Moscow, April 19 – RAPSI. The lower house of the Russian parliament (State Duma) approved amendments to a draft law on Friday proposing to introduce fines of up to 100 times the amount of corrupt payments and bribes.

The Duma is considering the draft law in its second reading.

The draft law proposes a minimum fine of 25,000 rubles. The fine implied as the basic and additional penalty is to be increased from 2,500 to 5,000 rubles.

For promising or mediating a bribe, the draft law envisages a penalty from 25,000 to 500 million rubles with the deprivation of the right to hold specific posts or engage in business activities for up to three years.

In addition, the draft law proposes that several articles in the Criminal Code introduce a basic fine calculated in proportion to the bribe sum.

The draft law envisages four bribe types, specifically: a minor bribe of up to 25,000 rubles penalized by a 25-fold to 50-fold fine; a sizeable bribe from 25,000 to 150,000 rubles penalized by a 30-fold to 60-fold fine; a large bribe from 150,000 to 1 million rubles penalized by a 70-fold to 90-fold fine; and, an especially large bribe of over 1 million rubles penalized by an 80-fold to a hundredfold fine.

According to Garry Minkh, the presidential envoy to the State Duma, over 60 percent of those charged with bribery in 2010 received minor bribes not exceeding 25,000 rubles, while three percent received especially large bribes.  

Today, the Civil Code stipulates a fine of up to 150,000 rubles for a minor bribe and a fine of over 150,000 rubles for a large bribe, with an obligatory deprivation of the right to hold certain posts or engage in business activities for up to three years.