Nezavisimaya Gazeta: "Prime minister’s instructions still pending"
Government officials likely will not submit spending declarations in the near future.
The period for State Duma deputies to submit their family income and property declarations expires on April 29. The homepage of the State Duma's intranet bears a special reminder to this end. Meanwhile, three weeks have passed since Prime Minister Vladimir Putin suggested introducing spending declarations for officials, but no document has yet been adopted on this note. The reason is likely because many officials, including those in the opposition, advocate a different idea. They suggest first incorporating an article on unlawful enrichment into the Criminal Code. But experts say that these two things can go hand-in-hand.
At a government meeting on April 4, Putin publicly instructed Chief of Government Staff Vyacheslav Volodin to elaborate a decision on tightening anti-corruption legislation. A month before, speaking at a United Russia interregional conference, he said: "We all agree that anyone who goes into politics must be transparent and must disclose his or her income. Disclosing expenses is also a good idea. We need to discuss potential tools for this initiative."
Tasking Volodin with this important work, the prime minister pointed out that this initiative has already provoked a lively reaction from the public. However, three weeks after, the process is still stalling.
According to Dmitry Gorovtsov, an expert from the State Duma Commission on the Legislative Combat against Corruption, United Russia said that about 30 laws need to be amended, which means that the work on Putin's initiative would take months.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Pligin, the chairman of the State Duma Commission on Constitutional Laws, added that foreign experience also needs to be studied thoroughly, for example, that of Singapore and Germany.
According to Gorovtsov, Volodin was supposed to carry out the task by April 20, so the prime minister could have mentioned it once again in his report on the government's performance to the State Duma.
However, the prime minister's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied this statement.
Officials found themselves in a dispute as to what has to be done first – amend the criminal legislation, introducing an article on unlawful enrichment, or oblige government officials, deputies and others to submit spending declarations.
For example, Sergei Obukhov believes that these declarations will be useless until the UN Convention Against Corruption is fully ratified and the Criminal Code is amended.
"If somebody fails to account for the difference between his or her income and spending, penalty has to follow," he said. The Communist Party has been calling for an early ratification of the convention.
Gorovtsov said that both processes should go hand-in-hand as they don't interfere with one another.
"Just desire and will are needed, as given all of the legal and technical peculiarities it will only take several days to introduce such a regulation," he said.
Curiously enough, United Russia is not the only party reluctant about introducing the spending declaration.
Despite claiming its support for the idea at its recent assembly, A Just Russia did not mention the initiative during the five-minute speeches at the State Duma.
The State Duma has held six plenary sessions since April 4 and A Just Russia had the right to give such a speech before each session, but chose to keep silent.
The party has not even announced that it has begun drafting the bill despite the fact that they announced they would do so at a meeting with Putin in early April.
According to Gorovtsov, Gennady Gudkov, the deputy head of A Just Russia parliamentary party, was expected to make the announcement.
Sources close to Pligin said that only one declaration will have to be submitted listing both income, spending and fund movement in bank accounts.
Meanwhile, rumours are spreading about a broad amnesty, that is, to let the "servants of the people" legalise the incomes that they have earned through their back-breaking labour. Only afterwards can efficient supervision be introduced, they say. Otherwise, officials and deputies would keep hiding their money away.
Meanwhile, the public insists on the early introduction of spending declarations, as they are waiting impatiently for a reason to grin at the officials' "modest" well-being. This reaction seems to be the least wanted by officials.
Ivan Rodin, Alexandra Samarina
