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On 16 August 2021 the President of the Russian Federation approved through Decree No. 478 the National Plan for Countering Corruption for 2021-2024 (hereinafter, the "Anti-Corruption Plan").
Implementation of most of the actions stipulated in the anticorruption plan is based on the interaction of different agencies to obtain the necessary information and prepare joint reports and proposals.
The new anti-corruption plan expands (from eight to 16) the number of areas in the fight to counter corruption and eliminate the consequences of such corruption.
Particular attention is paid to the following actions in the anti-corruption plan:
1. Regarding improvements to the procedure for verifying information on the property and incomes of a person under investigation.
The plan proposes regulating the procedure governing the receipt by the monitoring authorities of certain types of information for anticorruption monitoring purposes:
- The submission by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation of the credit history of a person under investigation from the Central Credit History Catalogue and credit history bureaus;
- The submission by civil registry offices of information from the Unified State Register of Civil Registry Records;
- The submission by the tax authorities of information on the accounts and deposits of persons under investigation at banks in the Russian Federation;
- The submission of information on the securities owned by persons under investigation.
2. Regarding the application of administrative and criminal law enforcement actions.
The plan refers to the need to introduce amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation regarding penalties based on offences stipulated by Parts 1 and 4 of Article 204.1 (Mediation in commercial bribery) and Part 5 of Article 291.1 (Mediation in bribery).
The Office of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation has been instructed to take additional measures jointly with the security, defence law and enforcement agencies and the Federal Court Bailiff Service of the Russian Federation to recover the damage caused by corruption offences.
3. Regarding the use of digital technologies to counter corruption.
The main emphasis in the anticorruption plan is placed on the need to develop solutions in the fight against corruption offences which concern digital financial assets, digital rights and currencies.
4. Educational activities aimed at inculcating in the population an intolerance of corruption.
If these plans are implemented, there is hope that the investment climate will improve and investments will be protected in Russia.
