Russia is among the countries that has introduced legislation for the disclosure of assets by public officials, following articles 8.5 and 20 of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC). Nevertheless, recent cases of non-compliance by high-profile politicians raise doubt about how serious this anti-corruption measure is.
In 2010, the case of the Russian Parliament’s speaker, who omitted data on his wife’s income and assets in his declaration, received wide coverage by the press. A year later, however, the negative publicity was not able to keep him from withholding the same information again.
This case, and a number of other similar cases involving other Russian politicians, uncovered an important weakness in the mechanisms to enforce asset disclosure regulation: the Russian government still lacks a body with authority to review public officials declarations and take action in case of non-compliance.
For the full article by Aleksandr Shkolnikov on the Trustlaw blog, please click here.
