Corrupt expenses were given a deadline – Newspaper Kommersant No. 191 (7392) of 10/14/2022

The government proposes to oblige officials to report on the costs of repaying loans and establish a ten-year preemptive period for checking suspicious transactions. This, the authors of the bill explain, will contribute to legal certainty and stability of civil circulation. True, such a period will begin to count only from January 1, 2023: it will not apply to transactions concluded earlier. The expert considers the measure correct, but notes that, in comparison with global practices, a period of ten years for a preventive period is a very high bar. And the fact that it was installed for Russian officials may indicate that the system for preventing conflicts of interest in this area is not working very well so far.

The government submitted to the State Duma a package of amendments to anti-corruption legislation that will oblige officials to report not only on major transactions, but also on the cost of repaying loans and borrowings if they exceeded the total family income over the past three years. Civil servants will also have to report on loan refinancing or installment payment. Such innovations, follows from the explanatory note to the bill, are provided for by the National Anti-Corruption Plan. At the same time, the bill also introduces some relaxations in anti-corruption policy: for example, it proposes to establish a ten-year pre-emptive period for making a decision on controlling expenses, after which it will no longer be possible to ask an official for them. This rule is introduced by analogy with the provisions of the Civil Code. This, the authors of the bill explain, will help maintain citizens’ confidence in the law and the actions of the state, as well as establish the principles of legal certainty and stability of civil circulation. True, the newly introduced restriction will only apply to transactions made from January 1, 2023.

The amendments proposed by the government also prohibit the confiscation of property acquired by an official or members of his family before being appointed to office, as well as by a spouse if it was acquired before marriage. Such clarifications are made in pursuance of the decisions of the Supreme and Constitutional Courts, the explanatory note says.

In 2019, the Constitutional Court (CC) considered the complaint of a municipal deputy from the Primorsky Territory, from whom the prosecutor’s office confiscated an expensive car bought before his election, and forbade taking property from the deputies, acquired by them before taking office. And at the beginning of this year, the Constitutional Court suggested that the courts take into account that the ability of civil servants to confirm data on their income “may be significantly limited if such a long time passes from the moment of receipt of income that it will lead to loss, including due to the statutory retention periods accounting documents – those written confirmations of the amount of income that the defendant originally had.

General Director of Transparency International-R (the organization is included in the list of foreign agents by the Ministry of Justice) Ilya Shumanov says that it is a very good decision to oblige officials to report on the costs of repaying loans. Loans are often used as a way to get around spending controls, he says. The introduction of a preemptive period for the appointment of inspections is also correct, since we can often observe now that claims against officials appear after they leave the service. However, Mr. Shumanov notes, global anti-corruption practices usually provide for a much shorter period of “cooling off” for officials who have left the service – that is, a period when such a person can still be considered a politically significant person and present some claims to him in terms of influencing processes. . Usually it is a year, maximum three. The fact that Russian officials have actually been given a ten-year “cooling off” period indicates that the system for preventing conflicts of interest is not working very well in our country, the expert states.

Anastasia Kornya