Corruption is the use by officials of their powers and rights, authority and status, opportunities and connections solely for personal gain. In any country in the world, including Russia, such actions are illegal and punishable by law. To fight corruption, special government bodies are being created, the methods of which have achieved the greatest efficiency, for example, in China, Sweden and Singapore.
Due to the historically critical situation in our country with a mass predisposition to corruption in all spheres of power, the fight against it is rather difficult. After all, one cannot simply toughly liquidate corrupt structures, as this will lead to an inevitable crisis of power. A thoughtful approach to this problem should be based on the following basic methods:
- the adoption of legislative regulation that toughens the punishment for this type of crime;
- an increase in the official income of government officials;
- the creation of a competitive environment that reduces the potential profit from corruption.
Mechanisms and prevention
The entire range of anti-corruption measures is based on oversight mechanisms: internal and external.
Internal mechanisms provide maximum incentives by delineating the powers of officials. And the authorized bodies, working autonomously, carry out the necessary supervision over them.
External mechanisms generally operate independently of the executive branch, which increases their effectiveness due to the invulnerability of the position. The role of such structures can be the media, freedom of speech of citizens of the Russian Federation and the judicial system of the state.
Corruption prevention in its legislative framework is based on the following incentive measures:
- control of legislation by parliamentary and public institutions;
- the formation of a negative perception in society in relation to corrupt officials;
- Regular (quarterly) analysis of legal practice to identify and punish corrupt practices;
- effective legal measures to prevent corruption in the form of dismissal or dismissal from a substituted post; moreover, persons who knowingly give false information about income, expenses, movable and immovable property, financial obligations in relation to the next of kin are subject to punishment;
- Thorough verification of information concerning applicants for municipal or state positions;
- introduction of the practice of stimulating representatives of state and municipal structures to perform flawlessly and efficiently within the framework of their powers.
Fundamental Anti-Corruption Principles and Accountability
The entire range of measures to combat corruption is guided by the following fundamental principles:
- legality;
- protection of the rights and freedoms of citizens and individuals;
- publicity and transparency;
- inevitable responsibility for an offense;
- involvement of political, legal, informational, organizational, socio-economic and other measures as means of combating corruption;
- cooperation at the state level with international institutions, individuals and public organizations;
- application of preventive measures to prevent corruption.
In our country, specially created committees and commissions are waging an irreconcilable fight against corruption. And in some state structures, even departments for the fight against corruption are provided. The legislation provides for strict liability for every act of corruption, which can be criminal, administrative, civil and disciplinary. These legislative norms, inter alia, provide for the nature of the offense in relation to Russian citizens, stateless people or foreign residents, individuals or legal entities.
Anti-Corruption Commission
For the prevention and counteraction of corruption activities of responsible persons, a special commission for combating it has been created, which controls all spheres of society. Its responsibilities include encouraging anti-corruption behavior. The members of this organization are persons approved by the President of the Russian Federation.
This commission has the following goals:
- protection of the legal rights of citizens;
- assistance to law enforcement agencies;
- providing legal support to the population in case of corruption encroachments;
- involvement of the media and public opinion in the fight against corruption.
The main tasks of the Anti-Corruption Commission are as follows:
- raising the legal level of informing citizens about corruption problems;
- rendering assistance to state and law enforcement agencies on this issue from public support;
- development of scientific and practical measures at the international, federal and regional levels of combating corruption;
- formation of a detailed annual report on the problems of corruption in our country;
- provision of full information on revealed corruption in state structures for the public through the media;
- assistance to the population to protect their rights from corrupt representatives of state structures;
- active publishing activity;
- protection of the rights of members of the commission;
- conducting opinion polls and analyzing public opinion;
- the international cooperation;
- analysis of legislative acts (primarily federal);
- Conducting regular expertise of the activities of state and municipal bodies;
- development of proposals and preparation of an action plan.
By its effective activity, this commission shows that the fight against corruption in Russia can be carried out without additional funding from the state budget, relying only on the initiative of conscientious citizens.
Anti-Corruption Committee
At the federal level, the fight against corruption is carried out by a specially created committee. It includes professional employees with high intellectual potential. This committee is called upon to fight corruption and terrorism, and is a public structure that provides legal, social and any other protection to prevent and prevent corruption in our country.
The Anti-Corruption Committee has the following objectives:
- improvement of the socio-economic and legal situation in the country;
- protection of freedoms, rights, security and well-being of Russian citizens;
- public control over the formation of objective pricing in the social sphere;
- legal protection of citizens, small and medium-sized businesses, institutions and organizations from corruption violence;
- creation of optimal conditions for business and social cooperation between the authorities and society;
- creation of a unified anti-corruption system, which would include in its composition the creative, intellectual, progressive, influential and moral forces of the entire country;
- fostering an active life position in the citizens of Russia, providing for a fair legal balance between the government and society;
- the creation of youth organizations to control and create in this area;
- creation of objective prerequisites for the implementation of social justice, legality and the implementation of the principles of democracy;
- active participation in the formation of civil society, the provision of guaranteed social protection to poorly protected categories of citizens (disabled people, veterans, pensioners, etc.);
- attracting young people to the global processes of government.
It is important to understand that the current scale of corruption has long gone beyond the framework of individual states, and to effectively counter it requires the involvement of the resources of the entire international community.
