The corruption component is an integral element of society, the presence of which is due to the imperfection of the development of society and the inadequacy of legal regulation in the country. Despite its presence, the fight against corruption is carried out everywhere. Therefore, citizens need to know how not to face it and what to do when signs of corruption are detected.
Concept of corruption
When considering the corruption component, it is important to understand what corruption in general is. According to the provisions of federal law No. 273 of December 25, 2008, which regulates the issues of counteracting illegal actions of officials and citizens in the field of finance, this concept has a specific definition.
Corruption is the abuse of a position by office or service, giving or receiving money as a bribe, commercial bribery, or other illegal ways a citizen uses his position in the workplace contrary to the legal interests of people, society, and the entire state. The purpose of these actions is to obtain financial benefits, valuables, other property or services necessary for the recipient, any property rights for personal purposes or for other persons, as well as providing these benefits illegally to other persons. In addition, corruption is the commission of these actions on behalf of and in the interests of the enterprise or organization.
Forms of corruption
When considering the corruption component of the development of society, it is important to study in what forms it can manifest itself, since it is multifaceted and multifaceted. Its expression is as follows:
- Committing corruption crimes (embezzlement of money and material assets through the use of official position, receiving and giving a bribe, commercial bribery, etc.).
- Committing administrative-type offenses (embezzlement of small amounts of money and material assets by using an official position, misuse of budget funds and extrabudgetary funds, other types of administrative crimes recorded in the relevant Code).
- The commission of offenses of a disciplinary type, expressed in the use of status in order to obtain various advantages, if disciplinary measures are provided for these actions.
- Making transactions of a civil law type prohibited by law (for example, receiving gifts or giving them to officials, the provision of various services by government officials in favor of third parties).
The list of corruption acts
The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation establishes a number of acts related to the corruption component of the country's development:
- Abuse of authority in office and service as a crime against state power, interests of service in bodies at the federal and municipal levels (Article 285).
- Excess of authority by appropriate employees of enterprises, organizations and institutions.
- Receiving money (other property or property rights) as a bribe (Article 290).
- Giving money (other property or property rights) as a bribe (Article 291).
- Abuse of authority by office, as a crime against official interests in organizations of a commercial and other types (Article 201).
- Commercial bribery (Article 204).
The main component of corrupt behavior is the desire to profit at the expense of others. Therefore, the main act in this area is a bribe. This concept includes the receipt of money, other material values and non-property goods. Bribes also include the provision of benefits, services, benefits of a social nature that were received by a citizen for the inaction of an official or the performance of any actions within his authority.
By definition, a bribe is the receipt or transfer of material values for the protection of any manifestation or connivance in the service. The first group includes actions that include undeserved promotion, extraordinary unreasonable promotion, other actions that are not caused by direct necessity.
The second group includes actions related to an unfair response to unlawful actions of a person, failure by officials to take measures for violations or omissions in the work of a person giving a bribe or other citizens whose interests are represented by the bribe giver.
Abuse of power by an official
The next important corruption component in the actions of officials is abuse of authority. An abuse is considered to be the use of a position in a position contrary to the official interests of the enterprise, organization or institution in which the offender is employed, as well as the employee moving beyond his authority at the workplace.
These actions must be performed out of personal or selfish interest, in connection with which the rights and legitimate interests of society and the state are substantially violated.
Officials or citizens who perform managerial functions in an organization of a commercial nature, in these cases, act within the limits of their authority on formal grounds or go beyond them. Often such actions are carried out contrary to the legal interests of the organization and the service.
Commercial bribery
The corruption component in the actions of officials in bribery has its own characteristics. Bribery differs from a bribe in the following. If there is commercial bribery, a person who illegally provides property-related services or transfers tangible assets, takes for this from a citizen performing a managerial function in organizations of a commercial type, the commission of any action or inaction in the interests of the bribing person.
According to the provisions of the law on the corruption component and the norms of the Criminal Code, all entities involved in the specified crime are liable for commercial bribery and bribery.
Responsibility for corruption
After considering the signs of the corruption component, one should study the types of responsibility for committing various illegal actions in this area. The types of sanctions applied include administrative, criminal, disciplinary, civil liability.
Receiving and transferring a bribe, as well as mediation in its delivery, in the worst case, is punishable by imprisonment for up to fifteen years. In this case, the transfer of money is considered to be a corpus delicti, regardless of whether it was handed over before or after the completion of the indicated actions. Furthermore, it doesn’t matter if there was an agreement between the parties before committing the crime.
If the transfer of the bribe does not include aggravating circumstances, the guilty person will be held financially liable in the form of a fine, the maximum amount of which is five hundred thousand, or is expressed in the amount of the citizen's salary (other income) during the annual period, or in the amount of five-fold (thirty-fold) ) the size of the bribe, or correctional labor for a two-year period, or forced labor for three years, or the deprivation of liberty of a citizen for two years with the payment of a fine of five times (ten times) the size of the bribe.
Any of the punishments may be accompanied by the deprivation of the ability to occupy certain positions or work in a certain field for three years.
Signs of a corruption component, which allow qualifying the specified act as a crime committed with aggravating circumstances, is the transfer of a bribe to an authorized official as payment for committing knowingly unlawful actions (refusal to perform legal actions) in an amount calculated according to the norms of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation as especially large or persons by prior arrangement (organized type group).
For such acts, criminals face the following types of sanctions:
- a fine in the amount of two to four million rubles or in the amount of a citizen's income for a period of two to four years, or in a seven-fold - ninety-fold bribe;
- imprisonment of a citizen for a period of eight to fifteen years with payment of a fine of seventy-fold bribes;
- deprivation of the right to be in certain positions or engage in certain activities for a period of ten years (the specified type of sanction may be accompanied by any of the above).
Transfer of a bribe is carried out independently or through an intermediary. Mediation is expressed in the delivery of the subject of a crime or the creation of conditions for this transfer. The intermediary is held liable even if the bribe was not received by the addressee, or the bribe giver did not receive the required services for it.
Cases of release of the bribe giver from criminal liability
All suspicious actions of citizens and officials must be checked for corruption. In some cases, bribe-takers are not guilty of a crime, therefore they are exempt from criminal liability.
The following situations are refusal to initiate proceedings under the relevant article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:
- extortion of money by an authorized body employee;
- Voluntary reporting to law enforcement authorities on the part of the bribe giver or bribe taker;
- assistance of the guilty person in disclosing the criminal offense.
Appearance as an element of the concept of a corruption component can not only contribute to the lifting of sanctions against a person who has come to the police, but also to the quick disclosure of crimes and holding guilty citizens accountable.
Aggravating circumstances
When checking for the corruption component of suspicious actions and detecting crimes, the presence of mitigating and aggravating circumstances is checked. Tighter penalties are possible in the following cases:
- The official received a bribe for inaction or for committing unlawful acts.
- A bribe was received by a person who is in a public position at the federal, regional, local level.
- A bribe was received by a group of citizens by prior arrangement or by an organized criminal group.
- The official demanded a bribe from the citizen.
- A bribe was received in an amount exceeding one hundred and fifty thousand rubles (large).
- The bribe was received in an amount exceeding one million rubles (especially large).
Anti-corruption
Having considered the corruption component in the actions of citizens and officials, it is necessary to study measures to combat it and prevention. Anti-corruption activity is the work of authorities at the federal, regional and local levels.
The powers of these persons include the following actions:
- corruption prevention, including the identification and elimination of the reasons for the commission of these crimes;
- prevention, detection, suppression, disclosure, investigation of offenses;
- minimization and liquidation of consequences of crimes related to corruption.
The definition of a corruption component also reveals options for combating it. To implement these methods, the President may decide to create groups to combat illegal actions in the field of finance within public authorities.
If bodies or individual units receive information about the presence of a corruption component, they are required to verify this fact. All relevant actions are coordinated by the Prosecutor General and the prosecutors subordinate to him.
The main directions of activity of public authorities to improve the effectiveness of the fight against corruption
Since a conflict of interest is a corruption component of unlawful actions, public authorities develop policies to combat corruption. It includes the following areas:
- pursuing by the state throughout the country a uniform anti-corruption policy;
- the creation of a legal mechanism for the interaction of law enforcement agencies and other government entities with parliamentary and public commissions, citizens, institutions of the society to address these issues;
- adoption of administrative, legislative and other measures that are aimed at attracting municipal and state employees, citizens to participate in anti-corruption actions and the formation of a negative public attitude to illegal activities;
- improving the structure and system of state bodies, creating public control mechanisms;
- the introduction of anti-corruption standards, that is, fixing for the respective areas of activity a uniform system of restrictions, prohibitions and permissions that ensure the prevention of illegal actions in the financial sphere in relation to civil servants and persons who fill public service positions;
- providing citizens with access to information on the work of state federal, regional and local authorities;
- implementation of the principle of media freedom;
- strict observance of the principles of judicial independence and non-interference in the activities of the court;
- improving the organization of work of regulatory and law enforcement agencies in the field of combating corruption, improving the features of the order of service in state and municipal bodies;
- ensuring openness, integrity, objectivity, competition in the process of placing orders for various works, providing a number of services, and supplying the country's needs at the federal or local levels;
- elimination of illegal and unreasonable restrictions and prohibitions, especially in the field of economic activity;
- improving the procedure for using municipal and state property and resources (including their use in providing assistance at the federal or local level), and the procedure for re-registering rights to it;
- increase in wages and the level of protection of municipal and public servants in the social sphere;
- Strengthening cooperation in the field of international relations, increasing the efficiency of interaction at the international level with intelligence agencies, law enforcement agencies, financial intelligence units in the field of search, seizure and repatriation of property obtained illegally;
- Strengthening the verification and control of citizens and organizations regarding the presence of signs of corruption;
- distribution of functions between various organs, etc.
If during the audit of the activities of various bodies and their officials a corruption component is detected, authorized persons conduct a thorough audit of the work of this entity to identify violations and their disclosure. The fight against corruption is carried out in many areas to improve its effectiveness and increase crime in this area.