Petty bribery: sentences under Article 291 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in 2022

ST 291.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

1. Receiving a bribe, giving a bribe personally or through an intermediary in an amount not exceeding ten thousand rubles -

shall be punishable by a fine in the amount of up to two hundred thousand rubles, or in the amount of the wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to three months, or by correctional labor for a term of up to one year, or by restriction of liberty for a term of up to two years, or by imprisonment for a term of up to one year.

2. The same acts committed by a person who has a criminal record for committing crimes provided for in Articles 290, 291, 291.1 of this Code or this article -

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 one year, or by correctional labor for a term of up to three years, or by restriction of liberty for a term of up to four years, or by imprisonment for a term of up to three years.

Note. A person who has committed a bribe in the amount specified in this article is exempt from criminal liability if he actively contributed to the disclosure and (or) investigation of a crime and either extortion of a bribe took place against him, or this person, after committing a crime, voluntarily reported to the authority having the right to initiate a criminal case for giving a bribe.

Bribery concept

Modern domestic criminal legislation qualifies any agreed upon act or refusal to perform an act for a fee as bribery. Remuneration as an object of bribery can be:

Cash;
Material goods;
Values;
Services.

The subjects of the crime under consideration are the bribe-giver and the bribe-taker. An official of any state or municipal body may be the recipient of a bribe. And the bribe-giver is any person.

An action or inaction that is performed for receiving a certain remuneration must act as one of the elements of the official competence of the official. The Criminal Code also allows a form of bribery when the bribe-giver promises connivance or official protection.

01
Free consultation with a lawyer on bribes

Free hotline (Moscow and regions of the Russian Federation)

8 800 707 84 52 03

Consultations in a mobile application

Prices for bribe lawyer services

Providing assistance to the bribe-giver in resolving controversial issues, although the resolution of which is not within the authority of the official, is also considered bribery, but he has the opportunity to influence the outcome of the situation.

An approximate algorithm of actions when extorting a bribe

If a citizen believes that an official who has the authority to resolve his problem is illegally “putting a spoke in the wheel”, complicating the solution, and thereby extorting a bribe, he should:

Do not agree to solve the problem at the first demand or hint about the possibility of resolving the issue for a bribe. Listen and remember as accurately as possible the words and expressions expressed by the official.
Try to record the conversation on any available medium - telephone, voice recorder, camera. During the conversation, try to force the bribe-taker to express his demands as clearly as possible - how much, for what, why so much, how much time there is to think about how the transfer will take place. Even if this doesn’t work out, hints and hints will be enough for law enforcement to draw some conclusions.
Try to postpone the direct transfer of material goods under the pretext, for example, of collecting the required amount of money.
With a recording of the conversation, available documents on the issue in connection with the solution of which the bribe-taker was contacted, go to the law enforcement agencies discussed above.
In the future, if a decision is made to carry out operational activities, it is necessary to strictly follow the instructions of the operational officers in order to prove the fact of extortion of a bribe.

You should know that it is not a crime when a bribe was given under the control of law enforcement agencies during operational-search activities in order to confirm the fact of receiving a bribe and detaining the bribe-taker red-handed. That is, a person who gives a bribe while participating in such events is not subject to criminal liability.

Bribe amount

The punishment imposed by a criminal court verdict largely depends on the size of the bribe. Also an important aspect is the circumstance of giving a bribe - whether it was a reward for the illegal actions of an official or whether it was a kind of manifestation of “gratitude” for providing assistance in resolving the issue.

As previously stated, a bribe can take the form of more than just cash. Transferring a non-cash amount of money and other material assets to an account also forms part of the crime in question.

When qualifying a crime and determining sanctions, the following types of corruption payments are distinguished:

Small bribe (size - up to 10 thousand rubles);
Bribe in a significant amount (its amount must exceed 25 thousand rubles);
A large bribe (which must be more than 150 thousand rubles);
Bribe on an especially large scale (the minimum amount is 1 million rubles).

It is important to note that criminal law does not distinguish the minimum amount of a bribe; accordingly, the provision of any amount of money, the provision of services regardless of their cost, as well as the transfer of material assets without differences in their estimated value are qualified as a “corruption” act.

Ways in which bribes are extorted

In most situations, they don’t talk specifically about a bribe out loud, but you can guess about its demand based on the following signs:

the official makes hints about receiving a certain amount for solving the problem;
the official, in response to a request, says that he does not have such powers or cannot do so, while with facial expressions or gestures he shows that a decision is possible with appropriate payment for his services;
the amount of money extorted is not announced, but is written on paper, typed on a calculator or on a smartphone screen.

Petty bribery

Since the summer of 2016, a new legal term has appeared in criminal law - petty bribery. The legislator determined that a bribe in an amount of up to 10 thousand rubles will be considered a small bribe.

Now, bribe-takers who received corruption payments in the amount of up to 10 thousand rubles will be punished under a separate article, and not under the general criminal law for taking a bribe. Petty bribery is considered a minor crime.

For a new crime, a criminal court may apply the following types of sanctions:

Fine up to 200,000 rubles;
A fine of up to 3 months’ salary or the person’s real income for the specified period;
Restriction of freedom for up to 2 years;
Correctional labor up to 12 months;
Imprisonment for up to 12 months.

The domestic legislator also provided for the second part of Article 291.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The regulation of this article covers the actions of persons who have previously committed other corruption crimes under Articles 290 and 291 of the Criminal Code, and who have an unexpunged or unexpired criminal record. Accordingly, sanctions for such acts have been tightened: the fine has been increased to 1 million rubles, the term of imprisonment and correctional labor has been increased to 3 years, and the restriction of freedom has been increased to 4 years.

Responsibility for the bribe taker

The punishment for receiving a bribe and extorting it is established by paragraph “b” of Part 5 of Art. 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. It may entail for the official:

Fine at the rate of:
income for the period 2-4 years;
70-90 times the amount of the bribe received.

Along with the fine, an additional punishment is imposed - deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or carry out certain activities for up to 10 years.

Deprivation of liberty 7-12 years old. Along with it, at the discretion of the court, an additional punishment (one or both) may be imposed in the form of:
prohibition to occupy positions specified in the verdict or engage in certain activities

It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that criminal liability is established by this norm for receiving a bribe with its extortion. It’s just that extortion of a bribe is not punishable under the Criminal Code; there is no such article in the code.

Demanding money or other valuables that are not a bribe by a non-official under certain conditions can be prosecuted under Art. 163. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Extortion".

If the actions of an official, although negatively affecting the potential bribe-giver, are stipulated by law, they cannot be considered extortion of a bribe.

For example , when an official refuses to issue a permit to purchase or store weapons on the grounds specified in the law - the presence of a disease that prevents this, failure to provide a complete package of documents, etc. Such actions cannot be considered extortion of a bribe, even if it seems that the reason for refusal is insignificant and the official simply needs to be given money to resolve this issue.

Provocation of a bribe and how to avoid it

Petty bribery, despite the insignificant amount, significantly spoils the authority and damages the honor and dignity of the official. It is not uncommon for conscientious public servants to become part of frauds and victims of a group of provocateurs. The Criminal Code in Article 304 provides for the liability of unscrupulous persons for provoking a bribe. Transferring a bribe without the consent of a public servant or for vile purposes to create a false situation of committing a crime under Article 291.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation falls under the definition of provocation of a bribe. To avoid liability for taking a bribe, an official should not agree to the conditions of the provocateur and receive money or other material assets in exchange for deviation from official duties.

Where to go if you are asked for a bribe

In the case of extortion of a bribe, in most cases it is enough to contact the police department at the place where these actions were committed. Typically, the activities to consolidate evidence of bribery are carried out by employees of the department for combating economic crimes and combating corruption.

Depending on the size of the service area, this may be an individual employee or a department within a territorial police unit. In any case, especially in difficult situations, assistance to these employees is provided by more experienced employees of the Department or UEBiPK in the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the constituent entity of the Russian Federation.

If there is reliable and significant information about extortion of a bribe, police officers themselves will determine the procedure for registering the report and conducting further verification, based on the specific circumstances, official position of the bribe recipient, etc.

Power to initiate proceedings under Art. 290-291.1 have investigators of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, under Art. 291.2 – police investigators. In principle, you can also report facts of bribery to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, but they do not have the authority to carry out operational investigative measures, which are of great importance for proving them.

Operational search activities (OPM) are carried out with the aim of confirming the fact of receiving a bribe and detaining the culprit red-handed.

A message about any fact of corruption can be left on the website of any law enforcement agency. Currently, they have entire sections dedicated to the fight against corruption, including services where you can leave a request or report about facts of bribery. Some of them:

Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation https://mvd.rf.
Anti-Corruption Committee https://com-cor.ru.
Committee to Combat Corruption and Promote Public Safety https://protivkorrupt.ru.

Appeal through the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation
In some circumstances, the appeal depends on the status and level of officials extorting a bribe, which may be:

Employees of law enforcement agencies , such as the police, correctional service, bailiffs, etc. In this case, it is advisable to report this to the own security service of these bodies.
Employees of penitentiary bodies and institutions (prisons, colonies, penal inspections). Here, the right to conduct operational investigations into cases of bribery is vested in the security service of the Federal Penitentiary Service. It is possible to turn to them in cases where a bribe is extorted by an official of an institution executing a sentence from a convicted person serving a sentence there.
High-ranking officials , law enforcement officers, etc. It is possible to report a crime to the regional FSB Department.

Anonymous reporting of crimes is possible. Checks on them are carried out in a different order. The reflected information can be used in operational investigative activities by authorized bodies (police, FSB, FSIN, etc.)

The difference between a small bribe and a gift

Ordinary gifts that are given for the conscientious performance of official duties by officials should not be identified with a small bribe. Thus, the Civil Code contains a rule according to which it is prohibited to give gifts whose value exceeds 3 thousand rubles. Gifts worth more than 3 thousand rubles are excluded:

Between commercial organizations;
On behalf of incapacitated and minor citizens to their legal representatives;
Persons who hold public service positions in state and municipal bodies of constituent entities of the Russian Federation;
Employees of educational, social and medical institutions.

Author of the article

Dmitry Leonov

Work experience 15 years, specialization - housing, family, inheritance, land, criminal cases.

Author's rating

721

Articles written

712

about the author