Krasnov will go through the accounts: will the Prosecutor General’s Office find corrupt billions

Now it will be possible to turn into state revenue not only property, but also funds in bank accounts that do not fit with the official income of officials. The corresponding law, which was developed and adopted for almost three years, was signed by President Vladimir Putin.

True, it is not clear from the text of the initiative who exactly the Prosecutor General’s Office will check for the correspondence of savings and earnings. Apparently, the new rule, like the law in force since 2012 on the confiscation of apartments, houses and cars purchased with unconfirmed income, will only apply to those who have come under criminal prosecution.

Right to check

March 6 President of Russia Vladimir Putin signed a law allowing the transfer of funds from the bank accounts of officials, the origin of which they could not prove, to state revenue. All civil servants who are required to report their income, as well as members of their families, fall under the new rule. The document amends the laws “On Combating Corruption” and “On Banks and Banking Activity”.

The Prosecutor General’s Office is entrusted with inspections of officials, while credit institutions will be required to issue Igor Krasnov and to a number of his subordinates information on accounts, deposits and operations of civil servants. Verification measures are appointed if on the accounts of officials, their spouses and minor children they find an amount exceeding the official income for 3 years. Who will discover this is not directly spelled out in the law.

At the same time, during the audit, the official will be given the right to prove the legality of the origin of the funds, and if the official’s arguments do not convince the representative of the supervisory authority, prosecutors have the right to go to court with a claim for confiscation of funds, the legality of which has not been proven, to the state. The minimum amount of recovery of unjustified income — 10 thousand rubles.

Long way

The deputies of the lower house of parliament, who, as you know, know how to pass laws very quickly, in this case, for some reason, were in no hurry. The government submitted the initiative to the State Duma in March 2021, and in the third reading it was adopted almost a year later, on February 16, 2022.

However, the project was in the executive authorities for almost two years – the Ministry of Justice announced its development in the summer of 2019. By the way, then it was approved by the speaker of the State Duma Viacheslav Volodin. He instructed the relevant committee of the lower house of parliament to get involved in the development of the initiative in order to consider it as a matter of priority in the spring of 2020. But in the end, the initiative, which was developed in pursuance of one of the points of the National Anti-Corruption Plan for 2018-2020, received the right to apply during implementation of the next National Plan for 2021-2024.

money is illegal

However, the absence of the aforementioned law did not prevent prosecutors from seizing the funds of corrupt officials for the state. They lacked an expanded interpretation of the norm of the current legislation, which allows collecting real estate and vehicles acquired with dubious income.

So, in October 2020, the Gagarinsky Court of Moscow satisfied the claim of the supervisory authority for the confiscation 32.5 billion rubles Former Minister for Open Government Mikhail Abyzov. The Prosecutor General’s Office found out that in 2018, Abyzov, who at that time held a position in the government, entered into agreements on the sale of his shares with the subsequent withdrawal of profits to offshore companies. These actions of the billionaire were assessed as illegal business activities, and the proceeds – as illegal income.

Managed to confiscate money from the former colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Dmitry Zakharchenko and his relatives, although these were not funds in the accounts, but cash. The claim of the Prosecutor General’s Office for the total amount of the order 9 billion rubles The Nikulinsky Court of Moscow satisfied in December 2017. Along with apartments and cars, the state received 8.5 billion rublesfound in the apartment of the sister of the ex-head of the “T” department of the GUEBiPK.

Cash, along with movable and immovable property, appeared in the statement of claim of Igor Krasnov’s department against another billionaire security official – the former head of the 2nd department of the Office of the FSB of Russia Kirill Cherkalin. The decision to confiscate apartments, country houses, land plots belonging to him and his relatives, as well as $72.75 million, €8.5 million, £4,000 and 810 million rublesfound in the possession of the former Chekist and members of his family during searches, was accepted in November 2019 by the Golovinsky Court of Moscow.

In 2016, the ex-governor of the Sakhalin Region also lost a large sum Alexander Khoroshavin. The city court of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk satisfied the claim for confiscation in favor of the state of more than RUB 280m, $6m, CHF 388k, €727,570 and £217,700, as well as apartments in Moscow, plots on Rublyovka, luxury cars, jewelry and watches. The total amount of nationalized property amounted to 1.1 billion rubles.

Criminal billions

If we talk about successes in the field of seizing assets acquired by unrighteous means in accordance with the norms of legislation in force since 2012, then Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov reports on them regularly. So, in the fall of 2020, he stated that over the eight years of applying this rule, property was confiscated from officials for 34 billion rubles.

Then the pace began to pick up. So, in 2020, according to the Prosecutor General, supervisors, as part of compensation for harm from corruption, filed claims against 84 billion rubles, 74 billion related to assets, the legality of the acquisition of which officials could not confirm.

The final results of last year have not yet been summed up, but in the fall, at the government hour in the State Duma, the Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov named a number 52 billion rubles. According to him, this is the total 3 thousand claims on the seizure of funds from corrupt officials for the first three quarters of last year, and almost 35 billion of them accounted for the confiscation of property, which officials acquired with unconfirmed income.

However, the vast majority of the confiscated billions is the property of civil servants, against whom criminal cases were initiated with corruption.

So, the largest last year was the lawsuit against the ex-deputy of the State Duma Sergei Petrov and the car dealer Rolf founded by him. Initially, prosecutors filed demands for 12.85 billionbut then increased them before 19.4 billion rubles. According to the supervisory authority, Petrov, being a parliamentarian, allegedly continued to manage Rolf and receive income from his activities, although the company was formally registered with his son.

Also in 2021, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow satisfied the claim of the Prosecutor General’s Office for the recovery of the former senator’s property to the state Rauf Arashukovahis father Raulya Arashukova and other members of their family to the amount of almost 1.5 billion rubles. The supervision considered that the Arashukov clan did not have legal income for the purchase of 75 real estate objects, 14 motor vehicles and other luxury goods.

As for the billions in assets of acting officials, which were reported by investigative journalists, either no checks are carried out on them, or there are no reasons for prosecutorial response measures.