There are no norms prohibiting photography and video filming in public places in the legislation of the Russian Federation. There are restrictions on the publication and use of an image of a citizen, however, in cases where the image is used in the public interest (for example, to counter the financing of terrorism), consent to such use is not required. This was told to Izvestia on November 15 by Elizaveta Pliskanos, a criminal law lawyer at Pen & Paper, commenting on the intention of Rosfinmonitoring to request video from cameras at ATMs and offices of financial organizations.
She also noted that the consent of the citizen to use the image is not required also in cases where the shooting is done in places open to the public.
“Shooting at bank branches and ATMs is no different from filming security cameras in other public places, and in such cases, the law does not require visitors to be warned about the shooting, nor to obtain a court order for the further use of photographs and videos. You can use video from a camera in a bank branch to protect public safety right now, so the new powers of Rosfinmonitoring will not make significant changes,” Pliskanos said.
As the lawyer suggested, the department will request bank records not to understand who withdrew money from the found card, but, for example, to build a money laundering chain through a one-day firm or to establish who sponsors a particular organization. Thus, Rosfinmonitoring will continue to fulfill its main goals – to prevent the laundering of proceeds from crime, the fight against the financing of terrorism and corruption.
“And given the development of the system of automatic exchange of financial information, it is possible that after some time the service will immediately begin to transfer for further use records of banking transactions that fall under the definition of suspicious transactions,” she said.
Lawyer, partner of Pravovaya Group LLC Vladimir Shalaev also noted that it is primarily about identifying and suppressing the activities of persons involved in cashing out funds, which, according to him, is not directly stated in the proposed innovation.
He also clarified that records from offices and ATMs are kept by banks for some time, and they can be obtained at the request of the court or the competent authorities.
Earlier that day, it became known that Rosfinmonitoring may be entitled to request from banks photo and video materials from cameras installed in branches of organizations and at ATMs. This follows from the amendments to the second reading of the bill on amendments to the main law “On counteracting the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime and the financing of terrorism.”
The press service of the department told Izvestia that the implementation of the proposal would reduce the level of crime in the financial sector, including fraud with the funds of Russians, would make it possible to more effectively expose and bring to justice the perpetrators and organizers of crimes.
#Experts #explained #legitimacy #Rosfinmonitoring #request #video #cameras #banks