Confiscation of property from relatives, polygraph, and controlled bribes — the prosecutor's office has three new ideas for fighting corruption

The General Prosecutor's Office proposes changes to the legislation to combat corruption more effectively. These ideas were discussed at the regular republican coordination meeting on combating crime and corruption.

They are formulated in the article "Current problems of combating corruption and some proposals for their solution" authored by Andrei Fyodorychev, a senior prosecutor of the General Prosecutor's Office department, published in the latest issue of the magazine "Legality and Law and Order" (No. 4, 2025).

The first idea is to provide for the confiscation of property whose legal origin is not confirmed, not only from all categories of officials but also from their relatives.

As an example, the story of the deputy general director of a joint-stock company (it is unclear whether it is state-owned or private) is cited. Through bribes, he received criminal income of at least 936 thousand rubles. However, property worth 1.4 million rubles and a two-level apartment in Minsk were found in his possession. The prosecutor's office hoped to confiscate this property — because it was unclear how he could have acquired so much. But nothing came of it.

Firstly, the relatives of the arrested person voluntarily paid the amount of the criminal income. Where they got such enormous money from is unknown. Secondly, the deputy general director formally did not hold an "accountable position," so some articles of the law "On Combating Corruption" did not apply to him.

The next idea is to test candidates for management positions with a polygraph.

"The use of the polygraph has become widespread and has shown its effectiveness in recruiting personnel in law enforcement agencies, non-governmental organizations, and the banking sector," the article states. "Therefore, it is proposed to explore the issue of psychological examination of the personality of candidates before appointing them to managerial positions in the state sector of the economy."

The third idea is to offer officials controlled bribes.

This is beautifully called — the use of a preventative method. With the prosecutor's sanction, officials will be checked — offered bribes. Not to everyone, but to those against whom there is information about involvement in corruption.

The author of the article assures that this is not the same as provocation to receive a bribe. Supposedly, if an official falls for it, they will simply be permanently dismissed from state service, but not imprisoned.

The ideas were discussed back when Andrei Shved was the Prosecutor General. It is unknown whether his successor will be as strong a proponent of tightening legislation.

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