Bill seeks to ban overseas properties and bank accounts of Russian babus

Russian Duma: A century-old photo

RUSSIAN bureaucrats holding assets abroad may have to sell those properties once a bill pending in Parliament, is passed. The draft bill covers not only the foreign assets bought by the bureaucrats or acquired by inheritance or gift, but also the bank accounts held by them in foreign countries. According to estimates, the total value of foreign assets being held by Russian bureaucrats could be…
about $700m.
The bureaucrats covered under the bill include municipal officials, federal bureaucrats and military personnel. Once passed, the new rules will be applicable in case of senior executives of Russia’s public sector companies.
The only exceptions inserted in the draft bill are those overseas properties which are essential for fulfilling professional obligations by bureaucrats, or such bank accounts which are needed for an official to obtain medical or educational services abroad.
Currently, there were debates in Russian media on whether there should be a total ban on holding overseas properties and bank accounts by bureaucrats, or whether bureaucrats should be allowed to hold such legal properties if those are declared by them in a proper format.
According to the draft bill, the penalties for violation of the new rules could be as high as 10 million-rouble fines or a five-year jail term.