According to the law, abuse of official powers is such actions when a certain official uses his official powers against the interests of the service, these are acts committed for personal or other personal goals and interests, entailing significant violations of the legitimate interests and rights of citizens or organizations. Ten years ago, almost four thousand such crimes against the state and human rights were recorded.
Abuse of official authority is always aimed at disrupting the normal activity of a certain component of the management apparatus of state organizations and institutions, governing bodies or management in military organizations of the Russian Federation. Depending on the nuances and circumstances of the crime, such acts are manifested in the form of a violation of the legal rights and freedoms of people, property and other economic interests of organizations, citizens or the state, etc.
Abuse of authority can usually be identified on three mandatory grounds:
1) the use of official authority by an official against the interests of the service;
2) the manifestation of consequences in the form of an aggressive violation of the legitimate interests and rights of organizations and citizens, or the interests of the state or society, protected by law;
3) the occurrence of a causal logical relationship between action and consequences.
A crime can be committed as through obvious action - the active use by a person holding a certain position of his own powers; as well as through an inactive way - an official in this case intentionally does not fulfill his job duties (for example, does not prevent an economic crime).
How to establish abuse of power? In solving this difficult issue, it is necessary to establish the nature and range of official rights of the official and the duties assigned to him in the charters, instructions and other regulatory documents. The sentence must necessarily contain references to these legal acts, which stipulate certain powers and specific rights and obligations of those accused of abuse against the interests of the service.
There are different ways and forms of this type of violation of the law, such as abuse of power: issuing orders and orders that are contrary to the law and other regulatory legal acts, entailing certain unpleasant consequences; non-targeted and excessive expenditure of state resources (property, cash, etc.) without obvious signs of theft; concealment of shortcomings, theft, abuse of official duties committed in state bodies and local governments, or in state or municipal institutions. For example, reducing and hiding the true numbers of crimes in order to visually optimize the criminal situation in the city, etc.
For deliberate official inaction in accordance with the law shall be punished. For violation and abuse of authority, liability arises only with the proven presence of selfish motives and any other personal interest in the official. Another personal interest of the official and abuse of authority can be expressed in attempts to derive non-material benefits - careerism, receiving mutual services, nepotism, the desire to embellish his actual position, receiving support in solving his life issues, etc. All this, as well as other complementary factors, may indicate an excess of authority in the service.