High-ranking civil servants won’t have right to accept money from abroad – government

(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 9, 2013) Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed an anti-corruption directive which prohibits civil servants from engaging in activities funded by foreign or international organizations.

The ban will apply to civil servants employed by the Pension Fund, Social Insurance Fund, Federal Mandatory Health Insurance Fund and other organizations where appointments and dismissals are ordered by the president or government.

The ban could also apply to civil servants employed by other funds or organizations, if they were established by state agencies or organizations. Such employees will have no right to accept foreign or international honorary or special titles, except scientific degrees, without the employer’s written permission. Nor will they have the right to join the executive boards of supervisory councils or other bodies of foreign nonprofit organizations, or their branches operating in Russia, unless otherwise stated in Russia’s agreements or laws.

Civil servants will not be allowed to accept rewards from private individuals or legal entities in connection with their work. This ban will not apply to gifts presented at official events, during business missions or other cases, enumerated in regulatory laws.

Civil servants will be obliged to inform their employer, the prosecutor’s offices and other state agencies about attempts to involve them in corrupt transactions, about any conflict of interests and about gifts, whose value exceeds 3,000 rubles.

Civil servants will also be obliged to transfer their own securities into a management trust, if ownership of these assets might lead to a conflict of interests.

Civil servants or candidates to fill civil servant vacancies will be obliged to submit declarations of their incomes and property, as well as the incomes and property owned by their spouses and underage children.