Corruption

MPs pushing bill introducing ‘non-material bribery’

Russian lawmakers have prepared a bill that would make giving or accepting ‘intangible bribes’ a crime. It would also include punishments for arbitration judges that abuse their power.

The main sponsor of the bill – the deputy head of the Lower House Committee for Countering Corruption, MP Anatoliy Vybornyi of United Russia – told Izvestia daily that the draft would also stipulate tougher punishments for corruption crimes already in the criminal code. In particular, he proposed raising the current maximum prison term for bribery. The law currently stipulates two years for giving bribes and three for accepting them, but the new bill would impose punishments of four years for both. Abuse of power in arbitration courts would be punishable by up to three years in prison.

The lawmaker claimed his bill had already received a positive assessment from the Supreme Court and the Prosecutor General’s Office.

Most importantly, the authors want to amend the new bill to make giving or receiving “intangible benefits,” “intangible services,” and “intangible rights” crimes and set punishments for these offences.

“These could be mutually profitable services – like when a private firm offers a place with good salary to a relative of a high-placed official, even when the said relative has no experience or skill for this work,” Vyborniy told reporters.