Putin signs bill obliging officials to declare their personal spending

Russian officials will have to be accountable not only for their personal spending, but also for the spending of their spouses and underage children. (Agencies)

President Vladimir Putin signed a set of bills introducing controls on personal spending by government officials. According to the new law, the controls will apply to “purchases of land or other real estate property, vehicles, securities and stocks, if their amount exceeds the income of the purchaser and his or her spouse for the three years immediately preceding the transaction.”

Officials will have to declare not only their own spending, but also the spending of their spouses and underage children. The source of funds for the acquisition of any property will need to be justified. Failing to do so will result in the official being fired and the property confiscated.

The law also introduces criminal liability for failure to pay a fine that is envisaged as the main punishment for officials unable to prove the legality of their property acquisition. Penalties include house arrest or community service, with no jail time stipulated in this case.

The new provisions will go into effect on January 1, 2013, and they will apply to transactions entered into in 2012. When filing tax returns in April 2013, officials will have to declare not only their 2012 income, as usual, but also their expenses during that period.

The new law will apply to parliament deputies, senators, government ministers and regional and municipal officials, as well as to Central Bank and Pension Fund employees. According to Vladimir Vasilyev, deputy Duma speaker and head of the United Russia faction in the Duma, the amendments will affect almost 10 million people.

The government’s representative at federal courts, Mikhail Barshchevsky, estimates that, to control the spending of 10 million officials, the government will need to set up a special department with a staff of at least 300,000 people.

“The number of officials falling under this law should be cut to at least 100,000; the law should apply only to ministers, governors, police chiefs, chief judges and prosecutors,” Barshchevsky told Ekho Moskvy radio.

“If a governor and a vice-governor are not corrupt, they’ll make sure that department heads don’t embezzle money. They won’t allow their subordinates to be stealing and living richer lives than them,” the government representative said.

Barshchevsky also noted that officials already declare their property, along with their incomes. “You can see what property an official has bought in the past year, if you compare their property and income reports for the past two years,” Barshchevsky said.

俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔•普京签署了一系列控制政府官员个人消费的法案。根据新法规，“如果官员购买土地或其他房产、汽车、证券和股票的消费额超过购买者和其配偶前三年的总收入”，将对其实行消费控制。

官员不但要申报自己的消费额，还要申报配偶及未成年子女的消费额。官员需要证明自己所购任何资产的资金来源为合法。如果做不到，官员就会被撤职，资产被充公。

对于那些无法证明资产购买合法性而又没有缴纳作为主要惩罚的罚金的官员，该法规将对其追究刑事责任。处罚包括软禁或社区服务，但没有规定监禁时间。

新法规将于2013年1月1日生效，对于2012年发生的交易也同样有效力。当2013年4月进行纳税申报时，官员不但必须像往年那样申报他们2012年度的收入，还须申报这一年度的消费明细。

这一新法规将应用于国会议员、参议员、政府部长、地方和市政官员，以及中央银行和养老基金会的雇员。据俄罗斯国家杜马（下议院）代表发言人、统一俄罗斯党主席弗拉基米尔•瓦西里耶夫表示，这一修正案将影响近1000万人。

俄罗斯政府在联邦法院的代表米哈伊尔•巴什车夫斯基估计，要对1000万官员的消费进行控制，政府需要建立一个专门的部门，并配备至少30万名工作人员。

巴什车夫斯基告诉莫斯科回声电台说：“受到这一法律制裁的官员人数应被控制在至少10万人以内，该法规应该只应用于政府部长、地方长官、警察局长、审判长和检察官。”

这位政府代表说道：“如果省长和副省长都不贪污，他们会确保各部门主管都不侵吞公款。他们不会允许自己的下属挪用公款、过着比自己还富有的生活。”

巴什车夫斯基还指出，官员们其实已经申报了自己的财产和收入。他说：“如果你将过去两年内官员的财产和收入报告进行比较，你会看见官员在过去一年内购置了什么产业。”

Vocabulary:

confiscate: 没收；充公

provision: 规定；条款