News for everyone who helped collect 100,000 signatures for our initiative to combat illicit enrichment: we have been officially notified that the initiative will be reviewed by the "government expert group" headed by Minister Abyzov on February 9.
There is a bit of a problem with my attendance. Even though I am the formal author of the initiative and am supposed to present it at the meeting, the Government really, really does not want to see me there (strange, isn’t it). They cite all sorts of nonsense like "as far as we know, he is under arrest".
What kind of arrest could I possibly be under if I’m writing this post from the ACF office? In any case, whether I’m under arrest or not is a matter for the court and the Federal Penitentiary Service, not the Government of the Russian Federation—their job is to invite me.
If it doesn’t work out with me, then ACF staff will present the bill. As I understand it, the media are allowed to attend the review, so get accredited.
After that, the procedure is as follows: the federal-level expert working group must issue a positive opinion, then the bill goes to the government, and the government submits it to the State Duma.
"But what if the expert group does not approve the bill?" you ask.
How could it possibly fail to support it? I reply. That would be sabotage and a slap in the face not only to the entire people, but to every political force as well.
To back this up, here are excerpts from our research, "Who Has Called for Ratification of Article 20." Read to the end—you’ll be surprised.
Let me start with a reminder: 87% of Russian citizens support this.
It actively supports the introduction of criminal penalties for illicit enrichment. Deputies from this party have repeatedly submitted various bills on Article 20, collected signatures in support of it, and publicly called for it to be backed. In particular, in November last year, Ivan Melnikov, First Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF), said that "both he and his comrades had called for criminal liability for illicit enrichment."
They support the introduction of criminal liability for illicit enrichment. In November 2014, the party’s leader Sergey Mironov said: "We believe it is necessary to take at least two steps: first, ratify Article 20 of the UN Convention; second, introduce the institution of confiscating the property of corrupt officials and their families."
No unified party position on Article 20 was publicly announced, but several prominent members of United Russia publicly supported the initiative. In particular, as far back as November 25, 2011, the current deputy chairman of the Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption, Alexander Khinshtein, called to "fully restore the institution of confiscation, make expense declarations mandatory for officials, and ratify Article 20 of the UN Convention." His committee colleague and fellow United Russia member Boris Reznik said that "society has the right to ask any official how, on a paltry salary, he came to own a mansion worth millions of dollars."
As early as June 2011, Yabloko party leader Sergey Mitrokhin called for illicit enrichment to be criminalized and for lifetime disqualification of officials to be introduced as a punishment. In September of the same year, a plank on ratifying Article 20 was added to the party’s platform.
In 2010, this anti-corruption non-governmental organization, with branches in more than 100 countries worldwide, called on Russia to adopt Article 20 of the UN Convention against Corruption and to introduce the concept of "illicit enrichment" into the Criminal Code. Elena Panfilova, head of its Russian chapter, said that the absence of this provision gives corrupt officials a free hand. In December 2014, Panfilova reaffirmed that view. "We should return to this [ratification of Article 20]. It should not be possible for someone who has never spent a day in business, whose declaration shows ordinary bureaucratic income and no declared treasure troves, suddenly to acquire huge plots of land and villas—both in Russia and abroad—and, when asked where they came from, simply answer, ‘that’s just how it happened,’" she said in an interview with Vladimir Pozner on Channel One.
On November 22, 2014, Alexei Kudrin’s Committee of Civil Initiatives adopted a resolution that included, among other points, a "demand that the state authorities of the Russian Federation ratify Article 20 ("Illicit Enrichment") of the UN Convention against Corruption."
In November 2013, in a speech marking the 20th anniversary of the Russian Constitution, Zorkin described the fight against corruption and illicit enrichment as "one of the most painful problems in Russian society." "Measures to combat this scourge do seem to be taken, but the results are still clearly unsatisfactory. One obvious reason is that Russia has still not ratified Article 20 of the UN Convention against Corruption," he said.
In 2012, Primakov spoke at the Mercury Club, created on the initiative of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, and stated the need to adopt Article 20 and introduce the concept of illicit enrichment. "Ratification of Article 20 of the UN Convention will make it possible to put a serious barrier in the way of rampant corruption among people holding positions at all levels of government—federal, regional, and municipal," Primakov said.
Yes, yes—even "Open Government" itself, whose experts will be meeting on February 9, has supported these ideas.
In May 2012, the working group tasked with preparing proposals for establishing an "Open Government" system in Russia presented President Dmitry Medvedev with its final report, which proposed "incorporating into Russian legislation the provisions of Article 20 of the UN Convention against Corruption," as well as "introducing and defining the concept of illicit enrichment." The head of this working group was Sergei Ivanov, chief of the Presidential Administration (the same one who recently claimed that the article had already been ratified), and his deputy was Mikhail Abyzov, minister for relations with Open Government.
And finally—the cherry on top:
On October 23, 2011, the All-Russia People’s Front (ONF) presented its program of people’s initiatives, which proposed ratifying Article 20 and "requiring officials to prove the legality not only of their income but also of their expenditures—both their own and their family’s—if a significant increase in assets cannot be explained by lawful income." A co-chair of its Central Headquarters is Alexander Brechalov, secretary of the Civic Chamber.
And the leader, let me remind you in case anyone has forgotten:
We didn’t put words in anyone’s mouth. So on February 9, we expect no decision other than a positive one.