By Mark Baber
August 20 – Any Russian politician or official caught with a foreign bank account will be forced to resign or sacked according to a new law which came into force on Monday. The law was passed by the Duma three months ago and has already led to the resignation of Chelsea’s owner Roman Abramovich from his position as chairman of the local parliament in Chukotka.
The law aims to help counter the culture of official corruption in Russia, a campaign with consequences both for Russian owners of clubs in the West and for those bidding for contracts inside Russia.
Kirill Kabanov (pictured), chairman of National Anti-Corruption Committee, who has said the corrupt should be punished as traitors, said: “Russians who are focused on their well-being in the West are a threat to the state, and most of all they are a threat to the power of the president.”
Kabanov has argued that all manifestations of corruption should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. High-ranking corrupt officials, especially those who are well-connected, have received suspended sentences, or been put under house arrest but, according to Kabanov, the situation is slowly beginning to change. Kabanov’s hope is that stiff sentences imposed on regional elites will soon reach corrupt officials at the Federal level but he argues there is still a caste of untouchables.
According to Kabanov, 30-40% of State budgets are stolen, rising to 50% in road construction. It is therefore not surprising that St. Petersburg Stadium ends up costing considerably more than similar European arenas.
Whilst the new law against holding foreign accounts may help in tackling the issue, reports suggest a recent increase in divorces amongst the bureaucracy as officials transfer assets to their wives.
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