Business against corruption. Experts discussed the possible amnesty for entrepreneurs

Andrey Nazarov, Co-chairman of the PPC BAC, Vice-President of “Business Russia”, attended the meeting of June 11. According to him, the suggested amnesty of those convicted for economic crimes, and there are over 100 thousand of such people in Russia, will actually affect some 8 to 10 thousand of them. And the authors of the draft law on the amnesty follow the public opinion, which is generally skeptical towards the very idea of the amnesty (36% are against the amnesty, 32% support it, and 32% are undecided). He evaluates that the moods have shifted during the last few months towards the initiative, and that the on-going research will show it. The expert pointed out that it is very important to not allow freedom for those, who committed notorious crimes: for example, dishonest developers convicted for misappropriation of money of private co-investors (the cheated shareholders). Approximately 13 thousand sentences conform to the provisions of the amnesty law, and some two-thirds of those will be set free (for more details see here).

The participants of the round table also considered the matters of cooperation between the business and the state authorities in the sphere of protection of the entrepreneurship’s rights. For example, the appeals of the entrepreneurs regarding the raiders’ attack on “Gatchinsky Alcohol Factory” LLC (Saint Petersburg), “Evrolain” CJSC (Nizhegorodskaya Region), BOZ “Energotsvetmet” OJSC (Yekaterinburg) were read out.

According to Alexander Bolomatov, information of the abuses of local officials is one of many problems for the investment attractiveness of Russia. The comprehensive approach to the resolution of concrete situations by the authorities should be strengthened by the “teamwork” of the business itself, which elaborates its own defense strategies, also at the national level. The advocate pointed out that such opportunities exist in regard to public institutions as well as to the experts’ assistance, and those should be made active use of.

The co-chairpersons of the Public Procedures Center “Business against corruption” Ella Pamfilova, Andrey Porfiriev, Yury Shuvalov, Vladislav Grib as well as other members of the Public Council of the Center, representatives of the public authorities of the Russian Federation, experts and speakers took part in the meeting.

Publications on the subject:

“The task of the authors of the draft amnesty for entrepreneurs is to win the society over” - Kommersant, 11.06.2013.

Business and YUST against corruption, 23.04.2013.

The official website of the Public Procedures Center “Business against corruption” – see here.