Zee Beam News

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Vasily Kononenko.) It is widely rumored that the Russian authorities are preparing for a major attack on corruption. Anton Ivanov, the chairman of the Supreme Court of Arbitration, said recently that judges would soon be instructed to declare their expenses. A bill based on Western polling experience making amendments to the current law on the status of judges may be submitted to the State Duma by year-end. Judges will be instructed to report regularly on their personal relations, including with neighbors who may want to discuss "in a friendly way" the circumstances of a case with them. Ivanov did not say if candidate judges would be subjected to a lie detector test, as is already done in some regions. He said judges would have to keep a special book in which they would enter all appeals (including unofficial ones) by people with a personal interest in the outcome of a case. These surprise revelations by a high-ranking judge can be viewed as a campaign to protect the judges' esprit de corps. Several weeks ago three judges guilty of fraudulent housing schemes were sentenced to long prison terms in Moscow. It was a high-profile trial because it was the last straw that broke the back of public tolerance regarding bribe-taking judges. Vyacheslav Lebedev, the chairman of the Russian Supreme Court, admitted that 60 judges were sacked for bribery last year. But the real scale of corruption in courts is much bigger. Finally, during administrative reform, which is the baby of the president and the government, it turned out that non-transparency of courts could effectively bury any anti-corruption measures. In a word, enough is enough. However, Georgy Satarov, the head of the INDEM foundation, which regularly runs bribery surveys, said corruption was a system. An offensive against judges would not change the situation in the country much. According to the latest data of the anti-corruption research center Transparency International - Russia, judges, with $210 million in bribes a year, only rank fifth on the scale of corruption. Sixth place is held by the hated traffic inspectors, and the top places are occupied by bureaucrats of all levels, medical staff, members of the admission commissions of higher schools, and the staff of military recruitment offices. Extraordinary actions are needed in a country where "everyone takes bribes whenever possible." This time the authorities will not limit their attack to judicial reform. German Gref, the Minister of Economic Development and Trade, said large-scale work was underway in the Interior Ministry, the Prosecutor General's Office and several other departments to create a system of anti-corruption measures. The minister refused to cite examples for reasons of secrecy but, judging by what he said, there is the political will at the top to deliver a deadly blow at corruption. "Breakthrough achievements are impossible in this sphere," Gref said. "But we can at least make progress." Many politicians and deputies agree with the minister. "Life in Russia is impossible without corruption, but the trouble is that corruption has become widespread villainy, so that even the low-income sectors are forced to pay. It really makes life terrible," said United Russia deputy Valery Draganov, the chairman of the State Duma committee on the economic policy, enterprise and tourism. Nikolai Kuryanovich of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia said: "Corruption cannot be erased; it can only be minimized." It is impossible to say which weapon the Russian authorities may invent for the war on corruption. Most experts say that repressive measures alone would not win the war. Russia should create anti-corruption incentives for officials, so that they would refuse to take bribes to guarantee themselves a befitting and prosperous place in society for the rest of their lives. Vice Premier Alexander Zhukov said at the World Economic Forum in Moscow that the new standards of state services suggested by the government would effectively reduce corruption. The "punishing sword" would be used only within Russia's obligations under the UN Convention Against Corruption, which Russia signed in 2003 and the State Duma ratified recently. It will help bring officials who abuse their powers to criminal account and demand that they declare their assets and property.