Official forgery of documents under Art. 159 of the Criminal Code is a very serious criminal offense, so it is punished extremely harshly. In this case, sanctions apply not only to the one who forged the documents for fraud, but also to the person for whom it was done (if there is such a person).
The essence of the crime
Fraudulent acts in the form of forgery of documents under Art. 159 of the Criminal Code is a criminal offense, expressed in the theft of things or other property, the owner of which is an outsider.
Also, fraud may consist in obtaining the right to these things, acquired through fraud, abuse of the owner’s trust.
Punishment for forgery (fake) of documents under Art. 159 of the Criminal Code varies depending on the size of the damage caused. In addition, important factors are the determination of the object of the attack and the number of criminals.
Forgery of documents under Art. 159 of the Criminal Code. Responsibility for the first part
The first part of the article for fraudulent acts in the Criminal Code defines seven types of punishment:
- Penalties of not more than one hundred and twenty thousand in rubles, or calculated within the annual salary of the convicted person at his official place of employment, or in the framework of other income for the year.
- Labor activity of a mandatory type lasting up to fifteen days (calendar).
- Labor activity of correctional type lasting no more than one year.
- Labor activity of forced type lasting no more than two years.
- Arrest for up to four months.
- Restriction of the right of movement for two years.
- Imprisonment of a citizen for two years.
Each type of liability can be applied depending on the severity of the offense and other factors.
Responsibility for the second part of the article
Fraud in the form of theft of things or forgery of documents under Art. 159 of the Criminal Code is a crime committed by conspiracy of a group of people, or an act that caused damage to victims in a significant amount.
For a criminal offense under this part of the article under consideration, arrest is excluded from the list of types of sanctions. In other types of punishment, the sizes and terms are increased:
- the fine is increased to three hundred thousand in rubles or is charged within the limits of a citizen’s earnings for two years at the place of official employment (within the limits of other income for a two-year period);
- obligatory type of work up to twenty days (calendar);
- labor activity of correctional type lasting no more than two years;
- forced labor with a duration of not more than five years;
- restriction of the right of movement for five years;
- imprisonment of a citizen for two years.
Some of these sanctions are sometimes applied together (for example, deprivation of a citizen's freedom and its restriction).
Responsibility for the third part of the article
For fraud under Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (forgery of documents), the third part establishes the application of sanctions for theft with the help of large-scale fraud or with the help of an official position.
The third part will determine three types of punishment:
- Penalties of not more than five hundred thousand in rubles, or calculated within the five-year salary of a citizen at his official place of employment, or in the framework of other income for a five-year period.
- Labor activity of forced type lasting no more than five years.
- Imprisonment of a citizen for five years.
Additional types of punishment are applied by court order.
Sanctions on the fourth part of the article
Responsibility under Art. 159 of the Criminal Code for forgery of documents or other fraudulent acts occurs in cases where there are qualified personnel in the form of a group organized crime, or there is a special amount of damage, or the action resulted in the deprivation of the right to housing.
For forging documents under art. 159 of the Criminal Code, the punishment consists in depriving a criminal of liberty for up to ten years with the imposition of an additional sanction measure in the form of a fine of up to one million rubles (or income for the last three years) or restriction of freedom of movement for no more than two years.
Responsibility for the fifth part of the article
A fifth of the article in question establishes the application of sanctions for the deliberate evasion of contractual obligations if they entailed the occurrence of losses in a significant amount.
The Code provides five types of penalties for these actions:
- a fine reaching the amount of three hundred thousand, or calculated within the limits of two-year earnings of a person at the place of official employment (within the limits of other income for a two-year period);
- obligatory type of work up to twenty days (calendar);
- labor activity of correctional type lasting no more than two years;
- forced labor with a duration of not more than five years, along with a restriction on freedom for twelve months (optional);
- imprisonment of a citizen for five years.
The restriction on freedom of movement applies only on the basis of a court decision.
Comments on the article
For forging documents under art. 159 of the Criminal Code comments jurists consider the following features of this norm.
According to clause two of Decree No. 51, issued by the Plenary Session of the RF Armed Forces on December 27, 2007, deception is the misrepresentation of another person in the form of active action (distortion or provision of documents that are falsified by a criminal) or inaction (refusal to communicate to the citizen of the facts that the offender should have said).
An abuse of position includes the intentional use of a trust relationship with the intent to obtain property belonging to another person. Trust relationships can be built with the owner or with a third party who is authorized to dispose of this property.
Methods and methods of crime investigation
The methods for investigating crimes of this type for part one are inquiry (for actions that did not cause the victim major or significant damage), and for the remaining parts - a preliminary investigation.
Investigations are conducted within two to six months. The investigation period may be extended for a longer period in the following situations:
- if the fraud includes several episodes of a crime with particularly serious damage;
- if more than one criminal appears in the process.
In any case, at the request of the investigator conducting the case, the investigation is extended for a while.
When conducting an investigation of a preliminary type, investigators or interrogators determine the following signs of forgery of documents under Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation or other fraudulent actions:
- Crime event.
- Circumstances of the commission of criminal acts.
- Guilty of persons suspected of an act, with the establishment in their actions of the composition of this offense.
- Size and nature of the harm.
- Circumstances that allow to exclude the criminal nature and punishability of the act.
- Circumstances that give the right to release the guilty from punishment and not apply criminal sanctions to him.
- Circumstances that mitigate or aggravate guilt (if any).
The proof of all circumstances is extremely important for the application of appropriate sanctions to the criminal.
List of Information Collected
Building evidence in the case includes collecting the following information:
- testimony of the accused citizen;
- testimony of the victim and receipt of his statement;
- testimony of witnesses;
- expert opinions and testimonies;
- protocols of investigative actions and measures, as well as other documents of a procedural nature;
- evidence of material type.
After all the necessary actions have been taken, the materials are sent to the prosecutor to verify them and receive an indictment.
The practice of the courts under this article
Litigation in the past year has often been linked to major criminal fraud cases involving government officials and executives of large Russian enterprises.
One such case is a lawsuit in Moscow (Zamoskvoretsky court) against a citizen who was the head of the Federal Penitentiary Service (Alexander Reimer), and the director of the FSUE, which was engaged in providing information and technical equipment in favor of the Federal Penitentiary Service (Viktor Defenenov), for fraud in the field of procurement of electronic bracelets for tracking.
Despite the objections of the defendants' attorneys, they were sentenced under part three of Article 159 of the Criminal Code to the following punishments:
- Six-year sentence in a colony with a common regime.
- A fine of seven hundred thousand.
- Deprivation of titles of a special type.
In addition to applying the indicated sanctions, both criminals were fired from the service.
In the same period, the head of the Mirax Group, Sergei Polonsky, was convicted on the fourth part of the article under consideration for five years in prison. Law enforcement officers established the fact of theft in the form of fraud for convicts of money in the amount of two and a half billion rubles from interest holders.
The essence of the act was that the offender, along with other heads of the company, deceived large sums of money from his real estate investors and fled from persecution abroad. With the help of foreign law enforcement agencies, the defendant was deported and transported to Russia to initiate proceedings and impose penalties.
Due to the expiration of the statute of limitations for the application of sanctions for this type of criminal offense, the defendant was forced to be released in the courtroom after sentencing.
Many criminals for fraud in the form of forgery of documents or in another form were sentenced to ten years in prison with a fine. Stricter sanctions were applied to individuals who held high posts, including the removal of special ranks and dismissal from work without the right to reinstatement.