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Russian parliament may discuss foreign property ban for civil servants on December 21

Of course, this bill requires serious, substantial, legal and technical finalizing," the parliamentarian noted

MOSCOW, December 19 (Itar-Tass) — Chairwoman of the committee for security and combating corruption under the State Duma lower house of the Russian parliament Irina Yarovaya /United Russia/ said the house might consider, on Friday, December 21, the 1st reading of the bill proposing a ban on bank accounts abroad for civil servants.

"We're bringing forward a proposal to the Duma Council's meeting tomorrow to consider the legislative initiative on December 21, which proposes to ban bank accounts abroad for civil servants and regulate the issues of property abroad," Yarovaya told Itar-Tass.

Of course, this bill requires serious, substantial, legal and technical finalizing," the parliamentarian noted.

"However, we believe - and we repeatedly reiterated - that we must be most decisive in counteracting corruption; therefore we support the president’s position that order must be restored in these issues," she stated.

Earlier in the day, Deputy Secretary of United Russia's General Council, deputy State Duma speaker Sergei Zheleznyak urged his colleagues to support the bill.

"In his annual state-of-the-nation address, Vladimir Putin supported the idea, broadly discussed in the society, to ban officials from having accounts at foreign banks, as well as business assets," the parliamentarian told reporters.

"The State Duma has two bills on this theme under review. I promised to support Vyacheslav Lysakov and my colleagues' project; he was the first to have the government’s opinion, so I revoked the signature under my variant of legislation and supported my colleagues' bill.

"I'm asking you to follow suit, in order to pool efforts and realize this waited-for initiative, supported by the president," Zheleznyak said.

Discussions over this issue were still on in late October, Secretly of United Russia's General Council, deputy speaker Sergei Neverov told Tass.

"You have to keep money in your country if you have it. As for property, this issue is discussed quite seriously, and many options are possible. By and large, I believe you have to own property here in this country," the parliamentarian said expressing the hope that a common point of view would be found during the discussion of the bill at the State Duma.

Meanwhile, the State Duma website published a negative opinion by the Supreme Court regarding Lysakov and his colleagues' bill. The government's opinion, signed by Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov says the Cabinet "mostly supports" the anti-corruption guideline of the document, but believes it needs much improvement during the preparation for the 2nd reading."