Western asset officials in danger
What problems can lead to new methods of fight against corruption.
The Prosecutor General’s office will have access to data on foreign accounts of officials. The state Duma adopted the bill in third and final reading. It gives the Supervisory authority the right to apply to the Central Bank for information on foreign accounts of Russian civil servants. The initiative to expand the powers of the Prosecutor General’s office by Vladimir Putin.
Soon, the Agency will be able to directly request data from regulators in other countries, said the Chairman of National anticorruption Committee Kirill Kabanov: “This is the right decision, as the office did not have such opportunities, which was an inhibiting factor. This, of course, simplify the process and increase efficiency. We can already see that the Supervisory authority is really involved in the process of recovery of illegal assets. The fact that it will work with Western asset, is very good. But will be another problem: our so-called Western partners not to open corrupt assets, especially if the people who come are former officials and businessmen who are being persecuted in Russia for reasons of corruption, fraud, embezzlement of budget funds.
As a rule, if the West is actively anti-Russian stance, it just does not open access to the assets.
But it is clear that there is an economic rationale. When your economy is pouring additional billions of dollars, and these are the losses identified in Russia and China, then, of course, you think about your own economy — your own shirt closer to the body.
The fact that prosecutors will have new powers does not mean that the Agency will get all the information about the foreign Bank accounts of officials, said the Deputy General Director of Transparency International in Russia Ilya Shumanov, “it’s done quite pragmatic, and technological tool that the General Prosecutor’s office got into the hands, of course, will be tested. I think that at the initial stage, the system will not work effectively too, but in General for this law enforcement practice will be to watch and observe.
New possibilities, new powers.
The attorney General’s office and the Central Bank have special relations and it is necessary to understand the reaction of foreign regulators to such requests, which information will be get, how much, what kind of relevance. All of these issues are difficult to predict until the system will start to operate.
The law prohibiting civil servants to hold accounts in foreign banks was adopted in the spring of 2013. It applies not only to officials and deputies, but also their immediate family. In 2015, the government expanded the list: it has got staff of all Federal government agencies, corporations, foundations and other organizations.