What is official forgery (Article 292 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation)
By official forgery, the legislator means the entry by an official or state/municipal employee into official documents of obviously incorrect information (equivalent to erasure in documents), which distorts the true content of the papers. These acts must be carried out out of selfish or other personal interest.
Part 2 art. 292 indicates a more dangerous crime - official forgery, which entails a violation of the rights of citizens, society or the state.
Fraud is often committed in conjunction with other crimes. For example, in order to hide waste, etc. It is important not only to correctly separate one composition from another, but also to pay attention to the qualifying features.
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The subject of official forgery is official documents . Determining the elements of a crime largely comes down to the differentiation of official official documents that confirm the fact of a criminal act.
In this context, a document is understood as any material medium of information that can confirm the presence or absence of a certain fact.
Accordingly, by committing forgery, the criminal attempts to conceal a true fact or present false information . According to its characteristics, the document must have legal significance.
This status determines:
- Legally relevant information;
- Availability of necessary details;
- Outgoing or incoming documentation that has passed the necessary registration;
- Any information approved and certified by the signature of the responsible person.
Commentary to Art. 292 “Official Fraud” (Part 1)
Any crime has a subject, an object, an objective and a subjective side. Regardless of the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, if a citizen’s actions do not contain at least one of these components, he will remain unpunished, since there will be no corpus delicti.
The objective side of forgery consists of two actions that can be performed either simultaneously or not:
- preparation of deliberately false official documents;
- making changes to documents that may distort their overall meaning.
An example of official documents can be a regulatory act, a diploma, a certificate of temporary incapacity for work, a work book, etc.
In this case, the subject of the crime is not only an existing document into which corrections are made or new information is entered, but also a newly created one that certifies a legal fact and has legal consequences (for example, a work record book, a diploma).
Note! Official forgery occurs not only in papers that come from a specific body - the official’s place of work, but also in other documents submitted for its consideration (for example, in audit reports).
The crime ends at the moment of committing illegal actions with documents. It does not matter to the legislator whether this document will be applied after amendments are made or not.
Only officials and employees of state/municipal bodies can be held accountable for forgery. Citizens and employees of organizations do not bear responsibility for this composition.
This act is always committed only with direct intent (subjective side). Otherwise, if there is collected evidence, the investigation may qualify criminal actions as negligence, since the citizen showed negligence in correcting the document, but not direct intent.
Corpus delicti
Under criminal law, crime is considered in the context of crimes committed against government authority.
It provokes the emergence of false information in the system of nomenclature production and accounting activities, disrupting its full functioning.
The direct object of the crime is the normal activities of state authorities, local governments and all structural units subordinate to state authorities.
The objective side of official forgery is characterized by actions that determine the production of an illegal document , but also an attack on more significant social values that are discredited through the implementation of official forgery.
The subject of the crime (special) can be the official who committed the official forgery.
The subjective side of a crime includes guilt in the form of direct intent and selfish motive that became the cause of the act.
Provided that an official forced a subordinate to draw up an unauthorized document or to correct it, he bears the primary responsibility for committing a crime.
Commentary to Art. 292 “Official Fraud” (Part 2)
In Part 2 of Art. 292 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the legislator defined the social danger of official forgery in the form of a violation of the rights of citizens (organizations) or society (state).
The crimes provided for in Part 2 are more serious in nature, and, accordingly, the punishment for them is more severe.
The crime will end when the consequences of the actions of officials that led to the violation of rights come.
In this case, a cause-and-effect relationship must be established between the act committed and the consequences that occurred.
The subjective side in this case should be characterized only by direct or indirect intent. There can be no talk of any negligence.
Limitation periods for criminal prosecution
The statute of limitations for a crime is a certain period of time after which, subject to certain legal conditions, a person will no longer be held criminally liable.
The latest edition of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for the following deadlines:
- two years for acts of minor gravity;
- six years for acts of average gravity;
- ten years for serious acts;
- fifteen years for crimes of special gravity.
The period of the crime begins on the next day and continues until a lawful verdict is rendered. However, as a rule, this does not mean that you can commit an offense and sit out. Article 78 also applies to abuse of power and forgery. The only thing that these articles may not provide for is mass crimes against society. There is a stipulated list of those crimes that do not include a statute of limitations. These include acts of terrorism, genocide, war and environmental crimes.
All other crimes may provide for the beginning and end of the period of criminal prosecution, in particular, crimes for all approx. Article 292, which is what we are talking about, but the statute of limitations will vary depending on the severity.
Sanction Art. 292 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
In Part 1 of Art. 292 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which describes the unlawful actions of a citizen aimed at committing official forgery, the legislator has provided an alternative sanction:
- fine up to 80,000 rubles. or in the amount of the convicted person’s earnings for 6 months (any income can be accepted as income, including unofficial income, the existence of which the investigation can prove);
- compulsory work up to 480 hours (performed during free time from main activities);
- correctional labor for up to 2 years (can be applied at the main place of work or in any organization in the absence of one);
- forced labor for up to 2 years (appointed quite rarely);
- arrest for up to 6 months (cannot be imposed on minors, pregnant women and women with children under 14 years of age);
- imprisonment for up to 2 years (as a rule, this preventive measure is chosen in cases where the forgery was committed together with another crime, for example embezzlement).
In Part 2 of Art. 292 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for liability for official forgery that entails a violation of the rights of citizens or the state:
- fine from 100,000 to 500,000 rubles. or in the amount of the convicted person’s earnings for 1–3 years;
- forced labor for up to 4 years or imprisonment for up to 4 years with a ban on engaging in specified activities for 3 years (the ban is in addition to the main punishment, the court may well do without it).
What is the liability for knowingly giving false testimony?
If during the investigation there is deception and false accusations, then criminal penalties may follow. Witnesses, defendants, accused and other persons in court can slander, form an incorrect picture of the event and set the investigation on the wrong trail.
What are the types of such liability?
- A false statement to the police about a crime or other illegal act (in this case we are talking about forgery) provides for the applicant to be held accountable.
- False testimony during the investigation that misled law enforcement officials. In this case, witnesses, experts, translators, legal specialists or victims may be punished for giving false testimony.
Responsibility can be both administrative and criminal. Administrative punishment in the form of a fine of one and a half thousand rubles can occur for a false call and reporting a crime, but criminal liability is much more serious. For reporting a criminal offense and libel, you can go to prison for three years and pay a fine of 80 to 300 thousand rubles. Plus, there are cases when people can falsify evidence of guilt. If a fake document is created for the purpose of slander (which in this case is called forgery), then the person responsible for exceeding his authority, signing and creating conditions for obtaining this document faces a penalty of imprisonment for up to 6 years.
Judicial practice on official forgery
Example 1
M., being a senior foreman, at the request of accountant A., gave her 4 travel certificates, and in another one he put a note that she was on a business trip.
Based on the issued papers, A. reported to the audit for the shortage. However, the cassation court overturned the district court's verdict charging M. with forgery. The court concluded that M. did not know about the intentions of the chief accountant and gave her documents, believing that she was really on a business trip. Accordingly, M. did not knowingly draw up a false document. There is no corpus delicti.
Example 2
V. worked as an investigator. She received a case of drug trafficking. Since there was no evidence, the investigation was delayed. In order to avoid punishment for red tape in the case and improve her performance in the face of her superiors, V. formalized the investigation as completed and entered information about this into the statistical cards of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Having certified the official documents with her signature, she sent them to the address.
The court issued a verdict against V., accusing her of official forgery. However, the cassation court overturned the verdict, noting that, despite V.’s actions in creating false documents, there was no corpus delicti in her actions. The statistical cards in which the information was entered are of an informative nature and are to be used exclusively within the framework of the department’s work. Accordingly, entering false information does not create any legal consequences for anyone. It is not possible to recognize the cards as an official document.
Example 3
Z., working as the chief engineer of the state farm, appropriated the property of the enterprise by issuing orders. The district court sentenced him and accused him of official forgery. However, the supervisory authority overturned the verdict.
According to the provisions of the law, the collective farm is not a state body; accordingly, Z. cannot be considered an official. That is why his actions were reclassified as fraud.
Kickbacks in the field of public procurement will be imprisoned for up to 7 years
In 2022, Vladimir Putin proposed an initiative to strengthen responsibility for crimes in the field of state and municipal procurement.
Kickbacks in this area were defined by the Criminal Code as:
- theft of someone else's property, fraud;
- abuse of power;
- various types of bribes and bribes.
Until recently, large government organizations and executive authorities involved in cadastre and registration, for example, Rosreestr, had employees who could abuse their rights.
To date, changes have been made to Chapter 22 of the Criminal Code, which provide for punishment for abuse of powers in the field of public procurement. Responsibility can be in the form of a fine of up to 200 thousand rubles (or the amount of salary for 18 months), or appear in the form of three years of imprisonment without the right to further carry out this activity for a period of two years. The maximum sentence for bribe takers under this article can be seven years in prison. A prison term of up to 5 years and a fine of 30 times the amount of bribery is imposed on persons who provoked bribery. The Presidential bill was supported by the Supreme Court and the Government.
