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The FSB of the Russian Federation wants to get the right to send inquiries to the operators of the Center for anti-corruption investigations

The FSB of Russia presented a draft order for public discussion, according to which the department’s employees will be able to send inquiries to organizations working with the CFA, including cryptocurrencies, to combat corruption.

According to
project of the regulatory legal act of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, employees of the department will be able to request information from banks, credit organizations, tax authorities and authorities registering rights to real estate and transactions with it, as well as operators of digital financial assets (DFA).

The document provides a list of officials vested with such powers. It includes the first deputy director of the FSB of Russia, the head of the Border Service of the FSB of Russia, the chief of staff of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee, the secretary of state and the heads of the services of the FSB of Russia. In addition, the list was supplemented by the heads of departments of the FSB of the Russian Federation for individual regions and constituent entities of the Russian Federation, departments of the FSB of Russia in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and departments of the FSB of Russia for the border service. Inquiries sent by these persons should be carried out as part of checks to combat corruption in accordance with the decree of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin dated April 2, 2013 No. 309 “On measures to implement certain provisions of the Federal Law” On Combating Corruption “.

In a conversation with the RBC information portal, Dmitry Kirillov, a member of the Commission for Legal Support of the Digital Economy of the Moscow Branch of the Russian Lawyers Association, commented on this document. He believes that the empowerment of FSB officers is aimed at implementing laws prohibiting a number of government officials and their family members from using foreign financial instruments. According to the Law “On Digital Financial Assets (DFA) and Digital Currency”, such financial instruments include digital financial assets and digital currencies, Kirillov said.

An employee of the Moscow Digital School, Efim Kazantsev, explained that FSB officers can request information from Russian legal entities included in the register of the Central Bank of Russia and working with information systems that issue digital assets. However, Kirillov added that this register has not yet been formed. As for the foreign operators of the CFA, the FSB will be able to request information from them when interacting with foreign law enforcement agencies and special services. At the same time, it is not clear from the Law “On Digital Financial Assets (DFA) and Digital Currency” which foreign cryptocurrency platforms can be considered as DFA operators.

This law came into force on January 1, 2021. However, Anatoly Aksakov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market, also believes that some clarifications should be made to it. So, in March, he proposed to distinguish between cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and the digital ruble.

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