Право/6. Борьба с экономическими преступлениями

 

Tratsiakou G.М.

Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno

Criminal bankruptcies

as a threat of economic safety of the state

 

In modern market relations the bankruptcy institute is an effectual measure of protection and improvement of economic relations. In conditions of the global economic crisis which has caused serious damage to economy, under bankruptcy threat the considerable quantity of businesses gets. Expanding as a chain reaction, such situation represents serious danger both to separate businessmen, and economy of the whole states and regions. In the conditions of mass non-payments and bankruptcy of a great number of companies there is a raised threat of distribution of criminal bankruptcies: the crimes commited in the conditions of bankruptcy or with use of given procedure. Objects of given crimes are public relations connected with realisation of procedure of an economic insolvency (bankruptcy). Criminal bankruptcies – false bankruptcies, deliberate bankruptcies, bankruptcy concealment are serious criminal threat for economy.

The economic insolvency (bankruptcy) is in number of the basic legal procedures, regulating the relations in economic sphere. Through bankruptcy procedure there is a economy improvement, by liquidation of poor debtors, and compensation of a damage caused by bankruptcy at the expense of their property. Efficiency of regulation of public relations in sphere of an economic insolvency (bankruptcy), existence of normal, stably developing economical relations, depends of presence of legal means and mechanisms of protection from crimes.

Bankruptcy procedure often use to avoid responsibility for plunders and other abuses in the economic sphere. Gaps in the legislation allow to use to unfair businessmen, and often and to organized criminal groups (including transnational) bankruptcy procedure for masking of various plunders and abuses in the economic relations.

Specifics of the crimes connected with criminal bankruptcies differs that in this case criminals for achievement of the objectives use the order of application of institute of economic insolvency (bankruptcy), established by the law. The legislation on economic insolvency (bankruptcy) acts on the territory of the countries of the former USSR more than 15 years, however procedure of its effective application is in a stage of continuous development.

New economic transformations and changes in the legislation constantly reveal many questions connected with use of economic insolvency (bankruptcy). Changes are constantly made to the legislation on bankruptcy. However the analysis of the legislation shows that not always there is a coherence between the maintenance of structures of crimes, and other regulations, regulating legal relationship in the sphere of economic insolvency (bankruptcy).

The problem consists that to definition of perfect act it is necessary to apply in coordination the standards of the civil legislation, regulating this procedure, and standards of the administrative or criminal legislation, establishing responsibility for commission of offenses in the specified sphere. Defects in legal support of procedure of economic insolvency, high complexity of these relations, lack of accurate interaction between various public institutions, concerning counteraction to criminal bankruptcies, interest of criminal structures in redistribution of financial means and property by illegal use of procedure of bankruptcy or its illegal avoidance, all this promotes development of such crimes.

According to many researchers, criminal bankruptcies are marked out not only scales, but also big latency. Latency of this crimes is caused as lack of a technique of their identification and investigation, and possibility of effective counteraction to investigation from interested persons. Besides, latency of these crimes is caused by unwillingness of creditors to address in law enforcement agencies for protection of violated rights for the various subjective reasons.

Latency of similar crimes is caused by high level of counteraction to investigation at the expense of the following factors:

-       superiority of subjects of economic crimes on social and psychological qualities;

-       existence of the broad corrupted communications;

-       strong lawyer support;

-       accurate orientation to concealment of illegality of separate operations or all scale of the committed crime;

-       high education level of subjects of a crime.

Achievement of goals by criminals assumes besides commission of criminal acts also actions of crime concealment. These crimes have lasting character, criminal acts can proceed many months and even years. Concealment of crimes is carried out so that during very long time to remain imperceptible both for creditors, and for the law enforcement and other government agencies, exercising supervision and control of market relations. Actions on commission of crime are at the same time directed and on its concealment. Except information which comes from economic court, its large volumes are hidden from law enforcement agencies at an initial stage of investigation.

The analysis of conditions and the reasons of emergence of insolvency is carried out inefficiently and often by formal criteria and indicators. There are no accurately formulated criteria of criminal prosecution for criminal bankruptcies, and also criminalistic ensuring investigation. Process of investigation of similar crimes is very difficult and demands deep knowledge of the economic sphere and of civil law.

The great value has organization of effective counteraction to corruption crimes in this sphere. Need at the solution of various questions to address in various government agencies, dependence on decisions of government officials, creates conditions for corruption. Corruption in this sphere allows unfair businessmen to hide insolvency for a long time, to achieve favorable tax and other financial privileges, to make financial crimes under cover of government agencies. It prevents law enforcement agencies to protect the rights and interests of creditors and the state from illegal actions.

The problem of criminal bankruptcies in science is so far not completely studied. There are few scientific publications on this subject. There are no publications devoted to a technique of the organization and investigation of separate types of such crimes. At the same time the problem of counteraction  to criminal bankruptcies both for the countries of the former USSR, and for other states, is actual. Within the last ten years in the Russian Federation and in some other the countries of the former USSR some scientific researches devoted to criminal bankruptcies were published. However, these researches were published irregularly, leaving unresolved many problems. Separate types of criminal bankruptcies before the present time weren't studied.

Besides, there is an objective need for scientific development on counteraction to criminal bankruptcies in the certain countries. It is caused by specifics of the national legislation on bankruptcy, differences in criminal and civil legislation.

For effective investigation of such crimes the great value has development and deployment in activity of law enforcement agencies, modern criminalistic technologies of investigation of criminal bankruptcies . Criminalistic technologies have to integrate knowledge of various jurisprudence and other sciences, uniting them in the general problem of effective investigation of these crimes.

Criminalistic technologies of investigation of criminal bankruptcies will be an effective remedy of identification and investigation, systematization of regularities of these crimes.