Justice David Steel: “Officials should be given status and confidence”
A section of the International Legal Forum in St. Petersburg was dedicated to fighting corruption. After its work was over, one of the speakers, Mr David Steel, justice of the London's High Court, explained to Vladimir Novikov, the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI) observer, the UK’s specific plans for fighting corruption from July 1.
Corruption index offers no solution
Can corruption be gauged? Why has Russia fared so poorly in the global corruption index in recent years, “vying” with Papua New Guinea and Tajikistan for a spot at the bottom of the rankings? Are the results trustworthy? Robin Hodess, the head of research at Transparency International who oversees the annual release of the Corruption Perception Index, shares her view of the problem in an interview with Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI) correspondent Vladimir Novikov during her visit to Moscow in early May.
Governor must explain his tax return
This week, Russian media reported on a staggering piece of land owned by Bryansk Governor Nilolai Denin. Apart from two houses, three land plots and a car that Denin and his wife share, they also have in ownership land parcels totaling 5,440 hectares, according to the governor’s tax return for 2010, which was recently made public. At the same time, the governor’s tax return for 2009 says his family only owned 117 hectares.
The new price on corruption
The Russian president proposed amendments to the criminal and administrative offense codes to divide bribe takers into four independent groups. The groups would be divided by the bribe amount.