And although we can adopt as many laws as we wish on crime-fighting, they will be to no avail as long as people and businesses here are not convinced of the necessary protective nature of the law for their work. People here still don't see the state and the legislation it goes by as their protector, as their guarantor. In such circumstances, he says, anti-crime legislation sometimes does more harm then good. For example, an existing law obliges companies to report any suspicious dealings. But instead of being a way to protect law-abiding businessmen from criminal competition, the rule is used as an instrument for economic warfare.
Some companies use the law to denounce their competitors.
And the police use it as well to apply pressure on certain companies. Pokhmelkin says that, before all else, the Duma must adopt laws protecting free business and a real market economy. That, he says, would show that the state is a defender of individual and business rights and not itself a player in the economic struggle.