Fraud from the state budget will cost considerable sums of money

March 19, 2015 15:41

Penalties for fraud from the state budget funds allocated for public procurement can be tightened up to 12 years of prison. The corresponding package of amendments to the Criminal Code was prepared by Mikhail Starshinov (Popular Front) and Irina yarovaya (State Duma Committee for Security and Anti-Corruption). The project was developed in response to the last year’s orders of Vladimir Putin to the Federal Assembly, in accordance with which it is required to increase the responsibility for inefficient use of federal money.

According to the document, punishment will vary depending on the fraud amount. So, for the theft of a quarter of a million rubles, violators will be sentenced to 6 years in prison, and if the amount of theft will be from250 thousand rubles to 6 million, the proper punishment will be from 4 to 8 years. Theft in excess of this amount would qualify as particularly large. Any theft of contracts in the field of defense contracts, regardless of the transaction value will also automatically get to this category. General Contractors of the relevant contracts will be obliged to report all organizations working as subcontractors. Belonging to bureaucratic apparatus will be considered as an aggravating circumstance.

All types of punishment will be accompanied with fines and temporarily ban to hold certain positions. Thus, punishment for very large crime against the state budget is from 7 to 12 years in prison, a fine of from 3 to 5 million rubles, and disqualification to hold leadership positions for 12 years.

A similar, but more loyal draft of the government was adopted in the first reading in November 2014. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin was initiator of its development. The document provides for strengthening the administrative responsibility of state companies frustrating contracts and criminal liability for negligence — up to 5 years in prison for causing financial loss of more than 7.5 million rubles.

To date, all cases of stealing state property are considered on the usual terms, says lawyer Maxim Shabarin. There are no differences in penalties between ordinary theft and embezzlement from the state budget, because the legislation does not separate them. The development of appropriate distinctions is a primary issue without which the level of corruption component in the state order will remain the same, he said.