ST 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
1. Receipt by an official, a foreign official or an official of a public international organization personally or through an intermediary of a bribe in the form of money, securities, other property or in the form of illegal provision of services of a property nature, provision of other property rights (including when the bribe is at the direction of the official, it is transferred to another individual or legal entity) for performing actions (inaction) in favor of the bribe-giver or persons represented by him, if the specified actions (inaction) are within the official powers of the official or if, by virtue of his official position, he can contribute to the specified actions (inaction) , as well as for general patronage or connivance in service -
shall be punishable by a fine in the amount of up to one million rubles, or in the amount of the wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to two years, or in the amount of ten to fifty times the amount of the bribe with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a period of up to three years, or correctional labor for a period of one to two years with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a period of up to three years, or forced labor for a period of up to five years with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a period of up to three years, or imprisonment for a term of up to three years with or without a fine in the amount of ten to twenty times the amount of the bribe.
2. Receiving a bribe in a significant amount by an official, a foreign official or an official of a public international organization -
shall be punishable by a fine in the amount of two hundred thousand to one million five hundred thousand rubles, or in the amount of the wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of six months to two years, or in the amount of thirty to sixty times the amount of the bribe, with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities. activities for a term of up to three years or imprisonment for a term of up to six years with or without a fine of up to thirty times the amount of the bribe and with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to three years or without it.
3. Receipt by an official, a foreign official or an official of a public international organization of a bribe for illegal actions (inaction) -
shall be punishable by a fine in the amount of five hundred thousand to two million rubles, or in the amount of wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of six months to two years, or in the amount of forty to seventy times the amount of the bribe with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to five years or imprisonment for a term of three to eight years with or without a fine of up to forty times the amount of the bribe and with or without deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to five years.
4. Acts provided for in parts one to three of this article, committed by a person holding a public office of the Russian Federation or a public office of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, as well as the head of a local government body, -
shall be punishable by a fine in the amount of one million to three million rubles, or in the amount of wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of one to three years, or in the amount of sixty to eighty times the amount of the bribe with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to seven years or imprisonment for a term of five to ten years with or without a fine of up to fifty times the amount of the bribe and with or without deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to seven years.
5. Acts provided for in parts one, three, four of this article, if they are committed:
a) by a group of persons by prior conspiracy or an organized group;
b) with extortion of a bribe;
c) on a large scale, -
shall be punishable by a fine in the amount of two million to four million rubles, or in the amount of wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of two to four years, or in the amount of seventy to ninety times the amount of the bribe, with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a period up to ten years or imprisonment for a term of seven to twelve years with or without a fine of up to sixty times the amount of the bribe and with or without deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to ten years.
6. Acts provided for in parts one, three, four, paragraphs “a” and “b” of part five of this article, committed on an especially large scale –
shall be punishable by a fine in the amount of three million to five million rubles, or in the amount of wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of three to five years, or in the amount of eighty to one hundred times the amount of the bribe, with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a period up to fifteen years or imprisonment for a term of eight to fifteen years with or without a fine of up to seventy times the amount of the bribe and with or without deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to fifteen years.
Notes.
1. In this article, Articles 291 and 291.1 of this Code, a significant amount of a bribe is recognized as an amount of money, the cost of securities, other property, services of a property nature, other property rights exceeding twenty-five thousand rubles, a large amount of a bribe - exceeding one hundred fifty thousand rubles, especially large bribes - exceeding one million rubles.
2. In this article, articles 291, 291.1 and 304 of this Code, a foreign official means any appointed or elected person holding any position in the legislative, executive, administrative or judicial body of a foreign state, and any person performing any a public function for a foreign state, including a public agency or public enterprise; An official of a public international organization means an international civil servant or any person who is authorized by such an organization to act on its behalf.
Commentary to Art. 290 Criminal Code
1. The law understands a bribe as money, securities, other property, services of a property nature, and other property rights. The content of these types of bribes is disclosed in paragraph 9 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated July 9, 2013 No. 24 “On judicial practice in cases of bribery and other corruption crimes.” The bribe is of an exclusively property nature and is subject to a monetary value in a court verdict; Accordingly, positive reviews, reviews, or services of a sexual nature provided directly by the person giving such a “bribe” cannot be considered a bribe.
2. The objective side of receiving a bribe involves alternative options: a) acceptance of the bribe personally by an official; b) acceptance of a bribe by relatives or friends of an official with his consent or if he did not object to it; c) acceptance of a bribe by an intermediary with subsequent transfer of the bribe to an official, his relatives or friends; d) acceptance of a bribe by any other individual or legal entity at the direction of an official.
In this case, a bribe is received either for the commission of specific actions (inaction) in favor of the bribe giver or the persons represented by him, if such actions (inaction) are within the official powers of the official or if, by virtue of his official position, he can facilitate such actions (inaction), or for facilitating commission of the specified actions (inaction), or for general patronage or connivance in the service (see paragraphs 2 - 5 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of July 9, 2013 No. 24).
3. Receiving a bribe is considered a completed crime from the moment the recipient accepts at least part of the transferred values; other options for ending the crime are disclosed in paragraphs 10 - 11 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of July 9, 2013 No. 24.
At the same time, the actions (inaction) for which a bribe is given are outside the scope of the crime, however, depending on the time of their commission, two types of bribes are distinguished: a bribe-bribery, in which the bribe is transferred before the commission of the actions (inaction) of interest, and a bribe-bribery. a reward in which a bribe is transferred after performing the actions of interest (inaction). No previous conditionality of the bribe is required (clause 8 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of July 9, 2013 No. 24).
4. Special subject: in addition to Russian officials (see commentary to Article 285 of the Criminal Code), they can also be a foreign official or an official of a public international organization (note 2 to Article 290 of the Criminal Code).
5. The qualifying elements of a crime are related to:
a) with the amount of the bribe (Part 2, paragraph “c”, Part 5, Part 6; Note 1 to Article 290 of the Criminal Code);
b) the illegality of the actions (inactions) for which a bribe is received (Part 3; Clause 6 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of July 9, 2013 No. 24). If the person receiving the bribe commits another crime for the bribe, the crime committed is qualified as a set of crimes (clause 22 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of July 9, 2013 No. 24);
c) signs of a special subject or complicity in receiving a bribe (part 4, paragraph “a”, part 5; paragraphs 15 - 17 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of July 9, 2013 No. 24);
d) extortion of a bribe (clause “b”, part 5; clause 18 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of July 9, 2013 No. 24).
6. Receiving a bribe should be distinguished from fraud (Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) (see paragraph 24 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of July 9, 2013 No. 24).
Definition of bribe
Providing a certain amount of funds for any action is an offense. Such a crime is regulated by the provisions of Art. 290 and 291 of the Criminal Code. This economic offense is considered quite serious, as it is the cause of the high level of corruption in the country. Due to such actions, officials and officials of various organizations abuse their powers. Typically, bribes are offered to people holding high positions in a company or government agency.
All people should know what is considered a bribe, since when it is detected, selfish intent must be detected. A bribe is the procedure of transferring funds or any valuable items to another person. For these values, the bribe-taker performs certain actions that benefit the bribe-giver.
For such actions to be recognized as a crime, funds must be transferred only to officials who work in state or municipal organizations.
Second commentary to Art. 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
1. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation connects the subject of the crime only with benefits of a property nature: a bribe can be expressed in the form of money, securities, other property, or in the form of illegal provision of services of a property nature, the provision of other property rights. Acceptance of the listed items and rights is assessed as receiving a bribe in cases where the bribe, at the direction of an official, is transferred to another individual or legal entity.
2. By money, the law means banknotes in Russian or foreign currency that are in circulation or withdrawn from circulation, but subject to exchange for new ones.
A security is a document that certifies, in compliance with the established form and required details, property rights, the exercise or transfer of which is possible only upon presentation. Securities include government and non-government bonds, bills of exchange, checks, deposit and savings certificates, bearer bank savings books, bills of lading, shares and other documents that are classified as securities by the legislation of the Russian Federation (Articles 142, 143 of the Civil Code).
3. The concepts of illegal provision of services of a property nature and the provision of property rights are explained in paragraph 9 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated July 9, 2013 No. 24 “On judicial practice in cases of bribery and other corruption crimes.”
4. Receiving a bribe is qualified under Part 1 of Art. 290 of the Criminal Code, provided that the value of the subject of the crime exceeds 10 thousand rubles.
5. The objective side of the crime is receiving a bribe personally or through an intermediary.
Receiving a bribe in person should be understood as its actual acceptance not only by the official himself, but also by his relatives or friends with his consent or in the absence of his objections.
Receiving a bribe through an intermediary means that an official receives a bribe not from the hands of the bribe giver, but from a person who acts as a transmission link between the bribe giver and the bribe taker.
6. The mere receipt by an official of a property benefit does not mean receiving a bribe. A necessary feature of this crime is that the bribe is conditioned by the subsequent actions of the official. This means that the briber does not simply give the official a gift, but transfers material assets or provides a service of a property nature in exchange for the official taking (or not taking) reciprocal actions in his favor. The law provides for four forms of behavior of an official desirable for the bribe-giver in response to the transfer of a bribe to him - it is handed over under the condition that in exchange for the bribe the official will perform actions (inactions) in favor of the bribe-giver or the persons he represents, which:
a) are within the official powers of the official;
b) are not part of his official powers, but he may contribute to the commission of such actions (inaction) due to his official position;
c) express general patronage of the bribe-giver on the part of the official;
d) mean connivance with the bribe-giver on the part of the official.
7. The commission of actions (inactions) that are within the official powers of an official should be understood as the commission or abstention from committing in the interests of the briber of actions that are within the official powers of the official and which he should or could have committed in his service.
8. Promoting the perpetrators, thanks to their official position, to carry out actions desirable for the bribe-giver, which are not included in his official powers, means using the significance and authority of the position held by the bribe-taker, his superior position in relation to persons who are directly responsible for the issue of interest to the bribe-giver, as well as official relations with other officials. In this case, the briber does not use his official powers, but his official position, understood in a broad sense. However, it must be borne in mind that the use by a person of not official, but personal relationships with officials authorized to resolve the required issue does not mean the use of official position.
9. The third option for the official behavior desired by the bribe-giver is general patronage towards the bribe-giver. Meanwhile, the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation unreasonably narrowed this form, interpreting it as general patronage in the service, understanding by it undeserved promotions, unjustified promotion, and the commission of other protective actions in relation to a subordinate that are not caused by necessity (clause 5 of the said resolution). In fact, a bribe for general patronage may well be received by an official to whom the bribe giver is not subordinate, not controlled or supervised (for example, the head of a construction company in relation to the head of the district administration).
10. Connivance in service means failure by an official to take measures against subordinates who commit disciplinary offenses, make omissions in their work, etc. (Clause 4 of the said resolution).
11. So, a necessary sign of receiving a bribe is that it is conditioned by certain response actions of an official. This applies equally to both a bribe-bribery, when it precedes the actions of an official desired by the bribe-giver, and a bribe-reward, in which the bribe is given to an official after he has committed actions (inaction) in the interests of the bribe-giver. If an official performs legal and appropriate actions in his service, without counting on remuneration from private individuals, and then receives from an interested party an unpromised and therefore unexpected gratitude in material form, then there is no element of receiving a bribe.
12. The conditionality of a bribe on the reciprocal actions of the bribe-taker is a necessary condition for his criminal liability. However, these actions themselves are outside the scope of the objective side of receiving a bribe; their actual commission is not required to qualify the actions of the bribe recipient. Even if, when receiving a bribe, the official did not really intend to fulfill the demand of the bribe giver, there is corpus delicti. However, in cases where an official accepts a reward for performing obviously impossible actions that are not within his competence, and he objectively cannot commit them or facilitate their commission by another official, the act should be qualified not as receiving a bribe, but as fraud (clause 24 of the said resolution).
13. Receiving a bribe should be considered a completed crime at the moment the official actually accepts at least part of the agreed bribe (clause 10 of the said resolution). If an official fails to receive a bribe for reasons beyond his control, his actions should be qualified as an attempt to take a bribe. However, an offer by an official to give him a bribe, as well as an expression of his consent to accept the proposed bribe, cannot be considered an attempt, if this person has not taken any specific actions to implement the expressed intention.
In cases where the subject of the crime is illegal services of a property nature, the crime is completed from the beginning of the execution, with the consent of the official, of actions directly aimed at acquiring property benefits (clause 11 of the resolution).
14. The subjective side of taking a bribe is characterized by direct intent and selfish motive, which necessarily follows from the essence of the crime.
15. Subject of the crime (Part 1) - special: an official who does not hold government positions in the Russian Federation or a constituent entity of the Russian Federation or the position of head of a local government body, as well as a foreign official or an official of a public international organization (see note 2 to Art. 290 CC).
16. Qualified personnel (part 2) involves receiving a bribe in a significant amount (i.e. in an amount over 25 thousand rubles - note 1).
17. Qualified personnel (part 3) involves receiving a bribe for illegal actions, i.e. for illegal actions that did not arise from the official powers of the bribe recipient or were committed contrary to the interests of the service, as well as actions containing signs of a crime or other offense. To qualify a crime on this basis, the determining factor is the receipt of a bribe under the condition of committing illegal actions, and not the actual commission of them. If, in exchange for a bribe, an official actually commits illegal actions that are not criminal, then their commission is covered by part 3 of Art. 290 of the Criminal Code, and if such actions contain elements of another crime (forgery, abuse of power, falsification of evidence, etc.), then they require independent qualification.
It is noteworthy that the law does not use the sign of deliberate illegality.
18. A particularly qualifying feature (Part 4 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code) is the receipt of a bribe by a person holding a public position in the Russian Federation or a public position in a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, as well as the position of the head of a local government body. This feature has the same content as in Art. 285-287 CC.
19. A more dangerous type of bribe-taking is characterized by the fact that it is received by a group of persons by prior conspiracy or by an organized group, either with extortion of a bribe, or on a large scale (Part 5).
20. Receipt of a bribe by prior conspiracy by a group of persons (clause “a”) means that the crime involved two or more officials who agreed in advance to jointly receive a bribe using the official position of each of the perpetrators. It does not matter what part of the bribe was received by each of these persons. The crime is over when any part of the bribe is received by at least one official. The actions of persons who are not officials, participating in the receipt of a bribe by a group of persons by prior conspiracy, are qualified as mediation in bribery (clause 15 of the resolution).
21. An organized group (clause “a”) means a stable group created for repeated receipt of bribes, which, in addition to one or more officials, may also include persons who are not officials, whose actions must be qualified under Part 4 of Art. 290 of the Criminal Code without reference to Art. 33 of the Criminal Code (clause 16 of the resolution).
22. Extortion of a bribe (clause “c”) means a demand from an official to give him a bribe under the threat of committing actions that may harm the rights and legitimate interests of a citizen, or placing him in such conditions under which he is forced to give a bribe in order to prevent harmful consequences for his legally protected interests (clause 18 of the resolution). At the same time, a simple offer by an official to give him a bribe, as well as a demand for a bribe under the threat of committing legal actions (which, of course, cannot harm the legally protected interests of the bribe giver) cannot be considered extortion.
If, with the consent or on the instructions of an official, the extortionist is another person who is not the recipient of the bribe, his actions should be qualified as mediation in bribery (clause 19 of the resolution).
23. A large bribe (clause “c”) means that the amount of money, the value of securities, other property or property benefits exceeds 150 thousand rubles (Note 1).
24. The most dangerous type of bribery is receiving a bribe on an especially large scale (Part 6), i.e. for an amount over 1 million rubles. (note 1).
25. If the pre-agreed amount of the bribe was significant, large or especially large, but the illegal reward actually received by the official did not form the specified amount (for example, when a large bribe was supposed to be handed over in two installments, and the bribe recipient was detained after the first part of the bribe was handed over to him ), the act must be qualified as complete giving or receiving a bribe or mediation in bribery, respectively, on a significant, large or especially large scale (clause 10 of the resolution).
What to do if a bribe is extorted?
According to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, bribery is a truly significant crime. Violators include both people who give money to officials and recipients of money. If a person or company representative is faced with the fact that he is extorting funds from a person holding a high position in a government agency, then he must initially prepare evidence. For this purpose, audio recordings or video recordings are used.
To bring the criminal to justice, you must write a statement to the police, FSB or prosecutor's office. Further instructions will be received from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
