Inquiry as a tool for collecting compromising information regarding officials involved in committing bribery

Corruption-related crimes, the bulk of which are provided for by Articles 290-291.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, pose a serious danger to the society and the state. The effectiveness of identifying and documenting facts of bribery largely depends on the timeliness of such an operational-search measure as «making inquiries». The particular features of the operational-search measure «making inquiries» are studied and the tools of the mentioned operational-search measure allowing collecting operationally significant information about officials and other persons involved in bribery are analyzed in the article. Some theoretical and practical problems of conducting the operational-search measure «making inquiries» are identified, which affect the timeliness of obtaining information of operational interest for the internal affairs agencies, in particular the economic security and anti-corruption units. Some ways to solve the mentioned problems and amendments to the Federal Laws «On Operational Search Activities» and «On Police» which in the author’s opinion will normalize and speed up the procedure for requesting operationally significant information about officials and other persons involved in bribery are proposed in the article.