Activities of economic security and anti-corruption units to identify economic crimes in the sphere of state defense procurement

Lukpanov Aruhan Nurbulatovich Postgraduate student; Department of Organization of Operational investigative activities; Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia Representative; OEBiPK of the Department of Internal Affairs for the VAO GU of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in Moscow 105187, Russia, Moscow region, Moscow, Vernisazhnaya str., 1 resistant511@mail.ru

Economic crimes are detected when a criminal or criminals are caught red-handed at the time of the commission of a crime or immediately after its commission. However, there are cases related to the identification of the types of crimes under investigation after the end of illegal actions, which are carefully hidden by criminals.

The sphere of the state defense order is currently one of the most relevant in the modern society of the Russian Federation. It should be noted that in January – August 2024, 497 criminal cases were initiated on crimes in the field of the military-industrial complex and the state defense order. In 2024, the largest number of cases are being investigated in Moscow and the Moscow region, the Udmurt Republic, Tula and Samara regions (the UK has initiated almost 500 cases of crimes in the field of defense industry and state defense orders. URL: https://www.vedomosti.ru/society/news/2024/09/17/1062766-sk-vozbudil-pochti (date of application: 10/15/2024)).

At the same time, the relevance of this study is confirmed by the adoption by deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation in the third reading of the law (On Amendments to Articles 2.5 and 14.55 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation. URL: https://sozd.duma.gov.ru/bill/406077-8 (date of appeal: 10/15/2024)), which establishes responsibility for military representatives for disrupting the deadlines for the execution of the state defense order. In case of violations, military representatives, who are obliged to control the quality and quantity of products supplied, will be held accountable on an equal basis with employees of the Russian Ministry of Defense and heads of enterprises of the military-industrial complex. Fines will range from 30 to 50 thousand rubles.

At the same time, it is proposed to expand the list of military representatives: officials of the military missions of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, as well as other departments that are customers for the state defense order (Responsibility for violations in the field of fulfilling the state defense order is increasing. URL: https://duma.gov.ru/news/58895 / (date of access: 10/15/2024)).

In addition, it should be noted that such authors as A.V. Parfenov ^[1] and V.Yu. Alferov et al. ^[2] (who considered topical issues of the legal basis for the organization of operational investigative activities), P.I. Ivanov ^[3] (who analyzed the features of the support of economic crimes in the field of procurement for the needs of the military-industrial complex), S.A. Arefyev ^[4] (who studied the structure of illegal activities in the field of the military-industrial complex), A.V. Annikov ^[5] (who identified the problems of obtaining primary operationally significant information about crimes in the field of state defense orders), A.V. Chumakov ^{[6, 7]} and S.A. Yanin (who considered the current problems of preliminary investigation of criminal cases in the field of state defense orders). At the same time, V.O. Zakharova, I.M. Ganiev ^[9] and others dealt with the criminalistic aspects of crimes in the field of state defense orders. A.V. Orlov ^[10] and others were engaged in countering economic and corruption crimes in the implementation of the state defense order ^[11].

It should be noted that one of the main subjects of the fight against economic crimes in the field of state defense orders are the internal affairs bodies of the Russian Federation, in particular the units of economic security and anti-corruption, carrying out operational investigative activities aimed at identifying, documenting, suppressing and uncovering crimes of an economic and corruption orientation.

The leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia draws attention to the need for prompt adoption of additional measures aimed at increasing the effectiveness of operational investigative support for the activities of operational units, in particular economic security and anti-corruption units, in the field of combating embezzlement of budget funds allocated for the implementation of the state defense order, by strengthening positions, increasing the quality of documenting the facts of illegal activities of the audited entities persons and so on.

In his research, A.V. Chumakov identifies the following main problems of investigating crimes of this category:

1) the problem of differentiation of criminal law norms;

2) difficulties in identifying signs and establishing all the circumstances of criminal activity;

3) difficulties in the implementation of operational support of criminal cases ^{[6, p. 80]}.

In our opinion, in addition to the above-mentioned problems identified by A.V. Chumakov, one of the main problems in the field under study should also include: difficulties in conducting operational investigative measures and investigative actions; difficulties in obtaining operationally significant information in order to identify additional episodes of illegal activity; difficulties in compensating for damage caused by a crime, etc.. At the same time, measures aimed at compensating the material damage caused to the state are an important aspect of the activities of not only the preliminary investigation bodies, but also the departments of economic security and anti-corruption, as noted by S.A. Yanin in his research ^{[8, p. 66]}.

As A.V. Parfenov rightly notes, operational search activity is a type of human activity consisting of a system of operational search activities carried out in practice, consisting in an intelligence and search orientation ^{[1, p. 9]}. Based on the author's opinion, we can assume that the operational investigative activities of economic security and anti-corruption units to combat economic crimes in the field of state defense order implementation are the activities of employees of the studied units aimed at identifying, documenting, suppressing, preventing, disclosing and investigating economic crimes in the field of state defense order implementation by conducting a complex of operational search activities in the intelligence and search orientation.

An important component of operational investigative activity is its operational investigative methodology. In turn, it is customary to include among the main elements of the operational investigative methodology:

– knowledge of the subject of the crime and the methods (schemes and mechanisms) of committing certain types of crimes and other operational investigative circumstances of illegal activity;

– the interdependence of the operational investigative methodology on the individual criminal situation and circumstances of disclosure and investigation;

– knowledge of forms and methods of combating the criminal environment in the framework of their counteraction to the detection, investigation and disclosure of crimes;

– information and technical bases for ensuring the detection, documentation, suppression and disclosure of crimes;

– the relationship and complexity of the use of forces, means and methods of operational investigative activities in accordance with current legislation ^{[2, p. 116]}.

In our opinion, the operational search detection of illegal actions on the part of individuals and the management of legal entities within the framework of the implementation of budgetary funds in the field of state defense orders is an integral and, perhaps, the most important component of their successful investigation, disclosure and prevention of crimes. It is impossible not to agree with the opinion of professors P.I. Ivanov and A.M. Kustov, who believe that in the process of conducting operational investigative and other measures, tasks related to the identification of persons who committed, commit or prepare crimes, as well as witnesses and eyewitnesses, with assistance to internal affairs bodies in the conduct of investigative actions and (or) other procedural actions or operational measures; with the identification of additional facts (episodes) of illegal activities of the persons being checked (developed); with the implementation of operational control over suspects (accused) and other persons inclined to oppose the preliminary investigation, etc. ^{[3, p. 132]}.

Based on the results of the analysis of materials of law enforcement practice and the activities of economic security and anti-corruption units, we confirm the fact of an increase in illegal activities in the field of the state defense order, in particular, related to the economic component; schemes and mechanisms of illegal withdrawal of budgetary funds into shadow circulation within the framework of the execution of the state defense order have been identified.

The features of the schemes and mechanisms of illegal activity in the field under study are as follows:

1. The head contractor of the state defense order enters into a contract with the contractor in an amount not exceeding the maximum value established by subclause "z" of clause 2, Part 1 of Article 8.3 "Mode of use of a separate account" of the Federal Law "On the State Defense Order" (On the State Defense Order: Federal Law No. 275-FZ dated 12/29/2012 // Help.-the legal system "ConsultantPlus" (date of application: 10/15/2024)) (hereinafter referred to as the Law), for writing off budget funds from a special account to other personal accounts in order to pay for expenses incurred:

– for the head performer in the amount of no more than five million rubles per month;

– for the performer in the amount of no more than three million rubles per month.

The subject of the concluded contract with the contractor may be the supply of materials, components, equipment or the performance of various types of work (repair, technical, etc.) on terms involving a monthly payment in an amount not exceeding five million rubles, or the conclusion of similar contracts for these works / services (crushing), each in an amount not exceeding the above the threshold value.

2. The head contractor makes payments to the contractor's personal account, which is usually opened in an unauthorized bank (Article 8.1 of the Law), which is not an account with a special regime and does not involve bank support and separate control over operations carried out on it in order to fulfill a state defense order.

Figure 1. Option 1

The purpose of implementing the scheme may be the departure of the head executor and the executor from the control provided for by Law in terms of changing the terms of the contract to comply with subclause "z" of clause 2, Part 1 of Article 8.3 "Mode of use of a separate account" of the Law (and, accordingly, the lack of proper control over their operations within the framework of the contract).

As a variation of this scheme, several executors of the state defense order and technical legal entities may become participants in the withdrawal of funds. In this case, the number of participants in the scheme increases: funds from the head contractor or the contractor of the state defense order are transferred from a special account to the accounts of technical legal entities. This variant of the scheme will be characterized by the participation of several performers, as well as the possible involvement of technical companies. In this case, the withdrawal schemes may look like this.

Figure 2. Option 2

Figure 3. Option 3

In some cases, facts of intentional violation of the requirements of the legislation on specifying the identifier of a state contract and transferring funds under a contract with the contractor in the amount of more than 3 million per month without using separate accounts may be revealed.

In order to quickly and reliably cash out the budgetary funds of the state defense order coming to the personal accounts of technical legal entities, their managers may conclude fictitious civil contracts with individuals for borrowing significant amounts of money in cash or for the purchase and sale of property belonging to them. These transactions are notarized in order to issue a notary's executive inscription in the future, which allows, after the lender applies to the credit institution where the account of the legal entity is opened, to freely repay an imaginary debt or receive payment for non-existent goods. The budget funds stolen in this way, subject to prior agreement, are returned in cash to the organizers of the criminal scheme and used by them at their discretion.

Thus, based on the above, it should be concluded that employees of economic security and anti-corruption units in the framework of identifying and documenting economic crimes in the field of state defense orders should take into account the schemes and mechanisms of illegal activities identified by us aimed at the criminal withdrawal of budgetary funds in order to suppress, disclose, investigate and prevent crimes in the studied area the sphere.

As a rule, within the framework of this typology, credit institutions serving scheme participants may observe the following signs:

– budget funds are credited to clients' personal accounts with the indication of the identifier of the state contract (the cipher consists of 25 digits) at the base of the transfer;

– the budget funds received in a short period of time (with signs of transit or withdrawal of capital) are transferred to other counterparties (both residents and non-residents) and (or) withdrawn in cash;

– when checking the activities and analyzing the documents according to the calculations carried out, signs of overestimation of the cost may be established, the absence of the client's role in the actual execution of the contract of the state defense order in terms of participation in the supply of goods or performance of work;

– the main all-Russian classifier of types of economic activity of a legal entity may not correspond to the basis and subject of calculations.

To significantly increase the effectiveness of the fight against economic crime in the field of state defense orders, it is necessary to develop new approaches to setting and solving diagnostic tasks of economic security and anti-corruption units aimed at identifying signs of crimes of any kind and complexity within the framework of ongoing verification activities.

Thus, in conclusion, we put forward the following conclusions related to improving the effectiveness of the economic security and anti-corruption units in identifying and documenting economic crimes in the field of state defense orders:

– currently, there is no clearly structured algorithm of actions aimed at timely and prompt detection and documentation of economic crimes in the field under study, in connection with which it is proposed to form methodological recommendations that would solve the problems of operational investigative activities in the field of state defense orders;

– it is necessary to apply rapid response measures ^{[5, p. 48]}, in order to early identify and document the facts of illegal activities in the field of state defense orders;

– the organization of operational investigative activities within the framework of identification and documentation has characteristic features in the field of regulation of the state defense order, information and analytical support, planning of the activities of the units under study, etc.;

– the organization of operational investigative activities of the units under study in the field of state defense order is closely interrelated with the organization of operational investigative activities of the Federal Security Service and other bodies engaged in operational investigative activities, whose competence includes the suppression and prevention of crimes in the field under study;

– timely identification of facts of illegal activity and their verification within the framework of operational accounting cases when organizing operational investigative activities of the units under study allows you to choose the optimal operational investigative methodology in the interests of prompt identification, documentation, suppression and disclosure of not only economic, but also corruption crimes in the field of state defense orders;

– a necessary condition for the successful identification, documentation, suppression and disclosure of economic crimes in the field of the state defense order is a professionally structured interaction of the investigated units with other units of the internal affairs bodies and other law enforcement agencies;

– the expansion of the operational investigative powers of the internal affairs bodies is advisable due to the specifics of their activities in the framework of conducting inspections on the facts of illegal activities in the field of state defense orders.