The Interior Ministry is celebrating impending changes to the Criminal Procedural Code that would make it easier to prosecute managers at state-owned companies.
The bill, put forward by President Vladimir Putin, proposes allowing law enforcement officers to file abuse of office and bribery charges against state company managers without the consent of their bosses, Vedomosti reported.
The State Duma adopted amendments to the code in first reading Tuesday.
There is a trend in state companies of managers selling assets and concluding clearly unfavorable agreements with contractors, Yury Gorbunov, state secretary of the Federal Security Bureau said. While these actions can lead to significant losses for the firms, the Criminal Procedural Code currently requires law enforcement agents to wait until they receive a request from the suspect's boss to press any charges.
Losses incurred at state-owned companies due to corrupt managers should be treated as losses to the state, Gorbunov said, and criminal cases against such employees ought to be opened.
The legal procedures for private companies would remain the same, where a manager's request is required to start criminal cases against employees suspected of misdemeanor.
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