OREANDA-NEWS. The Constitutional Court of Russia recognized the legality of the norm on confiscation of property not only from officials and their relatives, but also from their friends.

This norm is established in the federal law “On Control over the Correspondence of Expenses of Persons Holding Public Offices and Other Persons to Their Income”. According to the decision of the Constitutional Court, the judges have the right to seize property in favor of the state if it is bought for incomes which legality has not been confirmed. This is not only about officials and their immediate family members, but also about other relatives and friends.

According to the definition of the Constitutional Court, confiscation of property “refers to special legal measures” and it is aimed at combating corruption and protecting “constitutionally significant values”. Owners can provide the court with evidence of the legality of the funds for which the property was purchased.

The court examined the complaints of the former deputy head of the department of the Main Directorate of Economic Security and Combating the Corruption of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs Dmitry Zakharchenko, convicted of bribery, as well as his parents, sister and former cohabitants. According to the applicants, the seizure of property in the sum of 9 billion roubles (about 140 million US dollars) from friends, mother and father of Zakharchenko was illegal, since the Prosecutor General’s Office did not provide direct evidence that the property was bought for the illegal income of former official.