On Saturday, the 1st of July 2017, the Russian President signed the new law that establishes a special registry for all governmental officials fired because of corruption charges. The corresponding document was posted on the legal information portal.
At the end of June the Russian State Duma (Russian Senate) reviewed and approved a new law that promoted a creation of specialised registry for those civil servants that engaged in corruption and got caught. State prosecutors, members of Investigative Committee, Federal Firefighting Service employees, Police officers and officers of other law enforcement organisations, Customs officers, Army officials, State Civil and Municipal employees, those working for the Central Bank and the Pension Fund as well as heads of state-owned corporations could appear in the aforementioned registry if caught committing graft, bribery, extortion and/or other corrupt activities. The only data to be excluded is that containing secret governmental information.
Russian public organisation “Anti-corruption Committee” board of directors member Anton Yarmarkin praises the new legislation: “I think this initiative is very important, the registry will become a highly effective mechanism of fighting corruption. It will prevent the appointment of those individuals who lost public trust precisely because they engaged in corruption. Furthermore, this law empowers public control. Now it will be possible to monitor whether the disgraced bureaucrat ended up in the registry and where she or he was appointed following dismissal.”
According to the new law it is the employer of the corrupt individual whose duty will be to add the required information into the aforementioned registry. The register of corrupt officials will be incorporated into the online state information system under civil service category.
Western experts also noticed the new law. In many countries no such registry exists, so the Russian experience may become indicative for other nations.
Head of Department of International Financial Integration of International Investment Bank Alan Thompson had this to say: “The crime of corruption, or fraud committed in the U.K. is usually reflected in the individual’s criminal record: there is no separate list for corrupt government officials in so far as I am aware. The idea that there is a separate record of such in Russia can be interpreted as a positive move by the authorities to recognize that this kind of behaviour particularly in all levels of government is intolerable.”
Sources: РИА Новости, ТАСС.
