01.06.09

The second part of anti-corruption legislation to be adopted in 2009 will simplify the receipt of regulatory decisions and ban unscheduled inspections of organisations and businesses, Audit Chamber Chairman Sergei Stepashin said.

According to Stepashin, the second anti-corruption package will "regulate all economic relations". "Its objective is to make it easier for individuals and legal entities to receive permits and regulatory decisions. There should be one principle: what is not prohibited should be allowed. This also includes 'one-stop' service for small and medium-size business and faster issue of all kinds of certificates and registration of ownership rights," Stepashin told Vedomosti.

In his opinion, "A ban on unscheduled inspections of governmental organizations and businesses by law enforcement agencies is an equally important component of the second package."

Stepashin said work was underway to draft anti-raid legislation. "Up to 40,000 forcible seizures of enterprises, immovable property and shipments of goods occur in Russia annually. The Audit Chamber shares the position of President Medvedev who has demanded criminal penalties for such raids," he said.

"It should be stated that corporate disputes must be examined by the court where the relevant legal entity is located, not at the other end of the country," Stepashin said. "It is also necessary to introduce a special procedure for examining collective lawsuits in order to prevent raiders from obtaining corrupt court judgments. And, on the contrary, to set preclusive terms for contesting decisions made by corporate management bodies.

Finally, the bankruptcy and receivership procedures should be made much more transparent," Stepashin said.

Vedomosti says government purchases proved to be quite a profitable business in 2008. Government officials and suppliers pocketed almost one of 12 roubles involved in the operations, according to the authors of the national purchase transparency rating.

Overstated prices during governmental purchases last year cost the budget 364 billion roubles, the National Association of Electronic Traders (NAUET) said in its rating posted at www.nrpz.ru. The survey has been conducted since 2006 with the support of the Ministry of Economic Development and the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS).

In 2007, the budgets of all levels lost slightly less - 347 billion roubles. However the government's losses decreased proportionally to the volume of government contracts from 8.9 percent in 2007 to 8.7 percent in 2008. And yet they were much bigger than what the budgets had saved in governmental purchases. According to FAS, bidding helped reduce prices by 260 billion roubles.

The main trend in 2008 was a transition from tenders to more transparent auctions. Sales through auctions increased from 2.3 percent of the cost of government contracts in 2007 to 29.7 percent in 2008, while sales through tenders decreased from 65.4 percent to 30 percent. The volume of purchases through quotation calls and from the sole supplier increased by 7.8 percent to 40.3 percent. In 2008, the government published a list of governmental purchases to be made only through auctions, NAUET Executive Director Anton Nikolsky said.

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Source: Itar-Tass