Anti-corruption legal education: Conflict of interests in the public civil service and the procedure for its settlement (part 1)
In accordance with Part 1 of Article 10 of the Federal Law of December 25, 2008 No. 273-ФЗ "On Combating Corruption", a conflict of interest is understood as a situation in which the personal interest (direct or indirect) of a person filling a position, the replacement of which provides for the obligation to take measures to prevention and settlement of conflicts of interest, affects or may affect the proper, objective and impartial performance of his official (official) duties (exercise of powers).
It should be noted that the personal interest of a civil servant can also arise in cases when other persons receive or can receive benefits, for example, friends of a civil servant, friends of his relatives. The definition of a conflict of interest includes many specific situations in which a civil servant may find himself in the performance of official duties.
Given the variety of private interests of civil servants, it is not possible to compile an exhaustive list of situations.
However, there are a number of key areas in which conflicts of interest are most likely to arise:
• performance of certain functions of state administration in relation to relatives and / or other persons with whom the personal interest of a civil servant is associated;
• performing other paid work;
• ownership of securities, bank deposits;
• receiving gifts and services;
• property obligations and litigation;
• interaction with a former employer and employment after dismissal from public service;
• a clear violation of the established prohibitions (for example, the use of official information, receiving awards, honorary and special titles (except for scientific) from foreign countries, etc.).
The implementation of "functions of public administration" involves, inter alia:
• placing orders for the supply of goods, performance of work and provision of services for state needs, including participation in the work of the commission for placing orders;
• implementation of state supervision and control;
• preparation and adoption of decisions on the distribution of budgetary allocations, subsidies, interbudgetary transfers, as well as limited resources (quotas, land plots, etc.);
• organizing the sale of privatized state property, other property, as well as the right to conclude lease agreements for state-owned land plots;
• carrying out state expertise and issuing conclusions;
• representation in judicial bodies of the rights and legitimate interests of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tatarstan.
Prevention or settlement of a conflict of interest may consist in changing the official or official position of a civil servant who is a party to the conflict of interest, up to his removal from the performance of official (official) duties in the prescribed manner, and (or) in his refusal from the benefits that caused the conflicts interests.