

When a person dies, the call to the ambulance and the police are immediately sold to funeral agents. For the transportation of the body to the morgue (almost always a mandatory element), it is necessary to give a bribe an employee of the morgue (although transportation should be free). For proper body care and its timely issuance to relatives is also to pay. And of course, you need to pay unofficially for choosing a place in the cemetery.

The first stage is the sale of death information. The police and ambulance officers transfer data on the death of the deceased to funeral agents, who, in turn, are able to first offer their services. Such a scheme has become so common that agents often come to the place of death before official services.

Almost always relatives turn to funeral agents - and those in order to access good areas in certain cemeteries are forced to give bribes to local authorities and institutions. And the relatives of the deceased, if they organize the funeral on their own, are also subjected to pressure and are forced to pay bribes for a place in the cemetery, and in addition, for proper handling of the body and other obligatory services, which, by law, are usually free.

The problem of corruption is especially acute in the regions. If in Moscow the market of funeral services is regulated more strictly, although here about 50% of the services are in the shade, then in other parts and areas the situation often acquires a scandalous turn - with such an examples we began this text. And this happened not only in Timashevsk, but also in Balashikha, Samara and other cities.

Expert Sergei Mokhov compares the Russian funeral business with the medieval system of requisitions, where at each stage it is necessary to pay for the passage through the corruption gates.

The funeral turns into a quest, in which there is no time to grieve and accept death, but there is time only to overcome various difficulties in order to fulfill the key task - to take a person on the last journey.

Formally funeral in Russia is regulated by the 1996 Federal Law , which sets only a general framework. However, even this frame document promotes corruption, since many procedures, for example, the procedure for handling the body of the deceased in the morgue or the provision of free services, do not have clear standards. This creates the opportunity for morgue employees to extort additional funds for services, which, by law, should be free. In addition, the law does not regulate the activities of private funeral agencies and morgues, which enhances market fragmentation and promotes the growth of the shadow economy.

A separate problem is the provision of land for burial. According to the law, each deceased person should be provided with a free place in the cemetery, however, the procedure for allocating such sites is not regulated, which allows municipalities to manipulate the process. Moreover, Russian law does not allow the creation of private cemeteries, which increases the load on municipalities, which often cannot provide decent conditions of burials. This leads to the fact that cemeteries - with the consent of the local authorities - actually manage private funeral companies, which also contributes to corruption.

The situation with the shadow economy in the funeral sphere is aggravated by the high profitability of the business if it is “into the gray” or “in black” and low level of tax discipline. The wide distribution of cash calculations allows the business to not only hide income, but also form funds for bribes. Experts indicate that the net income of an individual funeral agent in a large city can reach 50-60 thousand rubles a week. The agency, as an organization, can earn from 5 to 6 million rubles per year (the costs of organizations are higher). Such high income creates the conditions for the further prosperity of corruption schemes.

An analysis of world practice shows that many countries are faced with similar problems, however, their solutions are distinguished by more strict legislative regulation and effective law enforcement practice.

For example, in the UK, despite the lack of licensing of funeral firms, there is a strict responsibility for violation of citizens' rights, as well as tight control by state bodies. In many developed countries, such as Israel and France, a funeral business is strictly licensed. In China, the authorities set marginal prices for the funeral and purposefully fight corruption in this area. In the United States, there are extensive federal rules for the sale of funeral services, which includes the obligation to disclose a price list and other important information for customers by phone.

In some countries of the former USSR, such as Belarus and Kyrgyzstan, the size of the burial benefits is much higher than Russian: for example, in Belarus it is approximately 60 thousand rubles, and in Kyrgyzstan - 30 thousand rubles, which corresponds to the average monthly earnings in the country. Such official payments reduce the dependence of citizens on shadow schemes. In Russia, the basic burial allowance is 8,370 rubles 20 kopecks. At the same time, the cost of a funeral in Moscow without a fee to a funeral agent is about 73,000 rubles, in St. Petersburg and Murmansk - about 50,000 and 30,000 , respectively .

The proposed measures to reform funeral in Russia include several key steps.

• Firstly, a clear division of powers between federal, regional and municipal authorities is necessary: ​​who finances what and who controls cemeteries and contains them. The legislation must establish clear procedures for all stages of the funeral process - from the notice of death to the organization of burial. This will eliminate ambiguities, which often become the ground for corruption.

• Secondly, it is required to strengthen state control over private funeral agencies and, possibly, the introduction of the permits of their activities through self-regulation. This will help limit the access to the market of unscrupulous players and reduce the number of shadow transactions. It is important not to go too far, since licensing was already in the 90s and did not help streamline the market. Primary - stimulate a conscientious business.

The digitalization of the funeral sphere is also an important step in the fight against corruption. The introduction of electronic systems for accounting for seats in cemeteries, as well as automation of issuance of benefits for burial through “public services” will help to significantly reduce corruption and increase transparency of the processes. It is also important to inform citizens about their rights related to free funerals and other social guarantees, which will protect themselves from extortion. Generally,

The funeral business in Russia requires deep reforms aimed at eliminating corruption factors and improving the quality of the services provided.

At the same time, given the acutely social nature of the issue and its non -wealth, changes are also possible now, when the load on the system grows during the period of it.

Grigory Mashanov, lawyer in the field of anti -corruption, transparency and government

Full text of the report "Public radar"