The government agreed to remove personal interest from the article on public procurement

The Ministry of Justice explained the initiative by ensuring the development of the economy in the face of external sanctions pressure.The Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor General's Office opposed

On Monday, April 11, the government commission on legislative activities supported the draft federal law "On Amendments to Article 200.4 of the Criminal Code," RBC was told in the press service of the Cabinet.

The accompanying documents (RBC has a copy of the document, its authenticity was confirmed by a federal official) state that the bill was initiated by the Ministry of Justice, and it is prepared to implement a plan of "primary actions to ensure the development of the Russian economy in the face of external sanctions pressure." The developers of the amendments suggest that in the first part of the first article 200.4 of the Criminal Code, the words “out of selfish or other personal interest” should be replaced by the words “out of selfish interest”. The article “Abuse in the field of procurement of goods, works, services to meet state or municipal needs” (Article 200.4 of the Criminal Code) implies a maximum penalty of up to 3 years in prison.

The explanatory note states that the term "other personal interest" is evaluative. According to the developers, the article in the current version is too broad, and this creates the risk of criminal liability for almost any violation of legislation relating to procurement. The documentation notes that the amendments will avoid criminal prosecution and contribute to the optimization of procurement activities.

The law enforcement agencies did not support the project. In a letter from the HEAD of the Main Investigation Department of the Russian Investigative Committee, Denis Kolesnikov, to the Ministry of Justice, it is said that this article does not need to specify the elements of the crime.

Anatoly Razinkin, First Deputy Prosecutor General, wrote in a letter to the Ministry of Justice that now, in addition to Article 200.4 of the Criminal Code, administrative liability is also provided for violations of the law on the contract system. The document says that last year there were 5 crimes under this article, in 2020 - 4, in 2019 - 0.

It is also clear from the letter that criminal offenses in the field of procurement are more often qualified under other articles of the criminal code. “As law enforcement practice shows, annually law enforcement agencies initiate more than 1,000 criminal cases on crimes related to theft, abuse and other acts in the field of procurement and contract execution,” the letter says. The First Deputy Prosecutor General said that the department considers the amendments superfluous, and due to the fact that the criminal law has a mechanism for bringing to justice, it is possible to consider the issue of decriminalizing Article 200.4 of the Criminal Code and recognizing it as invalid.

RBC sent inquiries to the press services of the Ministry of Justice, the Prosecutor General's Office and the Investigative Committee.

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Alexey Gavrishev, an expert in the field of criminal law, calls the mitigation formal. “I believe that such an initiative of the Ministry of Justice is intended to demonstrate to the public a formal mitigation of punishment for crimes committed in the field of entrepreneurial activity, while the main article under which businessmen are involved - 159 of the Criminal Code (fraud) has never been mitigated,” he said. .