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Council of Europe Group of States against Corruption calls for
improved anti-bribery legislation and a more transparent political funding
in the Russian Federation
Press Release
Strasbourg, 13 August 2012 – The
Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO)
today called for the Russian Federation to increase its efforts to combat
bribery and to achieve greater transparency in the sphere of political party
and election campaign financing.
In its report (theme
I /
theme II), GRECO warned that the existing legislation pertaining to
political finances was overly complex, subject to frequent amendments and
created the potential for divergent interpretation and application. The
Group was particularly concerned by the alleged existence of important
financial flows falling outside the regulated area and by the apparently
widespread misuse of public authority in favour of certain candidates in
elections.
The measures taken in 2011 to bring the national legal
framework into line with Council of Europe standards were welcome, but more
needed to be done to complete and clarify them, said GRECO. Provisions on
public sector bribery must be expanded to cover non-material gain; private
sector bribery and trading in influence were not fully addressed and
improvements were needed on statutes of limitation.
GRECO noted
ongoing reforms aimed at the liberalisation of the political climate in the
Russian Federation. While admitting that many of the legislative provisions
on political financing as such were in line with the Council of Europe
standards, the Group recommended a more stringent enforcement of the
existing laws, strengthening of the independence and effectiveness of
supervisory bodies and widening the range of sanctions applicable to
violations of political financing rules.
GRECO will assess the
action taken by the Russian Federation in response to the report at the end
of 2013.
Eval3RussianFederation_en-TriangleBleu-1.gif){kind=small}
Links
to the report:
theme
I /
theme II
***
GRECO was established in 1999 by the Council
of Europe to monitor states’ compliance with the organisation’s
anti-corruption standards. It currently comprises 48 European states and the
United States of America.