How Is Corruption Punished in Present Day Russia?

Petr A. Skoblikov How is Corruption Punished in Present Day Russia?

A Comparative Legal Analysis of Criminal Legislation and Judiciary Practice

1. Not only jurists, legal scholars, law practitioners and rank-and-file individuals speak about the need to step up the drive against corruption in Russia. Various public organizations and political parties – ranging from the RF Communist Party to the Union of Right-Wing Forces to Young Russia to the Council for Defence and Foreign Policy (a nongovernmental organization comprised of experienced individuals who have been part of the authorities and are close to them now). According to official information, such ideas find support with the government organs and high-ranking public officials. Thus, the Inter-Agency Commission of the RF Security Council, at its session held on October 30, 2002, adopted a resolution to analyze law enforcement practices in cases on crimes of corruption and, if necessary, to submit draft proposals to the RF Government to incorporate amendments to the criminal legislation with a view to make liability for crimes of this category more severe (Minutes #3). And in December 2005, Chairman of the Chamber of Accounts S. Stepashin, speaking on the Ekho Moskvy radio station, stated, on the basis of the Chamber’s findings, the need to make liability for corruption (without regard for rank) more severe.

2. Discussing the feasibility of making the punishment for corruption crimes more severe, it should be noted that practically all criminal law norms of the RF legislation that provide for liability for practically all acts of corruption carry rather strict sanctions.

* PhD in Law (2001, Criminal Law and Criminology). Full professor of the Academy of Manage- ment under the RF Ministry of Interior. Contact information: Phone +7 (495) 658-64-66. E-mail: [email protected]. Mailing address: P.A.Skoblikov, P.O. Box 9, Moscow, 109144 Russia.

European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, Vol. 14/4, 440–449, 2006 © Koninklijke Brill NV. Printed in the Netherlands. How is Corruption Punished in Present Day Russia?

The Articles of the RF Criminal Code with respect to the liability for bribe-giving and taking take the central place among them. On the one hand, there is a consensus among scholars and (or) practitioners about corruption character and great the danger these crimes pose to the public, while, on the other hand – criminological and sociological studies show that such crimes are currently widespread. This idea is also borne out by analysis of international legal documents. Thus, despite the fact that the Council of Europe 1999 ‘Criminal�� Law Convention on Corruption’ contains�� coordinated norms on thirteen corruption crimes, they just seem diverse, for eleven of them are nothing but varieties of the two traditional RF�� legislation crime��s�� – bribe giving and bribe taking. Bribe-taking even with no qualifying circumstances (Article 290, paragraph 1, the RF CC) can be punished by imprisonment for up to five years and the person will be stripped of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to three years. The same act committed by a group of persons in collusion or by an organized group as well as committed on a large scale, or in combination with extortion of a bribe (Article 290, paragraph 4, the RF CC), is punished by a prison term ranging from seven to twelve years with or without a fine.

��Hereinafter the ‘RF CC’. The term ‘bribe’ under Russian criminal legislation refers to: money, securities, other property or benefits of pecuniary nature handed over by the briber and received by an official (bribe-taker) for the actions or omissions for the benefit of the briber or the persons represented by him if such actions (omissions) are with jurisdiction of the bribe-taker or by virtue of his official position he can cause such actions (omissions), and equally for overall protection or connivance at work. For example, the findings of the following express-study carried out by the author while preparing the article are very significant. Through the Rambler search program in the Russian-language part of the Internet in late July, 2006 the word ‘corruption’ was found on 63604 sites and the word ‘bribe’ – on 70838 sites. These are the following crimes: active bribery of domestic public officials (Article 2), passive bribery of domestic public officials (Article 3), bribery of members of domestic public assemblies (Article 4), bribery of foreign public officials (Article 5), bribery of members of foreign public assemblies (Article 6), active bribery in the private sector (Article 7), passive bribery in the private sector (Article 8), bribery of officials of international organizations (Article 9), bribery of members of international parliamentary assemblies (Article 10), bribery of judges and officials of international courts (Article 11), trading in influence for mercenary purposes (Article 12), laundering of proceeds from corruption-related offences (Article 13), offences in accounting (Article 14). Articles 2-11 of the Convention expressly dwell on tampering, i.e. bribes. Trading in influence (Article 12) is understood as intentional promising, giving or offering, directly or indirectly, of any undue advantage to anyone who is able to exert an improper influence over any public official for compensation, i.e. bribery is also meant.

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