The department has published a document according to which specific officials will be able to send requests to operators of information systems for the release of digital financial assets
The Federal Security Service of Russia has published a draft order, according to which employees of the department will be able to send inquiries to operators of information systems for the release of digital financial assets. Also, FSB officers will be able to request information from credit institutions, tax authorities and departments that carry out state registration of rights to real estate.
Now the document is undergoing an independent anti-corruption expertise and public discussion. The topplabs.org experts explained what powers the FSB officers will receive if the document is approved.
Distribution of powers
There is a decree of the President of Russia of 04/02/2013 N 309 (as amended on 05/17/2021) "On measures to implement certain provisions of the Federal Law" On Combating Corruption ", recalled Moscow Digital School expert Efim Kazantsev. According to him, paragraph 19 of this decree says that officials included in the list attached to the decree can send inquiries to credit organizations, tax authorities and operators of the CFA systems.
“Moreover, they can send such requests not arbitrarily, but only when carrying out checks to combat corruption, carried out in accordance with this decree,” the lawyer explained.
Attached to the decree is a special list of officials entitled to send inquiries. It is attended by the heads of federal state bodies, and therefore the head of the FSB, as well as the deputies and heads of territorial bodies appointed by these heads.
The document published by the FSB gives the right to send inquiries to deputy departments and heads of regional departments of the department in individual regions, Kazantsev explained.
“This is what the new order of the director of the FSB is dedicated to – it gives the right to send inquiries to banks, to the tax office and to the operators of the Central Statistical Office of four specific deputy directors of the FSB, heads of FSB services and heads of various departments of the FSB. I would like to emphasize once again that they can send such requests only when carrying out inspections in order to combat corruption, ”the lawyer added.
Fight against corruption
According to Dmitry Kirillov, member of the Commission on the Legal Support of the Digital Economy of the Moscow Branch of the Russian Bar Association, the innovations are aimed at implementing the laws “On the prohibition of certain categories of persons to open and have accounts (deposits), store cash and valuables in foreign banks located outside the territory Of the Russian Federation, to own and (or) use foreign financial instruments ”,“ On control over the compliance of expenses of persons holding public office and other persons with their incomes ”and“ On combating corruption ”.
“The laws include, inter alia, a ban on a number of government officials and their family members from using foreign financial instruments. The law on CFA included digital financial assets and digital currency among such financial instruments, ”Kirillov said.
DFA operators
According to the presidential decree, government agencies can send inquiries to “operators of information systems in which digital financial assets are issued,” Kazantsev recalled. According to him, this document refers to Russian legal entities that are included in the register of the Bank of Russia and ensure the operation of information systems that issue digital assets.
The Bank of Russia has not yet formed a register of Russian operators for the issue of CFA, and the FSB will be able to request information from foreign operators within the framework of international cooperation with foreign special services and law enforcement agencies, Kirillov added. According to him, the list of foreign crypto platforms that can be recognized as operators of the issue of CFA is not defined either by the CFA law or by the acts of the Bank of Russia.