Anti-corruption legal education: Conflict of interests in the public civil service and the procedure for its settlement (part 7)
Typical situation:
Conflict of interest related to the ownership of securities, bank deposits.
Description of the situation:
A civil servant and / or his relatives own the securities of an organization in respect of which the civil servant performs certain functions of government.
Prevention and control measures:
If a civil servant owns the securities of an organization in respect of which he performs certain functions of state administration, he is obliged to notify the representative of the employer and the immediate superior of the existence of personal interest in writing, and also transfer the securities to trust.
It should be noted that there is a problem of choosing a management organization or a trustee to whom a civil servant can entrust the management of his securities. In addition, the transfer of securities to trust management does not necessarily lead to the elimination of a conflict of interest, that is, it cannot always be recognized as an exhaustive measure, in this regard, a civil servant may make a voluntary decision to alienate the securities.
If the relatives of a civil servant own the securities of an organization in respect of which he performs certain functions of government, the civil servant is obliged to notify the representative of the employer and the immediate superior of the personal interest in writing. At the same time, in order to resolve the conflict of interests, the civil servant should recommend to relatives to transfer securities to trust management or to consider the issue of their alienation.
Before the civil servant takes measures to resolve the conflict of interest, the representative of the employer is recommended to suspend the civil servant from the performance of official (official) duties in relation to the organization, the securities of which are owned by the civil servant or his relatives.
A comment:
It should be borne in mind that if the possession of a civil servant of income-generating securities, shares (shares of participation in the authorized capital of organizations) can lead to a conflict of interest, he is obliged to transfer the specified securities belonging to him to trust management.
There are no restrictions on the possession of securities for the relatives of a civil servant. However, it is important to understand that the ownership of the securities of an organization by the civil servant's relatives, which the civil servant can influence in the course of the performance of his official duties, also entails a conflict of interest.