Russia
Over the past year, a number of steps were taken in Russia to improve anti-corruption legislation and mechanisms for its practical implementation.
For example, at the beginning of the year, domestic legislation prohibited persons held liable for corruption offenses from participating in public procurement. To implement these provisions, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation launched a register of legal entities held liable under Article 19.28 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation ("Illegal Remuneration on behalf of a Legal Entity").
As far as anti-corruption restrictions, prohibitions and obligations are concerned, the concept of "foreign financial instruments" was disclosed, the possession and use of which is prohibited for certain categories of public officials in Russia. In addition, restrictions on the participation of officials in the activities of non-commercial organizations were relaxed and a list of persons subject to the obligation to take measures to prevent and resolve conflicts of interest was established. And as part of the methodological support for this direction, the following provisions were introduced.
The legislation governing the submission by officials of information on income and expenditures establishes the obligation for heads of entities to verify the declarations of municipal officials, the obligation to submit information for persons entering higher education organizations under the jurisdiction of the security agencies, and the exemption from such an obligation for persons entering military service under conscription. The form itself for submitting information on income and expenditures has also been changed, with additional amendments made to the form for submitting information on income and expenditures.
At the same time, the legislation clarified the powers of the human resources departments of State bodies to prevent corruption offences and expanded the list of persons authorized to send requests to credit institutions, tax authorities and bodies carrying out State registration of rights to immovable property and transactions therewith when carrying out checks for the purpose of combating corruption. The possibility of creating mechanisms to control the expenditures of former officials was also discussed.
In order to prevent corruption, Russia has created a Register of officials dismissed for corruption offenses (the so-called "black list"), which will come into effect on January 1, 2018. This register will keep information for 5 years on officials who have been subjected to such a disciplinary sanction as dismissal (dismissal from office) for loss of trust. At the same time, Russia is not the only country where measures are being taken to make information on corrupt officials publicly available as a form of pro-trust measures
Attempts to enshrine in domestic legislation provisions on the protection of whistleblowers of corruption violations continue. Currently, this area in Russia remains rather new and poorly studied. In this regard, the portal authors have prepared a large report on the legislative regulation of whistleblowing and whistleblower protection in foreign countries, which will be published in 2018, and may serve as a starting point to intensify further discussion on the creation and improvement of such mechanisms in Russia.
At the same time, not all the activities planned in the National Anti-Corruption Plan 2016-2017 were implemented within the established period. In particular, in 2017, the necessary measures to improve the legislation on prevention and detection of conflicts of interest were discussed but not taken. In addition, two methodological documents, which are extremely important from a practical point of view, were not prepared: a new review of typical situations of conflict of interest and methodological recommendations on the issues of conflict of interest.
The portal authors hope that the improvement of mechanisms for preventing, identifying and resolving conflicts of interest will continue within the framework of the next National Anti-Corruption Plan, along with activities in other key areas, such as combating corruption in public procurement, the use of information technologies in the fight against corruption, the development of legislation on control over officials' expenses and mechanisms for its practical implementation.
Foreign countries
In foreign countries, the fight against corrupt practices also continued in 2017, including on international platforms. For example, the regular G20 summit adopted a number of strategic anti-corruption documents, for example, establishing the basic principles for holding legal entities accountable. In 2017, the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Center was established as a follow-up to the decisions taken at the Anti-Corruption Summit held last year in London. The purpose of its activities will be to ensure mutual cooperation between the two countries.
Two countries, Lithuania and Costa Rica, joined the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, and Japan, 14 years after signing, finally ratified the UN Convention against Corruption.
A number of measures have been taken by States in the context of combating foreign bribery, such as legislative changes in Canada that make payments to foreign officials for "facilitation payments" illegal. In the United States, however, such payments are still recognized as a legitimate practice. In the United States, however, the enforcement policy of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for legal persons was updated this year. The policy, published by the U.S. Department of Justice, is intended to provide additional opportunities for foreign bribery offenders to make payments to foreign officials for "facilitation" payments.
A number of countries have also adopted measures to counter corruption in private sector organizations, such as Ukraine's Model Anti-Corruption Programme for Legal Entities, Argentina 's criminalization of legal persons for corruption, and Brazil's publication of guidelines on the specifics of leniency agreements for organizations accused of corruption.
Whistleblowing and whistleblower protection legislation continued to spread around the world. In 2017, whistleblower protection legislation was adopted in Italy. The law, which entered into force on 29 December, established separate whistleblowing mechanisms for the public and private sectors, as well as the possibility for whistleblowers to seek protection from reprisals. After years of discussion, a law was also adopted in Nigeria, which, among other things, provides for whistleblowers to receive rewards for committing corruption.
Countries continue to use information technology in the fight against corruption. For example, in 2017, an online platform was launched for the Car Wash investigation, one of the most high-profile and talked-about corruption scandals of recent years. The corruption investigation initiated in Brazil, which also led to the impeachment of the country's President, has affected many other countries in Latin America, including top officials, such as the current and two former Presidents of Peru and the President of Colombia.
Significant steps to combat corruption and money laundering, significant steps have been taken in the U.K. In particular, a comprehensive anti-corruption strategy for 2017-2022 was adopted, which for each of the 6 anti-corruption priority areas highlights key objectives and outlines the main activities required to achieve this. In addition, this year the U.K. introduced the concept of "wealth of unexplained origin" and established the powers of the Supreme Court to decide on the verification of any property of questionable origin
Another strategic document adopted in 2017 was Myanmar's four-year public service reform strategy, which is a continuation of the country's ongoing anti-corruption reforms. And in Jamaica, the Integrity Commission Act was passed to create a unified mechanism to prevent and combat corruption, with the main innovation being the creation of a special anti-corruption body, the Integrity Commission, with powers to, among other things, investigate corruption cases
In Romania, for example, the attempt by the new authorities to pass an emergency decree decriminalizing certain corruption offences and granting amnesty to prosecuted officials led to mass protests and the decree's cancellation before it entered into force. In Ukraine, a wave of criticism was met with the introduction of an obligation for members of non-governmental organizations and individuals engaged in anti-corruption work to report corruption offences to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Moldova and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.