Blocking bank accounts

Chronicle

2025

Russia passed a law allowing investigators to suspend account transactions without trial

At the end of May 2025 State Duma Russia , she adopted a bill on the right of the investigator and the investigator to make decisions on the suspension of suspicious transactions with funds and accounts for a period of no more than 10 days in cases that do not tolerate delay.

According to Interfax, the initiative proposes to supplement the Criminal Procedure Code of Russia with Article 115.2, which provides for new powers for the preliminary investigation bodies. The investigator, with the consent of the head of the investigative body or the investigator, with the consent of the prosecutor, will have the right to suspend operations without going to court.

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Фото: Freepik

The right to suspend transactions will apply to bank accounts, deposits, deposits, electronic funds and advance payments for communication services that were used in criminal activities. The decision can be made if there is reason to believe that transactions were carried out on these accounts to credit funds or increase the balance of electronic funds in criminal cases.

The maximum period for suspending operations is 10 days. The developers of the bill explain this period by the difficulty of obtaining in a shorter time information about the ownership of bank accounts and electronic wallets used in criminal activities, as well as evidence for applying a measure of procedural coercion - seizure of property.

The explanatory note notes that at the moment the opportunity to suspend operations with funds has been provided to a number of Russian departments, including the Federal Tax Service of Russia and the FSSP of Russia. Rosfinmonitoring is authorized to issue a decision on the suspension of operations with cash or other property for up to 30 days based on the results of consideration of relevant information.

Credit institutions are also entitled to suspend account transactions if they have signs of an operation without the consent of the client, in accordance with the federal law "On the National Payment System" of June 27, 2011.^[1]

Investigators in Russia were allowed to stop transactions with bank accounts of suspects without a court decision

Home Office Russia developed a bill allowing investigators and interrogators to suspend transactions with bank accounts of suspected criminals without a court decision for up to 10 days. This became known on February 4, 2025.

According to TASS, the bill provides for amendments to Article 111 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. To suspend operations, the investigator will need permission from the head of the investigative body, and the investigator will need the consent of the prosecutor.

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Фото: Freepik

Igor Cherepanov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Russian Bar Association, notes that the changes are aimed at increasing the effectiveness of combating crimes in the field of information technology. The new mechanism will allow you to quickly respond to attempts to withdraw stolen funds.

The document provides for blocking operations if there are grounds that the funds on the account of the suspect or accused were used in the commission of a crime. This also applies to advance payments and electronic funds.

Within 10 days after blocking, the investigation is obliged to receive a court decision on the arrest of accounts. Otherwise, the restrictions must be removed. At the same time, the suspension of operations does not entail the automatic withdrawal of funds to the Russian budget.

The bill was successfully approved by key departments: the Ministry of Justice, the Investigative Committee, the FSB, the Prosecutor General's Office, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Digital Development and Rosfinmonitoring.

After the restrictions are introduced, the suspect or accused will not be able to replenish the account, withdraw cash or close it. All restrictions are subject to mandatory control by the prosecutor's office and the judiciary.

The bill also reduces the time to provide information from banks and electronic payment operators to three working days, and in some cases to 24 hours. Previously, the average time to receive such data exceeded one month.^[2]

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