12.10.08

New anti-corruption laws allow a broader use of confiscation in respect to property obtained by illegal methods, the head of the State Duma Commission on Anti-Corruption Legislation, Alexei Volkov, said on Monday.

"This is provided for in the international conventions signed by Russia, the requirements of which are reflected in new anti-corruption laws," he said.

These include the U.N. Convention against Corruption of October 31, 2003 and the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption of January 27, 1999.

Volkov said, "These two documents require citizens to declare their property and incomes".

"There will be no exceptions. Judges, deputies and prosecutors will all fill in declarations every year," he said.

On October 3, President Dmitry Medvedev submitted a package of anti-corruption laws to the State Duma, which give law enforcement agencies more powers to exercise property control and enlarging the list of people subject to such control.

To this end, appropriate amendments will be made to the Criminal Procedural Code and the law on operational investigations.

Earlier, Presidential chief of staff Sergei Naryshkin said, "New norms will allow the use of operational and investigative methods to search for property obtained by illegal methods."

"In addition, corruption offences are a reason for terminating a contract with a public servant," Naryshkin added.

Measures will also be taken in respect to trade and economic relations, specifically tenders for various projects and contracts. "A great deal of corruption offences occur in such fields as the management of state property and purchases for state needs. This is why the National Anti-Corruption Plan provides for improving legislation in these fields," Naryshkin said.

He also said, "Corruption is to a large extent a result of excess public and unregulated public administration. So the conclusion is that the state should get rid of excess functions," the presidential administration chief of staff said. "We counted about 5,600 functions performed by governmental authorities before. But in the course of work and analysis about 3,000 of them were left, and a large number of functions were removed or changed considerably."

According to Naryshkin, the number of public functions will continue to be decreased, "including by reducing and limiting the number of permits issued by the government". As an example, Naryshkin named tourism where "licensing has been replaced with financial liability instruments, which has naturally reduced the level of corruption in this field".

Speaking about how much time it would take to eradicate corruption, Naryshkin said, "We should not be naïve The fight against corruption should become constant work. One should not think that we will defeat corruption in a year or a year and a half." Naryshkin noted that even the countries where the level of corruption is low, such as Scandinavia, never stop fighting it. "It's a process, it's long and systemic work, and we should get ready for it," Naryshkin said.

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Source: ITAR-TASS