The President of Russia Vladimir Putin signed into law a criminal enactment providing penalties for fraudulent accounting. The legislative measure signed makes it a crime to record in a legal entity’s accounting books fictitious and fraudulent transactions, as well as deals aimed at rigging the market. The changes introduced are aimed at implementing as a matter of Russian domestic law the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention that establishes legally binding standards to criminalize bribery of foreign public officials in international business transactions.

In particular, the new enactment 357-FZ introduces amendments to the Russian law on accountancy of December 2011. The newly-crafted statute provides, in pertinent part, that recording into accounting books of false transactions and deals designed to cover up other transactions constitutes a separate criminal act. Another section of the law prohibits any bookkeeping activities aside from those utilizing specific accounting methods recognized by the state.

After having cleared both chambers of the Russian legislature by mid-December, the new legal measure will enter into force as of January 2014.