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#7 - JRL 2008-180 - JRL Home
Moscow News
http://www.mnweekly.ru/
October 3, 2008
Russia Ready to Fight Corruption
By Marina Pustilnik

When he was elected the Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev made a promise to combat one of the country's principal foes - corruption. He called it the "main internal threat" and formed the anti-corruption committee two weeks after his May inauguration. Four months later the committee, which included such well-known opposition lawyers as Mikhail Barshchevsky and Anatoly Kucherena, presented a large package of anti-corruption bills that are meant to seriously toughen the legislation in this area.

The bills, to be submitted to the State Duma for consideration immediately, call for some tough measures such as confiscation of property from corrupted officials, while in some regards the initially proposed plans have been softened to better deal with business realities. The most important measure proposed in the anti-corruption bill is to obligate all of the government officials, including military officers, customs officials, judges and police, as well as their spouses and children (those over 18 years old) to declare their incomes and property. The rule would apply even to the Prime Minister, regular ministers and their deputies. Ad­ditional obligations that the civil servants will be saddled with include the necessity to report any instances of corruption and legal violations that the officials come across in their activities. The property of officials found guilty of corruption will be confiscated and given to the state, while the government reserves the right to employ investigative measures to find the property that has to be confiscated.

At the same time the lawmakers decided to soften some of the initially proposed measures. One of them was the rule that forbids former government or municipal officials to seek employment with commercial organizations they were tied to in their previous positions for two years. In the draft law the prohibition is lifted if the senior official permits such employment. Another point of contention concerned the legal entities. The initial suggestion was that activities of the companies that were found to be involved in corruption could be stopped for 90 days, but the lawyers argued that such measures would be deadly for some companies that have a continuous work cycle. It was decided that only fines would be applied to the legal entities.

Now the document has been submitted to the State Duma for debate and consideration and this when and where the president has to prove that he is really intent on making the anti-corruption fight happen and happen soon. Members of the Duma's anti-corruption committee have already said that the draft bill probably won't be reviewed until beginning of November and stated that the consideration process should not be done in a hurry. The deputies' explanation for this is, of course, a desire to avoid any unclear definitions that can be interpreted in favor of corrupt officials, but their tepid approach to the new law package drastically differs from the attitude of the legal experts who helped draft the law and who now believe that all the formalities can be completed before the end of the year.

It is no secret that corruption permeates all ranks of the Russian civil service - from highway patrol officers to the top officials in various government agencies. The State Duma depu­ties are not im­mune from suspicion either, so they have to tread carefully with the new legislation. If the deputies try to soften the anti-corruption legislation, it will prove that they are trying to guard against future danger to themselves. Should they approve the proposed measures as is, they will have to change their modes of operation or walk on very thin ice. The way this legislative package progresses through the Duma debates will show very clearly how much the Kremlin really controls the parliament - and how intent President Medvedev really is on fighting corruption.

There is a sobering thought though - even if the Duma approves the package and the president proves he means business, the anti-corruption laws have to be implemented, too. And they have to be implemented by the same people who will often be the subject of the new rules. Makes me wonder how that will work out.