Narutto, S.V. Legal basis for fighting corruption: from history to the modern situation.

Abstract: This article concerns several aspects of fighting corruption. First of all, it concerns a historic aspect of fighting corruption starting with the uprooting the “fief-office” system, which was popular in XVI–XVII centuries, and in fact was a lawful form for personal enrichment of persons holding offices. The author analyzes the legal measures taken by Tsar Peter the Great and Catherine the Great in fighting corruption. Characterizing the modern scale of corruption in Russia, the author pays attention to the spheres, which are new to corruption, such as unlawful privatization (impropriation) of state property; lobbying of oligarch interests, support and financing of political structure in exchange for the support of corrupt officials permeating government structures, etc. The author notes insufficiency and imperfections of anti-corruption legislation in these spheres, as well as failure to involve the general public in the expertise of legal acts. Secondly, the author studies the modern federal, regional and municipal legal acts against corruption, as well as acts on anti-corruption expertise of normative legal acts and their drafts. Based upon the analysis of the long-term municipal specialpurpose programs against corruption the author makes a conclusion that such programs should be adopted and their implementation should be controlled by the representative bodies. Thirdly, the author studies legal certainty as one of the key factors of corruption prevention. The author considers that the lack of clarity and gaps in the legislation serve as a “nutritive medium” for the corruption. She analyzes the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and the European Court of Human Rights regarding violations of human and civil rights due to lack of legislative clarity. The lack of clarity in a legal norm allows for the unlimited discretion in its application and it inevitably leads to abuse of discretion.

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