Organization of work to counteract illegal withdrawal of funds and money laundering through microfinance organizations

• Main Authors: Vitaliy V. Begeza, Stanislav V. Svistunov
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) 2021-12-01
• Series: RUDN Journal of Law
• Subjects: loan; microfinance organizations; personal data; microfinance activities; fraud; central bank of the russian federation; money laundering; terrorist financing
• Online Access: http://journals.rudn.ru/law/article/viewFile/26720/19447

The relevance of the chosen topic is due to the problems of ensuring the protection of personal rights when interacting with microfinance organizations, protection of personal data of citizens, fraudulent actions when entering into a loan agreement using copies of documents, personal data in the information telecommunications network Internet, as well as stolen or lost documents, protection of citizens rights when processing personal data by microfinance organizations to obtain a consumer loan. Ensuring the protection of society and the state by creating a legal mechanism to counteract the legalization (laundering) of income and funds withdrawal abroad. In the microfinance market, there are organizations that operate illegally; they do not belong to any state register, as a rule. You will never find any responsible persons at the legal address of such companies. Therefore, in case of damage, compensation for losses through civil mechanisms or appealing directly to the culprit or to the court is almost impossible. The average citizen is not able to ensure their own economic security and financial stability. Due to legal illiteracy and the specific features of this type of activity, the citizen is the vulnerable party of relationship. A growing social tension in connection with filing by creditors in the face of microfinance institutions is due to obviously overestimated obligations in the loan agreement in case they were not performed during a long period of default. Such practice was quite common prior to the amendments to the legislative acts regarding limitations on the accrual of interest on consumer credits (loans) for up to one year. The activities of microfinance organizations are directly related to financial transactions involving the transfer and provision of funds, which may be of interest to criminal circles or other persons engaged in money laundering and terrorist financing. The relevance of the research is also dictated by the lack of sufficient scientific recommendations to create the necessary legal mechanisms and train government agencies, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutors office and the courts, in order to prevent infringement of citizens rights when they deal with microfinance organizations in obtaining consumer loans. The lack of effective management of such relations is dangerous in terms of requirements set up in article 46 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation on the right to guaranteed judicial protection of the rights and freedoms of citizens. The novelty is related to the attempts to analyze the activities of microfinance organizations not from the position of presenting this type of activity as an economic tool for providing financial assistance to vulnerable segments of the population, but as a potential threat to society, since uncontrolled monetary relations will lead to criminalization of the activity and further worsening of the financial situation of citizens. Practices of foreign countries show that these tools are implemented only in countries with a low level of economic development. In Western Europe, microfinance is practically not used; instead, other tools are applied, such as raising household incomes through the creation of highly qualified jobs, which is a contradictory practice. The purpose of the research is to study public relations in the field of microfinance organizations, identify gaps and contradictions in this area, develop and justify possible legal proposals to eliminate them. Based on the analysis of international agreements in the field of countering the legalization (laundering) of income and withdrawal of funds, mechanisms of interdepartmental interaction in the Russian Federation, it is advisable to develop measures aimed at improving Russian legislation on microfinance activities.