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Duma members ordered to close bank accounts, liquidate assets abroad

The bill which prohibits Duma members to own bank accounts and invest money abroad came into force as of May 7, 2013

MOSCOW, June 18 (Itar-Tass) - Duma members who want to keep their Duma mandates shall close their bank accounts and liquidate all their assets abroad, Head of the Duma committee on the regulation and procedural organization Sergei Popov said on Tuesday.

Until August 7, 2013 the Duma members shall close these accounts, stop keeping cash and valuables at foreign banks and ensure the alienation of foreign financial instruments, Popov declared, delivering a report on the proposed measures for the realization of the anti-corruption law.

The bill which prohibits Duma members to own bank accounts and invest money abroad came into force as of May 7, 2013. "The members have been offered three months to get rid of their foreign assets," Popov stressed.

The proposed bill envisages that members who own assets abroad are to attach a certificate to their income declaration which should stipulate whether they came into possession of bonds and securities of foreign states and real estate abroad on a legal basis; the members shall also indicate the source of their income sufficient to buy the foreign assets.