Suspension from Office as an Interim Measure in Cases Involving the Prosecution of Employees for Corruption Offenses

The inevitability of disciplinary liability is an important condition for ensuring its effectiveness in cases of corruption offenses committed by state and municipal employees. The inevitability of this category of cases should be understood not as the obligation to apply disciplinary measures, but as the obligation to initiate disciplinary proceedings and objectively establish all the circumstances surrounding them. One of the mechanisms designed to ensure the achievement of this goal is the temporary suspension of an employee in respect of whom disciplinary proceedings are being conducted from the performance of official duties. An analysis of the legislation shows that different types of government and municipal services use different approaches to fixing the grounds and procedure for suspension, as well as its terms. In some situations, the possibility of suspension is linked to an internal audit; in others it is not done. The situation is further complicated by the fact that Russian official legislation separately identifies an audit conducted in cases of corruption offenses, while there is no clear distinction or identification with an official inspection. As a result, the application of the interim measure in question becomes difficult in some cases. In some types of service, there are also problems related to the insufficiently long period of audits. It is proposed to fix in all legislative acts on state and municipal service that the audit of cases of corruption offenses is a type of internal audit, characterized by some features (in particular, timing).

1. Dobrobaba MB, Channov SE. Responsibility of civil servants for corruption offenses: problems of model optimization. Zhurnal Rossiyskogo Prava [Journal of Russian Law]. 2021;11:88-101. (In Russ.).

2. Pavlenko AN. The removal of a municipal employee from the performance of official duties. Munitsipalnaya sluzhba: pravovye voprosy [Municipal service: Legal issues]. 2022;3:3-5. (In Russ.).

3. Poletaev YuN. The legal status of government civil servants in the field of labor. Moscow: Gorodets Publ.; 2005. (In Russ.).

4. Presnyakov MV, Channov SE. Disciplinary responsibility of civil servants: Problems of regulatory certainty and fair differentiation. Trudovoe pravo. 2009;9:103-110. (In Russ.).

5. Presnyakov MV. The principle of inevitability as a necessary condition for the effectiveness of disciplinary responsibility in public service and in labor relations. Sovremennoe pravo [Modern law]. 2022;5:56-66. (In Russ.).

6. Serebryakova EA, Sitnikova EG. Employment contract with a foreigner: From conclusion to termination. Moscow: Editorial Office of Rossiyskaya Gazeta; 2017. Issue 17. (In Russ.).

7. Shavaleev MV. On the issue of the effectiveness of the principle of the inevitability of legal responsibility. Vektor nauki TGU. 2010;3:265-266. (In Russ.).

8. Talapina EV. Commentary to the legislation of the Russian Federation on combating corruption (article-byarticle). Moscow: Volters Kluwer; 2010. (In Russ.).