Putin submits bill prohibiting officials from opening foreign bank accounts

MOSCOW, February 12 - RAPSI. President Vladimir Putin has forwarded a bill to the State Duma that would prohibit officials from opening bank accounts abroad or owning foreign issued stocks or bonds. This information was posted on the Duma's website.

The State Duma is preparing for a second reading of the bill that would prohibit government officials and military personnel, their spouses and underage children from owning real estate abroad, from opening accounts with banks outside Russia and from owning foreign issued stocks and bonds, including foreign government securities. Putin's bill seeks to amend the law on the government.

"This ban concerns those who hold government positions in Russia, the Prosecutor General's deputies, members of the Central Bank's supervisory board, government officials in the regions, federal civil servants and officials at state-owned or state-run corporations, foundations and other organizations established in compliance with federal law, who can only be approved or dismissed from their posts by decision of the President, the Government or the Prosecutor General of Russia," says the description of the president's bill.