Last week was marked with a new massive anti-corruption campaign. President Dmitry Medvedev proclaimed a special program on tackling corruption, created a special state council and a inter-agency commission to oversee the process. An anti-corruption committee was also instituted in the Duma.
The lawmakers will also discuss an anti-corruption law soon. Duma member Mikhail Grishankov has told Expert Online the draft law may be brought before the parliament this Summer by the President himself. Obviously, it will not take long for the act to be approved, Grishankov assumes it may happen at the start of this year's Fall session.
It is likely that a number of "anti-raider" amendments to a few other laws will be presented by the Cabinet.
The Duma also has a few ideas on lobbying that may influence Russia's law. At a roundtable discussion yesterday, some lawmakers suggested to amend the Code of Administrative Violations - officials should be liable for breach the ethic codes of their institutions, while industry unions and other organizations will be recommended to come up with their own "lobbyist ethic codes". There where also suggestions to introduce compulsory registration for all the people who interact with the parliament (Germany has a similar practice).
On May 21, a new commission aimed at combatting corruption was formed in the Duma. The commission's 12 members represent all the four fractions, headed by United Russia's Aleksei Volkov, a former police officer. The commission's tasks are to conduct expertise of new draft laws from the anti-corruption viewpoint, and to fight corruption in various state bodies on both federal and regional levels.
The anti-corruption campaign was supported even by the majority Russian Orthodox Church. "People who give bribes and using the state to pursue unduly purposes harm their own souls, and so do the people who accept bribes, that is why we must start the fight against corruption with ourselves - not give or accept bribes, and not tolerate the corrupt system", archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the church spokesman, has said.
Vera Kholmogorova
Photo: Comstock complete / Fotolink
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