The balance of constitutional values in strategies to combat illicit enrichment (Russian case)

The state faces the need to maintain a balance of constitutional values ​​in the development and implementation of effective anti-corruption policies. The interests of society, the state and the person holding a public position can be directed to different purposes. Value imbalance can lead to social conflicts and exacerbate the crisis of trust in society, hinder the development of the economic and legal systems of the country. At the beginning of this paper, a classification of the types of enrichment of public officials depending on the method of generating the income is presented. A proposition is made to introduce the term “unjust enrichment”, which clarifies the specifics of non-criminalized illicit enrichment. The strategies for countering illicit enrichment are presented: the unexplained wealth orders strategy, the strategy of illicit enrichment criminalization, the administrative and disciplinary control strategy, the strategy of social solidarity. The author also looks into the criminalization of illicit enrichment as the main anti-corruption tool and gives his opinion on the issue. The author explores the correlation between the principles of the inviolability of private and family life, the presumption of innocence and the right not to incriminate oneself on the one hand and the principles of effective public administration and social justice on the other hand. An attempt is made to draw the boundaries between the protection of human rights and the upholding of the anti-corruption interests of the state and the society. The author pays special attention to the obligation to declare income information about adult children of certain categories of public officials. The study provides examples of legal conflicts that caused a public outcry, and ways to resolve such contradictions. The methodological basis of the study was a systematic approach according to which the author regards the illicit enrichment as a complex phenomenon that includes constitutional, criminal, civil and administrative legal relations, as well as economic and managerial aspects. General scientific methods (such as analysis, generalization, classification), as well as special methods, were used (for instance, the comparative-legal and formal legal method). The method of legal modeling is used to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of strategies to combat illicit enrichment.

About the author: Aleksey Chumakov – Deputy Head of the Anti-Corruption Policy Center at the Political Party “Yabloko”, LL.M.

Citation: Chumakov A. (2019) Balans konstitutsionnykh tsennostey v strategiyakh protivodeystviya nezakonnomu obogashcheniyu (na primere Rossii) [The balance of constitutional values in strategies to combat illicit enrichment (Russian case)]. Sravnitel'noe konstitutsionnoe obozrenie, vol.28, no.5, pp.113–124. (In Russian).

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