Russia Senators Back Anti-Graft Plan Despite Doubt

The proposals said officials should more often confiscate the property of those found guilty.

Russian senators passed anti-corruption laws proposed by President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday, but voiced doubts that they would be successful after being watered-down.

Medvedev, sworn in in May, is the latest Russian president to pledge a return to the rule of law in Russia, where corruption is widespread and many mistrust the state.

His predecessor and mentor Vladimir Putin, now Medvedev's prime minister, oversaw an oil-fuelled economic boom during his eight years in power but made little headway against graft.

"We declare to the whole world we are launching a war on corruption, and this is the essence of this law," said Senator Alexei Aleksandrov who presented the draft law.

The anti-corruption bill, approved earlier by the State Duma lower house of parliament, was backed by 139 members of the Federation Council upper house. One senator voted against and two abstained.

Some senators, usually loyal to the president, said the proposed changes offered few weapons with which to fight graft.

"The only new thing here is that we have given a definition to corruption ... Much ado about nothing," Senator Lyudmila Narusova said.

Medvedev's anti-corruption measures bar an official from accepting gifts worth more than 3,000 roubles ($108.2) and force bureaucrats to inform state bodies if they plan to join commercial firms in which they may have vested interests.

The proposals said officials should more often confiscate the property of those found guilty and state officials and their families must make compulsory income declarations.

But the State Duma, heavily dominated by Putin's United Russia ruling party, had postponed the enactment of most of Medvedev's proposals for a year, until Jan. 1, 2010.

State Duma deputies also excluded a proposed clause that would have made state officials inform their employers about all cases of corruption they noticed among their colleagues.

"Why is the enactment of this law being put off for a year?" asked Senator Yevgeny Ilyushkin. "Maybe, to enable those involved in corruption to bury all traces of this?"

Common examples of graft in Russia include bribes to get children in kindergartens or prestigious schools, "cash fines" demanded by traffic police, payments by young men to avoid army conscription, and the purchase of university diplomas.