In his report, Labour and Social Protection Minister Maxim Topilin announced that in 2014, there was a 39% increase in the number of identified cases of noncompliance with anti-corruption legislation compared to the previous year. The largest category of cases in 2014 was non-submission of documents on income, or the submission of false information regarding income. The second most common infractions involved failure to take measures to prevent and settle conflicts of interest.
First Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Buksman and Chairman of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin made reports at the meeting. In particular, Alexander Buksman informed the participants that in the last three years, prosecutors started more than 600 administrative proceedings under the Illegal Remuneration on Behalf of a Legal Entity article in the Administrative Offences Code. In the first nine months of this year, there was an increase in the collection of fines for corruption-related offences compared to the same period last year.
Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reported on the course of Russia’s preparations for the Sixth Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, slated for 2015. The reports stressed that currently, Russia’s Justice Ministry and Foreign Ministry have developed an Action Plan jointly with relevant federal government agencies and organisations to prepare and hold the Convention. St Petersburg has been chosen as the location for the Sixth Session of the Conference in early November 2015.
Russia’s right to hold the Conference is conditional on carrying out extensive work to reduce the corruption level in Russia.
The meeting looked at an initiative to suggest the theme of Partnership Between Government and Business in Preventing and Fighting Corruption as a priority theme during the Conference.