SIMFEROPOL, June 22. /TASS/. The head of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, insists on the full ban on collection agencies.
"My opinion on that score remains unchanged: the activity of collectors must be outlawed, and not restricted," Aksyonov’s press-service quotes him as saying.
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- "Investigation is in progress into all circumstances of the incident. A decision is to be made if the accused should be remanded in custody," the IC said.
"Indeed, was it possible to use physical force, threaten with violence, cause harm to health and property and put psychological pressures on debtors before the adoption of the law? A private firm is prepared to step over law. It has no rules but one’s own code. When a lender realizes that collecting a debt in a legal way is impossible he hires a private firm. Then what’s the reason for leaving in effect some powers the collectors might use? I cannot understand who needs this and in whose interests it is being done," he said.
The State Duma on June 21 adopted in the third (final) reading a law on the protection of rights and legal interest of individuals in the process of effecting measures to reclaim overdue debts that limited the powers of collection agencies. The initiative was proposed by the speakers of both houses of parliament, Valentina Matviyenko and Sergey Naryshkin last February after a series of media publications about crude violations committed by collectors against retail borrowers.
Aksyonov recalls that "collectors are private firms and the best they can do under Russian legislation is to take the case to court."
"But the bank can do that as well. Each bank has a law department. And bailiffs will act on the court’s ruling. Why hiring private collectors then?" Aksyonov asked.