Addressing Russian Federal Assembly, Russia’s President spoke, among other things, about prosecution of national entrepreneurs.
As he noted, “45% of initial investigations against entrepreneurs do not get to trial. This means they were opened in a slipshod manner or under some unclear pretext. 130 jobs are lost on average every time a business closes down as result of an investigation. This is becoming a major economic problem. This is what happens: a person is kept behind bars, and he has not been summoned for questioning for several months. The prosecutor wants to know why he had not been questioned, and they tell him that the investigator was on holiday. How can this be explained? A person is kept behind bars while the investigator has left on holiday and has not questioned him for several months. This should not happen, we need to sort this out.”
“I suggest that our business associations and the Agency for Strategic Initiatives create a special digital platform which entrepreneurs will use to make public any instances of pressure on business and to demand a formal court hearing,” the President said, adding, “When we discussed this issue, many of our colleagues said honestly that they were terrified. Yes, this is scary, but the problem does exist.”