MOSCOW, August 21 (RAPSI) – The Government of the Russian Federation has approved a bill more precisely defining the term “official” in the provisions of the national Criminal Code on abuse of authority and abuse of office, according to a statement of the Justice Ministry responsible for the development of respective amendments.

The bill is to be submitted to the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s Parliament, under the standard procedure.

The document envisages that the list of officials indicated in a Criminal Code provision on crimes against the public order, as well as interests of state and municipal service, is to additionally encompass heads of business entities and companies, public not-for-profit organizations, and state non-budgetary funds.

The business entities mentioned in the bill are to include structures partially run by the state represented by the Russian Federation, subjects of the Russian Federation, or local governments, where the state party has the right to directly or indirectly exercise more than 50% of the votes, or appoint a single-person executive body and (or) more than 50% of the members of a corporate board.

Companies are to include the structures, where the state party has the special right to participate in the management.

The document is to ensure that the officials as defined in the document undergo just punishments proportional to the committed offences and to make more efficient combat against corruption, the statement reads.

The bill has been developed in furtherance of the National Anticorruption Plan for years 2018 – 2020.