Declaration of income and property of public officials

The introduction of declarations on income and property of public officials is enshrined in the United Nations Convention against Corruption (Article 8) ^[2] , in a number of documents of the World Bank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and other international institutions.

The system of declarations exists in many countries of the world, however there is no single standard, and in each country the system has its own peculiarities. At the same time, all systems are built around two key objectives: preventing illegal enrichment or resolving conflicts of interest.

Illegal enrichment is a significant increase in the assets of a public official, exceeding his legal income, which he cannot reasonably justify ^[3] . Illicit enrichment under this article is a criminal offense.

Conflict of interests is a situation in which the personal interest of a public official (direct or indirect) affects or may affect his objective performance of official duties and in which there is or may be a contradiction between the personal interest of an official and the legitimate interests of others ^[4] .

In China, all government employees are required to report annually on their expenses and incomes, as well as the expenses and incomes of their loved ones. ^[five]

In Brazil, Denmark, the United States and Kazakhstan , only income declarations apply to government employees.

In the UK, members of Parliament and members of the House of Lords are also required to declare their income.

In Sweden, Norway and Canada, the obligation to submit a declaration of income applies to all citizens, including civil servants (without any particularities).

In Finland and Singapore, government employees annually report on their expenses. In France, a tax “on wealth” was introduced, where businessmen and public citizens pay a tax higher than the middle class of citizens.

Unified electronic registries of accountable persons are available online in Ukraine and in France .

Article 8 of the Federal Law of December 25, 2008 No. 273-FZ “On Combating Corruption” ^[4] establishes the obligation of state civil servants and their family members to submit information on income, property and property obligations.

Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of April 2, 2013 No. 309 ^[6] established that persons holding public office must provide information about their accounts, securities and real estate abroad over the past year before July 1 of the current year.

The following information about income, property and property obligations is submitted for publication on the official websites and to the all-Russian mass media.

This information should include information ^[6] :

• on accounts (deposits) and cash in foreign banks located outside the territory of the Russian Federation;
• on government securities of foreign countries, bonds and shares of other foreign issuers;
• on immovable property located outside the territory of the Russian Federation;
• on property obligations outside the territory of the Russian Federation.

To certificate of income, property, property obligations, containing information about accounts (deposits) and cash in foreign banks located outside the territory of the Russian Federation, government securities of foreign countries, bonds and shares of other foreign issuers, real estate , located outside the territory of the Russian Federation, and property obligations outside the territory of the Russian Federation, submitted in 2013, it is necessary to attach a certificate stating:

• the last name, first name and patronymic of the person in respect of whom this information is submitted;
• the grounds for obtaining the ownership of government securities of foreign states, bonds and shares of other foreign issuers and immovable property provided by law;
• sources of funds from which government securities of foreign countries were acquired, bonds and shares of other foreign issuers and real estate (income from the principal place of business of the person representing the information and his spouse); income from other activities permitted by law; income from deposits in banks and other credit organizations; accumulations for previous years; inheritance; gift; loan; mortgage; income from the sale of property; other credit obligations; other), in case of their purchase for a fee th basis.

It is prohibited to indicate:

• other information about incomes other than those listed above;
• personal data of the spouse (spouse), children and other family members of the person replacing the public office of the Russian Federation (federal public servant);
• data to determine the place of residence, postal address, telephone and other individual means of communication of the person replacing the state office of the Russian Federation (federal public servant), his spouse (spouse), children and other family members;
• data to determine the location of immovable property owned by a person replacing a government post of the Russian Federation (federal public servant), his spouse (spouse), children, other family members under the right of ownership or in use;
• information classified as state secret or confidential.

Federal law provides that verification of the accuracy and completeness of information about income is carried out in the manner prescribed by the law on combating corruption and other regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation ^[4] .

In Russia, there is no single body dealing with the verification of the accuracy of the information presented in the declarations. The declarations are checked by the commissions on compliance with the requirements for the official conduct of civil servants and resolving conflicts of interest in each department, the Russian Prosecutor's Office, the Federal Tax Service and the Council on Countering Corruption under the President of the Russian Federation.

A presidential decree ^[7] also enshrines alternative powers to carry out an inspection, either independently or by sending requests to law enforcement or supervisory bodies. In addition, verification is not mandatory, but selective. The necessity of checking information seems illogical in connection with the content of the norms of the Anti-Corruption Act, according to which a citizen’s failure to provide information about incomes or the presentation of false information or incomplete information to a representative of the employer (employer) is not a reasonable .

On the low efficiency of the implementation of the legislation in the field of verification of the accuracy and completeness of information about income, many experts say. Thus, according to the Director General of the Center for Anti-Corruption Research and Transparency International Initiatives ^[8] E. Panfilova, the main thing is not so much the fact of the declaration as the verification of whether the information specified by the official corresponds to reality ^[9] .

Public organizations and the Public Chamber are not authorized to carry out inspections, and can only initiate them by sending sufficient information to personnel departments indicating that certain state or municipal employees provided false or incomplete information about their income or property. At the same time, access of public organizations and the Public Chamber directly to the income certificates submitted by state (municipal) employees is limited. In fact, they can do this only by familiarizing themselves with information on the income and property of state (municipal) employees posted on the websites of the authorities in which these employees work.

Presidential Decree No. 310 ^{[10] of} April 2, 2013 approved the form of a certificate in accordance with which persons holding public office in the Russian Federation will report on their expenses and sources of receiving funds for transactions.

It has been established that a statement of the expenses of a person who replaces the state post of the Russian Federation, another person for each transaction for the acquisition of a land plot, another real estate object, a vehicle, securities, shares (participation shares, shares in the authorized (share) capital of organizations) and sources of receipt of funds at the expense of which the transaction was concluded, shall be served if the amount of the transaction exceeds the total income of the person and his spouse (spouse) for the last three years preceding the transaction, together with certificates of income, property and property obligations of the person, his spouse (s) and minor children.

When exercising control over expenses, verification of the accuracy and completeness of information on expenses for each transaction and on the sources of receipt of funds for which the transaction was concluded will be carried out in accordance with the procedure established by the Federal Law of 25 December 2008 N 273-ФЗ “On Countering Corruption” and Federal Law No. 230-FZ of December 3, 2012 “On Control of Compliance of Expenditures of Persons Replacing Public Positions and Other Persons with Their Incomes”, Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of September 21, 2009 No. 1065 “On Verification of the completeness of information submitted by citizens applying for the posts of the federal public service and federal civil servants, and the compliance of federal civil servants with requirements for official conduct "and September 21, 2009 N 1066" On checking the accuracy and completeness of information submitted by citizens applying for replacement of state posts of the Russian Federation, and persons replacing state posts of the Russian Federation, and observance of restrictions by persons, state offices of the Russian Federation ”, other regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation.

• Database of income and property declarations of Russian officials
• Transparency International UK
• Declarations of Georgian Senior Officials (inaccessible link)
• State Ethics Commission
• Anti-Corruption Commission of Bhutan
• Asset Declarations for Public Officials

• Unjust enrichment
• Bribe
• Corruption
• Corruption in Russia
• Declaring
• Transparency International
• National Anti-Corruption Plan
• International Day against Corruption
• Corruption complainant