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Russia passes amnesty for economic crimes

03 July 2013 08:55 (UTC +04:00)

The number of offenders it applies to has been shaved down from earlier reported 10,000. Around 1300 cases could be ended at the initial stage.

A law that separates "true business persons from corrupted ones and is meant for the whole community, not individual players” gained approval from Russian lawmakers, which will ‘normalize’ the situation in the business community, essentially handing out ‘get-out-of-jail-free-cards’ to criminals involved in petty economic crimes.

The draft resolution was passed unanimously with just one amendment with 298 votes in favor. The resolution will be recognized as law as soon as the Duma officially publishes the documents.

The amnesty will not apply to Russia’s most famous tycoon prisoner, former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was sentenced for tax evasion and fraud, and is in his tenth year in a Siberian prison.