• What kind of database is this?
  

• What type of information is contained in a database?
  

• What evidence is the information in the database based on?
  

• How often is the information in the database updated?

What kind of database is this?

The database of public officials of Russia (PEP, Politically exposed person) – is the database created for financial monitoring subjects (banks, payment organizations, exchanges, etc.) in order to detect Russian PEP and its related persons, and to assess the level of risk associated with servicing such clients.

The site is public and free to use for non-commercial purposes if it references to the site.

Financial monitoring subjects can also obtain information from the database in Json or XML format and receive regular updates for financial monitoring purposes.

The use of information obtained from this site for further resale in the form of various analytical products or for other commercial purposes is prohibited. The exception is the use of information by journalists, public figures and analysts to prepare materials for the media, scientific research, etc.

What type of information is contained in a database?

The PEP Russia database contains information about individuals and legal entities based on the following categories:

1. Public official (PEP) of Russia:

• a person who holds the position defined under the federal law "On Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism";
  

• or a person who does not fall within the definition of Russian law but was categorized by us as a national PEP based on recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF).
  

The FATF has identified 4 risk groups among PEP in its recommendations:
1. High-risk: 
- heads of  State or of government;
- senior government (national and regional);
- senior politicians (national and regional);
- heads of military, judicial, law enforcement agencies, board members of central banks;
- important political party officials.
2. Medium-to-high risk:
- senior military, judicial and law enforcement officials;
- senior officials of other government bodies and senior civil servants;
- senior leaders of religious groups;
- ambassadors, consuls, high commissioners.
3. Medium-risk:
- senior management and members of the board of directors of state enterprises and organizations
4. Low-risk:
- mayors and deputies of local, city and district assemblies;
- senior officials and functionaries of international or supranational organizations.

The public officials associated with the Presidential Administration, the Council of the Federation, State Duma, the Russian Government and the heads of the Federation's constituent entities were investigated by April 2020. So far, PEPs have not been divided into risk groups.

2. PEP’s family members:

• spouses, close relatives (in ascending and descending direct line (parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren), full and half-brothers and sisters (having the same father or mother), adoptive parents and adoptees.)
  

3. Other individuals associated with PEP - relatives who are not prescribed by law as high-risk clients.

4. Profiles of the legal entities associated with PEP, their family members and related persons:

• legal entities where PEP or their associates work/worked;

• where the PEP or their related persons are founders, co-owners, shareholders, beneficial owners;
  

• PEP or related persons receive from this legal entity services associated with the company/other property management, services of the nominal owner.
  

Profiles of individuals and legal entities can be basic and extended.

The following information is collected and systematized into the basic profile of an individual:

• surname, first name, patronymic and transliteration;
  

• profile type (PEP, family member, related person);
  

• date of birth;
  

• individual tax number (source, if available - Unified State Registry of Legal Persons);
  

• place of birth;
  

• place of work;
  

• data from the public income and expenditure declaration.
  

The expanded national PEP profile collects previously disclosed, substantiated additional information about the property and business reputation of the person (subject to the availability):

• geography, history and geography of business origin, wealth and assets;
  

• known family, personal and business ties;
  

• PEP-related legal entities;
  

• imposition of international sanctions to PEP;
  

• existence of criminal cases in which PEP is involved, its procedural status in them;
  

• criminal records;
  

• corruption involvement;
  

• detailed description of known corruption schemes associated with national PEP.
  

What evidence is the information in the database based on?
The information in the database is based on data collected from public sources available to any journalist:

• government websites;
  

• official state registers (Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Unified State Register of Real Estate);
  

• media publications;
  

• information from leaked databases (Paradise Papers, Panama Papers, Transborder corruption archive, Aleph OCCRP etc.);
  

• public projects Declarator, OpenNGO, Clearspending, Candidates;
  

• social media profiles.
  

Principles for the use of media and other sources:

• we do not use media reports based on information from an unknown source to fill the database;
  

• we do not use analytical articles where the professional/personal opinion of the author is the source of information;
  

• we do not use documents published in media that have a reputation for being unreliable, such as those that may intentionally publish inaccurate information, if their statements cannot be confirmed by information from a more reliable source;
  

• we do not use sound recordings that are not verified by a court or otherwise;
  

• we use reports from press services of state bodies or information from official websites of state bodies, if such reports do not contain personal judgments of officials and if there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the disseminated information is untrue.;

• we refer to the comments of persons who have independently reported certain facts about themselves (e.g., presence of children, marriage, tenure of office, etc.);
  

• we refer to the photo and video materials, reports from the scene of the event (video of the court hearing, video/photo from search, wedding photos, etc.).;
  

• we use biographies published on official websites of state bodies, political parties, personal pages, biographies that were submitted for official purposes (e.g. biography submitted for participation in elections).
  

You can click on the iconto see what evidence confirms a statement or by what date it is relevant. For example:

The data presented in the PEP database is indicative and in some cases there are simplifications due to contradictions between official sources or from the lack of accurate data. We recommend that journalists double-check the data before using it in publications.

How often is the information in the database updated?

The information in the database is updated manually. Therefore, reflection of the facts of a person's holding office, possession of corporate rights, status of a legal entity, status of a person in criminal proceedings may be delayed.

If you find out that profile information is out of date, you can report it by clicking on the "Contact us" button at the right bottom corner or "Feedback" button on the top right panel.

PEP database in social media: 

The rupep.org database is developed based on the original software and methodology design of the pep.org.ua project of the Anticorruption Action Centre.