Database of unreliable former employees of the biggest Russian bank

It took me a month to prepare new article for my blog. Initially I planned to send a long research about management of commercial and trade secrets in Russia, but actually I’ m a little overloaded by due diligence projects and it is hard to find spare time and revise the problem. That’s why I’d like to share new important link that will be helpful for you during background screening of bank and finance management professionals in Russia.

Since August 2010 Russian biggest governmental bank Sberbank started to publish the list of former employees dismissed because internal fraud or theft. Initially the list included also those employees who were caught by internal control department but several legal claims forced Sberbank to exclude fraudsters who weren’t brought to the Court. 

http://www.sbrf.ru/moscow/ru/about/dismiss

The list is in Russian language only and is intended to be regularly updated.

CIS is moving towards integration of forensic databases.

It is reported by leading Russian informational agencies that 17th of September 2010 ministers of internal affairs of the CIS have signed documents on developing of a single forensic database.

Currently, law enforcement agencies of CIS countries exchanged information, but the processing of requests for its issuance takes a long time.

I expect that in 12-18 months the procedure of criminal background check of the Subject who was involved in criminal activity in several CIS countries will be simplified (nowadays this assignment requires independent investigation in every country of interest, takes much time and money).

Couple of links to the brand new databases for background screening

It is still extremely hot in St. Petersburg and I have to convince that when the nature is playing against its’ rules it is pretty hard to write articles in non-native language. That’s why up until now I can’t finish my new article about forecasting.

Just to let you know that I’m still alive and try to keep my promises I’m glad to publish a couple of brand new links to officially opened for public databases applicable in several types of background screening projects in Russia.

FIRST – THE REGISTRY OF FEDERAL BAILIFFS SERVICE (IN BETA TEST MODE)
On its’ pages you’ll be able to check if the Subject-private person is wanted as defaulter; check if the legal body was claimed as a bankrupt.

Also there is a database of real estate arrested by the Federal Bailiffs Service and several registers useless in background screening projects
It is sad but the database is in Russian language only and it is not planned to translate its’ records into English.
I have to remind that the Registry is in test mode and some bugs are promised to be fixed in the nearest future.

SECOND - FEDERAL AGENCY FOR TOURISM, REGISTRY OF CERTIFIED TRAVEL TOURS OPERATORS
The search is simple and can give you the license number and expiry date of certified travel tours operators.

That’s all for today. I pray that the next few days the weather will change and I’ll be able to share some new ideas about complex tasks of background screening results analysis.
Thanks for your attention, hope these links will be also useful.

Basic background check of Russian companies

It was my decision to start this blog with articles about basic background screening of private persons. With no doubt it is a regular business task for every PI or Risk Management corporation. My mission was simply to inform you about legal procedures and types of data which can be collected by Russian local PIs without in-depth investigation or illegal activity. I can assure you that I will continue this theme in my future articles.

Today, following recent international projects, I plan to show you first steps of legal body background screening process in Russia. I believe this data will be helpful ether for professional investigators and competitive intelligence specialists interested in effective and legal cooperation with Russian colleagues.

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As usual, my first words will be about the Law and its requirements.

Every Russian PI agency is regulated by the “Federal Law about private detective and security services” (21.03.2002 N 31-ФЗ, 10.01.2003 N 15-ФЗ, 06.06.2005 N 59-ФЗ, 18.07.2006 N 118-ФЗ, 24.07.2007 N 214-ФЗ, 22.12.2008 N 272-ФЗ). This Law is a subject of constant debates between PI professionals and police authorities of Russian Federation. In general, the problem is in comparatively poor effectiveness of investigations leaded by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and numerous offences of Russian private agencies. Thank god this law is regulating mostly means of investigations (follow-up services, eavesdrops etc.) and doesn’t limit the scope of investigations. Uncommon for the world practice is that this law also regulates “marketing researches, negotiations support and credit status checks”. There are several hundreds of marketing companies in Russia (including representative offices of well-known foreign companies) acting without PI license and in my opinion this section of the Law must be treated as “recommended but not required”.

“Trade secret protection Law” (29.07.2004 г. N 98-ФЗ). This Law is similar to EU regulations. The only difference is that the victim can apply to the Russian court only if it had “trade secret protection regime” and acted in compliance with its regulations when the trade secret was stolen.

“The law about State secret” (06.10.1997 N 131-ФЗ, от 30.06.2003 N 86-ФЗ, от 11.11.2003 N 153-ФЗ, от 29.06.2004 N 58-ФЗ, от 22.08.2004 N 122-ФЗ, от 01.12.2007 N 294-ФЗ, от 01.12.2007 N 318-ФЗ 27.03.1996 N 8-П, 10.11.2002 N 293-О, 10.11.2002 N 314-О) regulates protection and management of State secrets. It is important to know that private company can have the license to work with governmental secrets (most shipyards, ammo factories, some software developers etc.). In this case your request will be mandatory declined by every reliable professional.

STEP 1 – IDENTIFICATION OF THE SUBJECT

Background screening project usually starts from the subject identification. Today we will limit the scope of the article to the case where the company corresponds to the only legal body. In fact it is rare for Russian business. Most Russian companies have several legal bodies united by shareholders or even unaffiliated.
If you know legal name of the Subject – you can proceed to Step 2.

Our aim is to find indicators which can help us to identify the legal body. In Russia these indicators are Tax ID (INN, ИНН), legal name and type of ownership. If this data is unavailable, the only 2 methods we can use are OSI and database screening. Usually if the company is acting and duly registered, at least one legal body can be identified by the OSI. Most Russian companies place their Tax ID and legal name on their Internet sites.

I BEG YOU NEVER EVER MAKE THE FOLLOWING CONCLUSION: IF THE SUBJECT HAS A GOOD WEBSITE - IT IS A DULY INCORPORATED COMPANY. THERE ARE NUMEROUS RUSSIAN FAKE SITES DESIGNED WITH THE ONLY INTENTION – TO ASSURE YOU THAT THE COMPANY REALLY EXISTS. THESE SCAMERS ACT MOSTLY IN INTERNATIONAL OIL&GAS BUSINESS, BUT I SAW ALSO SCAM DISTRIBUTORS AND EVEN SCAM DETECTIVE AGENCIES SITES.

If OSI can’t help in the Subject identification, database screening is the final chance. In case the company has a unique name, it is possible that you will succeed, if it is not (for example the name of the company is “Omega”) you will have to consider in-depth investigation as the only chance to identify the Subject.

STEP 2 – DATABASE SCREENING

When the Subject is identified, the process of basic background screening is simple: check and cross analysis of legal database records.
There are several reliable and legal databases of Russian companies. Most popular are:
SPARK (System of Professional Analysis of Markets and Companies) This database includes records about Russian, Ukrainian and Kazakhstan companies

Database of National Credit Bureau Comparatively with SPARK it has stronger financial reporting system but Ukrainian and Kazakhstan companies are not listed in this database.

These databases are formed by data exported from Federal Statistics Service, Federal Financial Markets Service, Federal Tax Service data. These informational sources with no doubt are very reliable, but at the same time they limit the ability of investigator to get up to date information.

E.g. by this time SPARK gives accounting data issued by the end of 2009 (for several companies even 2008!). The problem is in traditionally poor reporting system of Russian companies and delays in information analysis. Even now many Russian companies have double reporting system: first (legal) for taxation, second (informal) for internal control and financial analysis. That’s why even if the structure of the subject financial balance in above mentioned databases is strong; in fact the company can be on the edge of bankruptcy.

Anyway these databases can give us reliable and comparatively up to date information about:
1. Short name of the subject
2. Full name of the subject (Russian and English)
3. Foundation date
4. Reg. Number (OGRN)
5. TAX number (INN)
6. OKPO Code
7. Type of Ownership (OKFS code)
8. Legal form (OKOPF code)
9. OKATO
10. Line of business
11. General Director
12. Legal address
13. Shareholders
14. Affiliated bodies
15. As it was mentioned before, accounting balance is also available.

STEP 3 – ARBITRAGE RECORDS SCREENING

Among reliable open for public databases the database of Arbitrage court is one of the best. During basic background screening it is reasonable to check if the subject was claimed as unreliable debtor or even in the process of bankruptcy.
Every regional court has its own database. Probably later I’ll publish its links in this blog.


SEVERAL HINTS FOR PERSONS WHO WISH TO MAKE BACKGROUND SCREENING FREE OF CHARGE

1. SPARK and National Credit Bureau has limited free access. You can check if the company was duly registered and the name of the general manager
2. There are simple methods of bank account and TAX-ID validation. Some of them is available for free at the Internet
3. Old data is available on several illegal on-line databases. If you’ll be lucky you will find one before it will be erased from the Internet.
4. If the subject is a Joint Stock Company (Russian OAO) it is obliged to disclose information about its shareholders and affiliated bodies. It is a good and legal source of important information.


I’m sorry that my post is much longer than usual, but I hope this data will be interesting and helpful.

As it was mentioned before it is rare when the company (business) has only one legal body and it is hard even for “Russian made” professional to identify the whole structure of legal bodies involved in the business of the company. That’s why I’m sure that when you’ll face the challenge of Russian company background screening you will make a good decision and won’t try to do this without professional support.

Since January 2011 the database of Russian medical professionals will be available for public by request.

The Ministry of Public Heals and Social Development announced short –termed plan for 2010-2012 where it is proclaimed that by the end of 2010 every Russian citizen by request will be able to check education of his doctor or medical adviser. Up until now it is not clear how the Ministry plans to implement this Federal project. Moreover, it is doubtful that the education screening process will be in compliance with the Federal Law on Personal data. Anyway, if this screening process will be legal, quick and reliable we can foresee decrees in corruption among medical professionals and general improvement of quality in the public health services market.
By the end of April it is proclaimed that the database of medical professional already includes 390 thousands records. It is planed that the whole database will have about 1 800 thousands records.
I will keep my eyes opened and will mandatory inform you if, how and where this data will be available.

What kind of data can be collected during basic pre-employment screening?

First of all you have to take into consideration that in Russia you won’t ever get standard criminal background or credit history report of the employee.

Criminal records: There are no “open for public” databases of criminal records in Russia. Moreover, except for serious (or organized) crime, police has no federal database of crime participators. That’s why if we try to get criminal background records of the employee, the task should be split into 2 different steps:

1. Check if the employee was named in the Federal database as an offender or terrorist (pay attention that this source is also “for authorized use only”)
2. Check local database of criminal records to find if the employee was prosecuted or detained by the police (no chance to get this data unless you have a strong relations with local authorities).

There’s also another way of collecting criminal background information – check illegal databases of organized crime participants and offenders which is available on the black market. This database is not up to date (newest records dated 2002) and doesn’t pretend to be full. I can’t recommend you to rely on this source of information, but if you try to save your time & money, this is the only source you have. Elsewhere you will have to “investigate” and get information directly from police databases.

Credit history: It is a long story which started in 2004, when the Federal Law 213-F3 “About credit history” dated 12.30.2004 was published. According to this Law, several Credit bureaus are to be organized. Banks are welcomed but not obliged to sign agreement with Credit bureaus and disclose information about their debtors. As the result there are databases of Russian citizens credit history, but they are not reliable (if the Subject get financial credit from the bank which is not in the disclosure program, this data will be hardy available). With the permission of the Subject you can get information about his criminal background, but the only legal way to get credit history of the Subject is to take his Power of Attorney.

So, what will we find in the basic background screening report of Russian employee?

National registration data of the Subject (First name, Second name, Fathers name, date of birth, passport number, registered address). Registered address (so called “propiska”) is a kind of legal address. Very often registered address doesn’t mean place of residence.

Tax ID (Individual tax number, INN) – identification of the private person in tax police

Driving license (including expiry date)

Relatives of the Subject – only if they are registered at the same address.

Ownership of vehicles (VIN, registered number, date of registration)

Ownership of premises

Involvement in legal bodies

Criminal background – only Federal database data (see above)

I’ve seen different reports produced by local and international companies but the truth is that this data is the only valid information about the employee that can be collected without investigation.