The Prosecutor's Office reminds

In the Republic of Belarus, special attention is paid to combating corruption and preventing all its manifestations.

In accordance with Article 5 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus of July 15, 2015 No. 305-Z "On Combating Corruption" (hereinafter referred to as the Law), the fight against corruption is carried out by state bodies and other organizations through the comprehensive application of planning and coordination of activities of state bodies and other organizations to combat corruption, as well as the establishment of restrictions and special requirements aimed at ensuring financial control over public officials and persons equated to them, in order to prevent and detect manifestations of corruption.

One of the forms of ensuring financial control is the establishment of an obligation for public officials and persons equated to them to annually declare income and property, the procedure for which is provided for by Chapter 4 of the Law.

The main normative legal acts regulating the procedure for filling out, accepting, checking, and storing income and property declarations are the Instruction on the Procedure for Filling Out Income and Property Declarations by Individuals, approved by the Resolution of the Ministry of Taxes and Duties of the Republic of Belarus of January 9, 2008 No. 1, as well as the Regulation on the Procedure for Checking and Storing Income and Property Declarations, approved by the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus of January 16, 2016 No. 19.

Since March 1, 2023, Article 27-1 "Income and Property Not Subject to Mandatory Declaration" has been added to the Law, which contains a list of income and property that are not subject to disclosure in declarations. For example, these include funds placed in accounts, deposits (including term deposits) in banks of the Republic of Belarus, bonds and income from them, digital tokens, income received under bonus, marketing, and other similar programs, price (tariff) discounts for goods (works, services), commercial loans, etc.

The practice of prosecutorial supervision shows that persons obliged to provide income and property declarations often violate the requirements of the aforementioned legislation.

In particular, cases of non-disclosure or incomplete disclosure in declarations of income in the form of money transfers received from abroad are common. Information about insurance payments from "Belgosstrakh" units, short-term (overdraft) and other loans is not always indicated.

Certain officials fail to declare property subject to declaration, in particular, vehicles. The date or method of acquisition of real estate and vehicles remains unspecified, and inaccurate information about their value is provided.

There are instances of officials failing to declare income received in the gambling business sector, specifically from online casinos.

It is evident that violations of legislation regulating income and property declaration create preconditions for corruption and contradict the state policy in the area of corruption prevention. In this regard, Article 24.6 of the Code of the Republic of Belarus on Administrative Offenses establishes administrative liability for violations of the procedure for declaring income and property.

In light of the foregoing, the district prosecutor's office draws the attention of persons who are obliged to submit income and property declarations to the necessity of strict compliance with the