Use of special knowledge at the stage of initiation of criminal cases in the credit and financial sphere

The use of special knowledge in the initiation of criminal cases in the field of credit and finance has some particularities. This is because, in Russian forensic doctrine, the speed of crime detection depends on the speed of investigative powers realization at the moment when the verification of the received information about a crime requires the use of special knowledge. At the same time, speed alone does not ensure success because the efficiency depends on the quality of the investigation of the crime report, which largely determines the effectiveness of further procedural activities. The purpose of the article is to study the problem of the use of special knowledge at the stage of initiation of criminal crimes in the credit and finance sphere. The author proposes to consider special knowledge as the knowledge in the sphere of banking, financial and credit relations, functioning and legal regulation of the relevant market. It should not be common and well-known, but it should be the result of vocational education and training and it should correspond the expert level recognized by the professional community and preliminary investigation bodies. For the subject matter of this study, this is the knowledge of accounting and auditing, banking, securities market, corporate law, business practices, digital banking, information law and the foundations and special functions in informal sectors of the economy. The subject matter of this study is knowledge of accounting and auditing, banking, securities market, banking and corporate law, business customs and best practices in banking, digital banking, information law and the foundations and features of the operation of the paralegal (grey) and shadow sectors of the economy. Methods: the author applies general scientific and specific scientific methods of cognition (formal-legal, formal-logical methods, documentary analysis). Results: when verifying a report of a crime in the banking sphere, the investigator is entitled and may obtain from a specialist any information on the status and conditions for opening settlement and other accounts of the person under examination, on the forms of non-cash and other settlements made, on the compliance of accounting documents reflecting settlement and other transactions with the law and rules of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, on methods of accounting, use of tax optimization instruments, existence of overdue obligations. Moreover, the most frequent reason for preliminary verification of illegal banking activities is illegal cashing, which is carried out according to known model schemes and usually does not require complicated examinations. Therefore, in most cases, for the investigator it is a priority, financially and procedurally, economically and promptly to take advantage of the special knowledge of a competent person than to appoint an examination. The use of special knowledge at the stage of initiation of criminal cases in the area of credit and finance meets two types of obstacles: objective and subjective. Firstly, it is the lack of initial information, the loss of documents, files, as well as the receipt of banking information protected by banking secrecy, if the scope of the verification involves an operating legal financial and credit organization. Secondly, there are subjective obstacles: poor training, incompetence of a specialist or an investigator who incorrectly assigns a task to a competent person and (or) is unable to adequately use the information received.