The fight against corruption in the era of Peter the Great. Unexpected facts about corruption
ConceptIn accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 1 of the Federal Law dated December 25, 2008 No. 273-FZ “On
anti-corruption", corruption means
“abuse of official position, bribery,
bribery, abuse of power,
commercial bribery or other illegal use
an individual of his official position contrary to
legitimate interests of society and the state in order to
receiving benefits in the form of money, valuables, other property
or services of a property nature, other property
rights for yourself or for third parties or illegal
provision of such benefit to a specified person by others
individuals"
Legal basis for combating corruption
In accordance with Article 2 of the Federal Law “ Legal basis counteractioncorruption constitute the Constitution of the Russian Federation,
federal constitutional laws, generally recognized
principles and norms of international law and
international treaties of the Russian Federation, this
Federal law and other federal laws,
regulatory legal acts of the President of the Russian Federation
Federation, as well as regulatory legal acts of the Government
Russian Federation, regulatory legal acts of other
federal government bodies, regulatory
legal acts of state authorities of the subjects
Russian Federation and municipal legal acts."
The international cooperation
Russian Federation ratified a number of international agreements inin this area, in particular:
1. UN Convention against Corruption (the Russian Federation has signed
Convention of December 9, 2003 (Order of the President of the Russian Federation dated December 6, 2003 No.
581-rp), ratified with statements (Federal Law of 03/08/2006
No. 40-FZ);
2. Convention on Criminal Law against Corruption (concluded in
Strasbourg 01/27/1999 For the Russian Federation, this document came into force
in force from February 1, 2007);
3. Anti-Bribery Convention officials foreign countries
when conducting international business transactions (the Convention has entered into
into force on February 15, 1999, the Russian Federation acceded to the Convention
(Federal Law No. 3-FZ dated 01.02.2012), which came into force for
Russian Federation 04/17/2012);
4. UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
(The Russian Federation signed the Convention on December 12, 2000 (Order
President of the Russian Federation dated December 9, 2000 No. 556-rp), ratified with statements
(Federal Law of April 26, 2004 No. 26-FZ). The Convention entered into force for
Russian Federation June 25, 2004)
History of corruption in Russia
One of the first legislative restrictions on corruptionactions were noted under Ivan III.
Ivan the Terrible introduced the death penalty as punishment for
excessive bribes
Peter I introduced the position of governor general. He
was in charge of both civil and military administration, had to
fight judicial red tape, has the right to suspend
execution of a court decision
Decree of the Council of People's Commissars (SNK) of the RSFSR of May 8, 1918
"On Bribery" became the first in Soviet Russia legal
an act that provided for criminal liability for
bribery - “imprisonment for a term of at least five years,
combined with forced labor for the same period.”
10 facts about corruption
1. “Feeding” officials in Rus' was officially abolished onlyin 1556 under Ivan the Terrible. He introduced the death penalty, however,
only for excessive bribes.
2. Under Peter I, receiving a bribe in any form began to be considered
crime, since officials began to be paid a fixed
salary. The Siberian governor was exposed for corruption and hanged
Gagarin, and Menshikov miraculously escaped exile to Siberia when
it turned out that he took bribes for providing profitable military
contracts.
3. Catherine II acted more softly. She banned bribes, but
bribe takers were not executed. Their names were announced publicly
familiarization. 4. In Finland, a bribe can be punished with up to 2 years in prison. Except
In addition, the official may be prohibited from holding certain positions.
5. In Germany, bribe-takers are punished with fines and imprisonment
freedom for up to 3 years. The same ones are punished much more severely
actions performed by a judge or arbitrator, they entail
entails imprisonment for up to 10 years.
6. In France, for a bribe, managers and employees of industrial or
commercial enterprises can receive up to 7 years, and official
persons – up to 10 years. This penalty is doubled if the actions
the criminal had some consequences. 7. In Italy, bribes are theoretically punishable from 4 to 12 years.
8. US law provides for punishment in the form of
a fine, the amount of which is calculated as triple the amount of the bribe,
or imprisonment for up to 15 years. Both punishments can
be combined by court decision. 9. There are two laws on bribery in Great Britain. Briber
sentenced to imprisonment or payment of costs
bribes. Additionally, he is deprived of the right to be elected or
appointed to any position for a period of seven years. When
re-conviction, the offender may be sentenced to imprisonment
official rights forever, as well as deprivation of the right to any
compensation or pension.
10. The harshest punishment for a bribe exists in modern
communist states - Cuba and China. There for bribes
the death penalty is provided. And, if in Cuba due to national
traditions and character, bribes are often overlooked, then in
China has executed 10,000 people for bribery since 2000.
officials.
It was believed that our two biggest troubles were fools and roads. But there is also a more global problem - corruption. The authorities talk about an uncompromising fight against corruption, and yet almost every day the media talks about some corrupt high-ranking official. It seems that it is very difficult to find an honest and incorruptible official.
Nowadays, corruption is being combated, although not very successfully. They tried to fight it in past centuries.
Did you know that December 9th is “Anti-Corruption Day”? Corruption is not a new word. It has existed at all times: both today and hundreds and even thousands of years ago. The volume of bribes is simply amazing. But the fight against bribery has almost never brought tangible results. The greed for profit always overpowered the fear of possible punishment. During the entire period of the fight against corruption in history, a lot of interesting things have been accumulated.
Global corruption
In the not particularly rich country of Zimbabwe, doctors in maternity hospitals established a “birth fee” of $50. Remarkably, this represents approximately a third of the average annual earnings of a Zimbabwean. In addition to this, a fine for screaming during childbirth was also introduced - $5. It is not surprising that after giving birth, many flee through the hospital windows in order to avoid exorbitant fees.
in 2011, Uzbekistan topped the list of the most corrupt countries in the world. This is the first country from post-Soviet space. Before this, Somalia had the palm.
In Mexico, the volume of bribes reaches $5 billion. This is approximately 10% of the country's GDP. The country receives approximately the same amount of income from tourism.
China has some of the harshest penalties for bribery, often resulting in the death penalty. Since the beginning of the 2000s, more than 10 thousand officials have been executed. More than 100 thousand were sentenced to imprisonment from 10 to 20 years.
Countries with minimal levels of corruption:
Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, Norway, Singapore, Canada, Netherlands
The most corrupt countries in the world
Uzbekistan, Somalia, Afghanistan, North Korea, Vessels, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Iraq, Zimbabwe, Haiti
According to the World Bank, the volume of all bribes worldwide is estimated at $1 trillion.
Moreover, these are official statistics. But usually, the real amount can be safely increased several times. Particularly interesting is the fact that in those countries in which the fight against corruption is especially zealous, the annual volume of “dirty” money is comparable to the country’s budget, and sometimes significantly exceeds it.
Corruption in Russia
In this regard, Russia is also far from being in the last ranks. According to various sources, the volume of bribes in Russia ranges from 300 to 350 billion dollars. For comparison, Greece's GDP is 300 billion, in Russia - 900 billion. dollars. But if we take a less economically developed country, for example, Japan, then its GDP is 4.5 trillion dollars!
In terms of corruption, Russia is in the range of 130-140 places out of 183 countries of the world. On the list it is located next to countries such as Azerbaijan, Belarus, Uganda, and Nigeria.
facts about corruption
In 2008, then-President Dmitry Medvedev declared a full-scale war on corruption. The most surprising thing is that over the past time the average bribe level has increased more than 30 times and currently amounts to about 400-500 thousand rubles. The amount of commercial bribery is 5 million rubles. Apparently the officials decided not to take risks on trifles, since a hunt was announced for them. If you take bribes, then take them big.
In preparation for the APEC summit in Vladivostok, by 2012, during construction, according to official data, about 100 million rubles were stolen. Criminal cases were opened. The culprits were punished. But essentially this is a drop in the ocean. According to unofficial data, tens of times more were stolen. The preparations for the summit itself cost the treasury more than 300 billion rubles.
Lawyer and blogger Alexei Navalny became widely known as an anti-corruption fighter after he published a post on his blog about how budget money was wasted during the construction of the Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean" As Navalny claimed, more than $4 billion was stolen during construction. It turns out that 1,100 rubles were stolen from each resident of the country.
IN Zimbabwe Women in labor are charged $50 for medical services. This is approximately a third of the annual income of the average citizen of this country. In addition, doctors decided to fine women $5 for each cry during contractions. After this, young mothers simply began to run away from maternity hospitals in a desire to evade payments.
Interesting historical fact that the first politician in Russia Peter I became the one who declared the fight against corruption. He established a fiscal service to combat bribery. So already in 1721, the corrupt official of that time, the Siberian governor M.P. Gagarin was hanged for financial fraud, and the body of the criminal was transported from place to place, showing officials “to be disgraceful.”
References to the distant past can also be made in history. USA. In the mid-nineteenth century, the leader of the Democratic Party, William Tweed, was such a fast corrupt official that the construction of the courthouse on Chambers Street cost New York one and a half times more than the purchase of Alaska, which, by the way, was sold for 11,362 million rubles in gold (that’s 7.2 million dollars at that rate). At the same time, the leader did not get along with his fellow party members, which led to his arrest, and soon death in Ludlow prison, through the construction of which Tweed also once replenished his pocket.
Corruption is eternal. It permeates both times and countries. Thus, according to the World Bank, the volume of “dirty money”, taking into account all states, annually amounts to 1 trillion dollars. But what’s even more interesting is that countries that fight corruption are able to enrich the national budget by 500%.
Maybe someone is actively fighting, but for Russia this confrontation is being achieved with great difficulty, which does not bring noticeable results. On the contrary, according to the National Anti-Corruption Committee, the volume of stolen money in our country reaches $300 billion per year, which is equivalent to the GDP of Greece.
The investigation is interesting in this vein Alexei Navalny on the establishment of the Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean pipeline. According to an eminent blogger, during the construction of this facility, the national treasury was looted for $4 billion. This amount means stealing 1,100 rubles from the pocket of every resident of the country.
Corruption has many faces. But often we don't see them. And if you manage to look, it’s hard to believe that state thieves are tormented by remorse and are sad. But there are also exceptions to the rules.
Thus, in 2012, a scandal involving the theft of 39 billion rubles in the Ministry Agriculture thundered throughout the country not only because of the revealed fact, but also in connection with the burning tears of the ex-Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture Elena Skrynnik, convincing the studio of the Ren-TV channel of her innocence.
This is the first case of extreme sensitivity of superiors who have broken the law. Will officials suspected of illegal actions still cry? Most likely no. Will corruption continue to flourish? Probably yes. Therefore, the facts presented in the article are not the last, and this list will be replenished, acquiring new exciting information.
Kristina Tereshkova
No one has been able to cope with it yet. However, in Russian history There were periods when bribery was eradicated by 90%. Maybe today it makes sense to remember the methods of fighting corruption that were well established by our ancestors?
ROOTS OF DISASTER
It is hardly possible today to determine when the first time in human history a bribe was given. Most likely, this shameful event occurred during the primitive communal system, when someone from the tribe presented the leader with a gift in order to gain his favor. With the advent of the first states on Earth, centralized power and the class of officials, rulers waged an endless struggle against bribes.
One of the first campaigns against corruption was organized in Ancient Babylon, more than 4,400 years ago. The king of Lagash carried out a merciless reform government controlled, main goal which was the suppression of abuses of officials and judges, as well as the cessation of extortion Money from the priests from the royal administration.
The first mention of a fine for corruption is in the Code of Laws of Hammurabi, issued in 1780 BC. The cuneiform symbols of ancient laws read: “If a judge tried a case, made a decision and made a document with a seal, and then changed his decision, then this judge should be convicted of changing the decision that he decided and the amount of the claim that was available in this case, he should pay 12 times the amount; Moreover, in the assembly he must be driven out of his judicial chair, and he must not return and sit with the judges in court.” It is noteworthy that, according to legend, Hammurabi received the code of laws from the hands of the sun god Shamash himself. It turns out that the gods themselves had a hand in the fight against earthly corruption!
Unfortunately, over time, a bribe ceased to be something out of the ordinary, and the Ancient philosophers even took it for granted. Thus, Aristotle, reflecting on the topic of bribes, argued that if a person bought a public position (which is modern world happens all the time), then, quite naturally, he will take money, making a profit from his status.
Close to Ancient Greece The Roman Empire also left. Among officials it was believed that without the necessary “lubrication” the state machine simply could not work. However, the rulers had a different opinion on this matter. Julius Caesar forbade his governors in the provinces to accept golden wreaths from the population, and executed judges for taking bribes.
EXECUTIVE STEALERS AND BRIBERY TAKEERS
It is curious that at the dawn of Russian statehood, during the Principality of Moscow in the 15th-16th centuries, there was a so-called feeding system, when officials literally fed themselves at the expense of the population of the territories entrusted to them. Over time, princes and then kings tried to regulate feeding, but the phenomenon itself implied legalized bribes, although the ban on officials receiving bribes was spelled out in the Code of Laws of 1497, published during the reign of Ivan III.
The real war against bribery unfolded under Ivan the Terrible, who, as is known, actively introduced centralized state power in Rus'. Having published a new Code of Law in 1550, the formidable tsar ordered officials to be executed or whipped for bribes. If an official accepted an item as a gift and was caught, the bribe was tied to his neck and forced to walk around the city with it. Particularly large bribes taken without rank were punishable by execution.
Boris Godunov has proven himself to be a stern fighter against corruption, whose reign came at an extremely difficult time for Russia. If a judge was caught bribing, he paid a large fine, and his estate went to the treasury. If a clerk (a government official) was caught taking a bribe, a sack with a bribe was placed around his neck, as under Ivan the Terrible, he was taken around the city and mercilessly flogged, and then sent to prison. It must be said that such visual agitation for honest government service yielded good results. There is less stealing! But, unfortunately, what followed the reign of Boris Godunov Time of Troubles gave rise to many swindlers who wanted to make money at the expense of the state.
To fight corruption and restore the fullness of state power, as well as to ensure that “the tsar’s thoughts and deeds were carried out according to his wishes, and the boyars and Duma people knew nothing about it,” a Secret Secretariat was organized under Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov. order. Despite the fact that the people called the new king the Quietest, he did not stand on ceremony with bribe-takers. The Council Code of 1649 directly prescribed for bribes to impose a fine, a ban on public office, whipping or whipping, as well as cutting off a hand or execution for theft on an especially large scale. I wonder how they would react to the introduction of similar measures in modern Russia liberal public?
FIRST IN EVERYTHING
The only one who managed to cope at least temporarily with corruption in Russia was the reformer Tsar Peter I. And it is not surprising, because he was faced with grandiose state tasks: creating a powerful army and navy, building large cities, transforming everything government system countries. The rust of corruption could have brought all efforts to naught, and Peter I resolutely got down to business. The tsar quite rightly considered that official decrees and orders cannot solve the problem; fish, including those from his inner circle, must be caught with live bait. So in 1711, the institute of fiscals was established, who were actually given an indulgence to take any action, as long as as many corrupt officials as possible were identified. Fiscals were obliged to “secretly supervise” all state officials. Moreover, if the denunciation was confirmed, the fiscal was entitled to half of the fine collected from the official and the property confiscated from him. But the most amazing thing is that for a false or unconfirmed denunciation, the fiscal faced absolutely nothing. Those whom he slandered did not even have the right to show annoyance under pain of severe punishment. If a denunciation of an official taking bribes came from an ordinary citizen, he was due 25% of the amount of the requested bribe!
In addition to the fiscal officers, who carried out secret surveillance of officials, they were also controlled by employees of the prosecutor's office. To top it all off, Peter I created the post of Prosecutor General of the Senate, whose duties included reporting to the Tsar about abuses and selfish interests in state affairs by the country's highest officials.
The most instructive thing is that, unlike our time, Peter I, when catching a corrupt official, punished him, regardless of high positions, titles and past merits. The Siberian governor Gagarin, after being exposed for corruption, was publicly hanged, the Arkhangelsk vice-governor Kurbatov was sentenced to a significant fine, and the vice-governor Korsakov was publicly flogged. Chief Fiscal Nesterov, the same one who had previously exposed the hanged Gagarin, did not escape punishment: he was publicly quartered for a large bribe.
Only thanks to such radical measures was corruption in Russia under Peter I practically eradicated. Of course, the use of Petrovsky methods of fighting corruption in modern Russia will raise the prestige of the authorities and save considerable public money!
In Russia, where the level of corruption is not inferior to Russia, they decided to fight bribery with the help of psychology. Special schools for civil servants have opened in the country. In specific classes that combine elements of meditation, martial arts and strength exercises, officials undergo the program “Exercises to develop self-discipline skills in the fight against corruption.” At the end of each day of training, the official must honestly answer the question: “Will I be able to resist the temptation to accept a bribe of 15 thousand dollars? What if they offer 1.5 million dollars? And am I ready to bear the punishment - several years in prison? What if the death penalty? After such training, life itself serves as an exam, because officials in China are shot if they are caught taking a bribe. Since 2000, the country has executed more than 10,000 officials, including the highest ranks. Through simple mathematical calculations.
1 According to the 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index compiled by Transparency International, Russia ranks 143rd in terms of corruption among 183 countries. It shares this honorable position with Azerbaijan, Belarus, Nigeria, Uganda and East Timor.
2 Uzbekistan set a kind of record in the field of corruption: in 2011 it became the first post-Soviet republic, which topped The Daily Beast’s global corruption extortion ranking. In this area, the Uzbeks even pushed aside the multiple champions - the Somalis (however, Tet was removed from the competition altogether, which somewhat spoils the Uzbek triumph).
3 Zimbabwean doctors have become particularly famous for their immoral method of bribing the population. In a country where you have to pay $50 to give birth - about a third of the average Zimbabwean's annual income - obstetricians have also come up with the idea of fining women in labor $5 for each cry during contractions. As a result, mothers and their newborns had to escape from the maternity hospital through the window in order to avoid paying exorbitant fines.
4 In ancient Persia, it was easy to pay for bribery with your own skin. If you believe the historian Herodotus (although he wrote a lot of things there in his writings), in the 6th century BC. The Persian king Cambyses ordered to skin the corrupt judge Sisamnes alive and cover the judge's chair with it. The son of the executed man was appointed to the post of judge: so that the judge would always remember how his career could end.
5 Peter I was the first of the Russian monarchs to establish a fiscal service in Russia to identify “all kinds of bribes,” and ordered the population to notify the Senate about corrupt officials “without any fear.” In 1721, a prominent corrupt official of that time, the Siberian governor M.P. Gagarin, was hanged under the windows of the Justice College in St. Petersburg, and after the execution the corpse was transported from place to place several times as a warning to officials.
6 The Tweed Courthouse on Chambers Street in New York City became famous throughout the world as a symbol of municipal corruption. William Tweed, who worked in the local administration in 1850-70, knew how to get rich on everything that came to hand. As a result, the construction of the court cost the US treasury one and a half times more than the purchase of Alaska from Russia. The corrupt official was eventually exposed, and he died in Ludlow prison, on the construction of which he had also managed to make money before.
7 According to the World Bank, the annual volume of bribes worldwide is more than $1 trillion.
8 As the same World Bank has found, countries that fight corruption and improve compliance with laws can increase their annual national income, in other cases by up to 500%.
9 The North Korean authorities, in principle, do not need reasons to execute someone, but it is most convenient to execute officials on charges of corruption. In May 2012, such an incident occurred with North Korean official Choi Song Chol. However, it does not seem that the executions had an effect: in the 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index, the DPRK occupies an honorable second-to-last place.
10 Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in 2008 announced the start of a large-scale fight against corruption. In this matter, officials have achieved extraordinary success: in particular, over the past four years the average size bribes in Russia have increased 33 times and today amount to 300 thousand rubles.
11 The volume of corruption in Russia, according to the National Anti-Corruption Committee, is about $300 billion, which is approximately equal to the annual GDP of Greece.
12 Lawyer and blogger Alexei Navalny gained almost all-Russian fame as a fighter against corruption after he published an entry on his blog in November 2010 about how the budget was cut for the construction of the Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean pipeline. According to Navalny, about $4 billion was stolen during the construction of this pipeline, that is, approximately 1,100 rubles disappeared from the wallet of every Russian.
13 The holding of the APEC summit in Vladivostok in September 2012 suddenly resulted in a corruption scandal: saboteurs stole almost 100 million rubles during the construction of the summit facilities! A criminal case was immediately opened into the theft, although we still do not understand who could be surprised, or even more shocked, by this amount, practically invisible in the total volume of Russian corruption.
14 Disgraced oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky called corruption a more serious threat to the world than nuclear weapons, since if they need to get a nuclear bomb, terrorists will only need to bribe the right people. The expert opinion of the disgraced ex-oligarch can be trusted: shortly before his arrest in 2003, the ex-head of YUKOS was working on a report on corruption for Putin.
15 Autumn 2012 became generous with ostentatious scandals with Russian corrupt officials: the former head of the Ministry of Agriculture Elena Skrynnik, for example, was brought to tears on Ren-TV. She convinced the audience that she did not take 39 billion rubles that had mysteriously disappeared from the budget of the Rosagroleasing company. This is the first case of public repentance by an official in modern Russian history.