The idea is to bind all state employees by tough counter-corruption control and attract them to the process at the same time.
Photo: Sergey Mikheev
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Authorities to Fight Corruption of Authorities in Russia
Judging by the president’s package of counter-corruption bills submitted to the State Duma, fighting corrupt practices in Russia means tougher control over the bureaucrats of civil state service and local authorities. At first, under the aegis of the Prosecutor General Office, all enforcement bodies as well as all bodies of power and the society in general are expected to oppose corruption. But a special vertical of anti-corrupt bodies will emerge later on. Its creation will be the president’s prerogative.
The key of four anticorruption bills, the Bill On Opposing Corruption, doesn’t define the corruption. It confines to specifying the actions corresponding to the main sign of corruption – “illegal use of the office by an individual contrary to legal interests of society and state and for the purpose of profiting,” i.e. it covers bribe-taking, office abuse, business bribery.
Of interest is that the bills provide for priority application of the anti-corrupt efforts in respect of political parties, while the state bureaucrats occupy the second position and enforcement bodies are just the fifth in terms of vitality.
Unlike the corruption, the definition of opposing corruption is quite clear. It covers all bodies of power (starting from federal and up to municipal ones) and extends to the institutes of civil society, organizations and individuals; all of them are expected to act within their capacity.
The actions include efforts aimed at preventing corruption, fighting corruption and minimizing corruption aftereffects. The general idea of the counter-corruption bills is to bind all state employees by tough counter-corruption control and attract them to the process at the same time.
One of the purposes is to create the environment when corrupt practices will no longer generate profits. The bureaucrats will have to annually declare not only their own revenues but also the revenues of their family members and some restrictions will be imposed should a bureaucrat move from his office to business.
A vertical of special bodies authorized to oppose corruption will be probably built up in Russia later on. Its creation is the prerogative of the RF president, the bills specify. The State Duma will consider the bills in the first reading already in November. No problems are foreseen.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 07, 2008
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