Supreme Court Clarifies Difference Between Bribes and Payment

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – July 10, 2013) The receipt of payment for professional services cannot be considered a bribe, the Supreme Court has ruled, a news report said Wednesday.

A bribe is the receipt of money or services in return for actions performed by a public official using the authority delegated to him, the court said.

The ruling may affect the way authorities carry out their stated aim of fighting corruption. Law enforcement agencies will no longer be able to boost their performance results in the fight against corruption with trumped up cases against teachers giving private lessons or doctors recommending paid treatment to their patients, BFM.ru reported.

“The court understandably wants to stop this perverse practice among law enforcement agencies by clearly stating that administrative functions provided by an official for money will be considered a bribe,” managing partner of law firm Leontyev and Partners Vyacheslav Leontyev said.

Criminal cases involving so-called “everyday corruption” involving teachers and doctors may become a thing of the past after the ruling, he said.

The court also ruled that evidence of bribe-taking obtained by the law enforcement agencies using provocation or set-ups is inadmissible. If, that is, there is no prior indication that the official is looking to receive a bribe.

However, proving provocation may be quite difficult in real legal practice, since it often requires concrete audio and video evidence, instruments that fall under the prerogative of those very same law enforcement agencies, legal experts said.