Bhss ussr. Obhss: what did the "most terrible" special service of the ussr . Tasks of economic security units

OBHSS. Milestones of the great path Before understanding what the organization was that stood guard over socialist property, you need to get acquainted with some facts from the history of lawmaking in the USSR, related specifically to the protection of this very

History of OBHSS Before explaining this, somewhat paradoxical, thought in more detail, I would like to give a brief history an organization that stood out significantly against the background of the law enforcement agencies of the USSR. Historical background The history of the creation of economic

"High-profile cases" OBKhSS Now you can return to the strange organization OBKhSS. We have already noticed one oddity, now it's time to go further. What was the general picture of life within the walls of this institution? In contrast to the bustle and stormy activity that was seething within the walls

Did you miss OBHSS? / Case / Business climate Did you miss OBHSS? / Case / Business climate The Federation Council not only supported the idea of ​​the chief investigator of the country Alexander Bastrykin to create a financial police, but also proposed a resounding

Education OBHSS. By order of the NKVD of the USSR No. 0018 dated March 16, 1937, a Department for Combating theft of Socialist Property and Speculation (OBKhSS) was organized in the apparatus of the Main Directorate of the Workers' and Peasants' Militia. This new structure had the following main tasks:
- management of the work of peripheral police bodies to combat theft and speculation;
- ensuring special work in order to prevent and disclose these crimes at enterprises of the state trade system, consumer, industrial and disabled cooperation, in procurement organizations, in savings banks, etc.;
- investigation of cases of theft of socialist property in these organizations, arising both on the basis of data from their special apparatus, and on the basis of materials transmitted by state security departments (on petty sabotage, etc.);
- fight against speculation, counterfeiting, bribery;
- operational management of the commandants of the procurement points of the "Zagotzerno" system.

In the republican, regional and regional police departments of large industrial centers, departments, departments and groups of the BHSS were created. Where such devices were not created, the fight against theft and speculation continued to be carried out by other police services, including the criminal investigation department. The OBKhSS apparatuses were formed mainly from workers who had previously gone through a good practical school in the economic departments of the Main Directorate system. state security and in criminal investigation departments.

In 1939, investigative groups began to be created in the republican, regional and regional divisions of the service, which took over the investigation of criminal cases initiated on economic crimes. At the same time, the work of the BHSS subdivisions began to be based on the territorial principle, which made it possible to move away from the narrow specialization of employees, which in turn contributed to the improvement of their interaction with district and city police departments.

Just before the start of the Great Patriotic War, in 1941, the BHSS devices were additionally charged with the duty to fight against money changers and smugglers. This work was most actively carried out in the regions of Western Ukraine, Western Belarus and the Baltic republics. However, in general, it was just beginning to unfold, and the size of currency crimes and smuggling activities in the USSR was then small.

Fight against waste and theft. In recent prewar years The performance indicators of the BHSS units are noticeably improving. Strengthening the fight against waste and theft in the system of state trade and consumer cooperation led to a decrease in these types of crimes. So, if the number of embezzlement and theft detected in 1939 is taken as 100%, then in 1940 they were established according to the state trade system 62%, and according to the consumer cooperation system - 54%.

The decline in embezzlement and embezzlement is explained by the fact that from direct embezzlement and embezzlement of material values, criminals operating in trade switched to indirect ones. Measuring, weighing buyers, sorting goods, etc. have become widespread. By deceiving buyers, criminals created large surpluses, and then appropriated them.

An important role in the disclosure of these offenses was played by the order of the NKVD of May 26, 1940, which announced instructions for supervising the use in trade of correct and stamped scales, weights and other similar equipment. This made it possible for the police, together with the prosecutor's office and the state trade inspectorate under the People's Commissar of Internal Trade of the USSR, to launch an offensive against those who violate the rules of trade - weighing, measuring and cheating buyers.

Fight against speculation and counterfeiters. Along with active participation in the "strengthening of socialist property" units of the BHSS solved the responsible tasks of exposing and suppressing the activities of speculators.

In the pre-war years, speculation in industrial goods prevailed. Speculation was especially widespread in Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv, Sverdlovsk, Novosibirsk and other large industrial centers. In this regard, the BHSS apparatuses undertook a whole range of measures aimed at eradicating speculation. As a result of their efforts in 1940, 242 large groups of speculators were neutralized and 1,242 people were brought to justice. Values ​​worth 3,065 thousand rubles were confiscated from the criminals.

In the prewar years, counterfeit banknotes of 10, 5 and 1 ruble denominations were noted on the territory of a number of republics and regions of the USSR. Employees of the OBKhSS had to put a lot of effort into exposing the counterfeiters. In 1940 alone, the BHSS bodies exposed 4 groups of criminals who made counterfeit money using typographic and lithographic methods, as well as 7 groups that forged banknotes by hand.

Thus, in the Georgian SSR, a group of 12 counterfeit coin makers was arrested, operating in Tbilisi. During the search, 17 clichés depicting banknotes of 3 ruble denominations, 44 drawings of banknotes, tools and other devices for counterfeiting banknotes were seized from the criminals.

In the Azerbaijan SSR, with the help of employees of the BHSS of the republic and Rostov region A group of counterfeiters engaged in the manufacture and sale of 10-ruble banknotes in Baku was liquidated. The money counterfeited by this group was confiscated not only in the Azerbaijan SSR, but also in Rostov, Saratov, Moscow and a number of other regions.

10 ruble bills were of high quality, forged by a group of 6 people in Moscow. During a search of the organizers of the criminal group, 274 counterfeit banknotes of 10-rouble denominations, false passport blanks, a large number of counterfeit stamps and seals, devices for making counterfeit money. In total, in this case, employees of the BHSS seized counterfeit banknotes of 10-ruble denominations in the amount of 52,200 rubles. and confiscated nearly 17,000 genuine money.

General results of the activities of the OBKhSS. The OBKhSS apparatus proved to be highly effective. As a result of a large-scale attack on economic crime in 1939, 268 organized groups of robbers were exposed in supply and marketing organizations alone, and 1,886 criminals were prosecuted. The following year, 1940, these figures doubled - 538 groups, 3573 robbers.

In general, in all spheres of the economy in the country in 1940, more than 2 thousand organized groups of robbers, speculators and counterfeiters were identified, more than 11 thousand criminals were brought to justice - also 2 times more than in the previous year. During the investigation of criminal cases, it was established that the robbers caused damage to the state by almost 49 million rubles. More than 10 million rubles worth of money and valuables were seized from them. and a significant amount described property. In addition, police officers confiscated money, valuables and securities worth more than 80 million rubles from speculators and turned them into state revenue.

Thus, in the prewar years, the bodies of the BHSS, which are new genus police service, in practice proved the necessity of their existence, becoming an effective means of protecting the economy of the USSR.

The most formidable and incorruptible special service in the USSR could cross out the career and even the life of any director or minister

There was such an anecdote in the Soviet Union. A KGB major is asked what his organization does.

We deal with people who are dissatisfied with the state system.

Are there any who are satisfied?

There are, but OBKhSS deals with them!

Born in the 37th

Until 1937, there was no agency in the country to combat economic crimes. When additional funds were needed for the industrialization of an agrarian country, Stalin decides to create a department under the NKVD to combat the theft of socialist property and speculation. So in March 1937, the legendary OBKhSS was born.

The first department arose in Moscow, and over time, offices spread throughout the country. The most experienced employees of the UGRO and economic departments of the NKVD were accepted into the new departments. Crime fighters began investigating theft at work, counterfeiters and speculators, as well as those who conducted currency transactions.

During the Great Patriotic War, the OBKhSS also had control over the supply of the front. And in the 60s, employees of the department, who had a reputation for being absolutely incorruptible, began a fight with the trading mafia that “ruled” in the markets. Then the guild workers came into their field of vision.

Thanks to the intensive work of the OBHSS, a significant reduction in the production of counterfeit money and the number of illegal foreign exchange transactions was achieved. From the 60s until the collapse of the USSR, the department concentrated on suppressing criminal activity in trade, leaving behind a string of high-profile cases, on the basis of which modern Russia making television series.

Trade workers of all ranks, from the lowest to the highest, were afraid of OBKhSS like fire. Moreover, around the clock - no one guaranteed that representatives of the department would not rush home in the middle of the night and begin to find out what income was used to buy furniture, crystal sets in sideboards, and so on. The party bosses were also afraid of the department for combating the theft of socialist property, later even a pun question arose: "Why was the CPSU afraid of the OBKhSS."

ocean of money

In 1976 throughout Soviet Union under the directive of the prime minister Alexey Kosygin opened fish shops "Ocean". They were intended for the implementation of a comprehensive program for the development of the fishing industry, since in the USSR there was not enough meat for buyers.

On a summer morning in 1978, rumors spread around Moscow that black caviar was being sold in stores under the guise of sprats in tomato. Investigators of the Prosecutor General's Office immediately became interested in the unprecedented canned food.

The revealed criminal scheme turned out to be both simple and large-scale. In the course of a joint investigation by the OBKhSS and the KGB, the director of the Okean network was arrested Feldman and the director of one of these stores Fishman. Both criminals exchanged rubles for currency in large quantities, preparing to flee to the West through the countries of the socialist camp.

The dealers handed over to the investigators all participants in the chain, including senior officials of the USSR. Deputy Minister of the Fishing Industry Vladimir Rytov was shot

In the footsteps of the merchants Eliseevs

The era of the Secretary General Leonid Brezhnev ended on a sad note. Two weeks before his death, the director of the Eliseevsky grocery store in Moscow was arrested. Yuri Sokolov. A case of bribery and embezzlement was initiated against him and the management of the store.

For twenty years in a row, Yuri Sokolov headed grocery store No. 1. Abundance reigned in Eliseevsky and its branches, but not for everyone. Imported products, caviar, sausages, sweets and fruits were distributed among the families of high-ranking officials, generals, creative and sports elite. The enterprising director also entered the family of Leonid Ilyich himself, with whose daughter he lived in the same house.

Yuri Sokolov has built a clear vertical pattern of corruption. From above, he was “covered” by the owner of Moscow, the First Secretary of the City Party Committee Viktor Grishin. From below, the heads of branches were subordinate to him. He met with them on Fridays, like a "godfather", accepting envelopes with money. Part of this money was transferred to the head of the Moscow Main Department of Trade Nikolai Tregubov and other interested parties.

In total, more than 10 thousand people were involved in the investigation of crimes in the trading system of the capital. The heads of Moscow's leading grocery stores were imprisoned: the Novoarbatsky and Smolensky grocery stores, as well as the head of Mosplodovoshprom and the director of the Diettorg chain. A huge number of citizens were caught in bribes and illegal trade - from directors of grocery stores to top managers of industries not related to the food industry.

As a result of the work of the OBKhSS and the investigative team, the unlucky director Sokolov, who became a puppet in the struggle of the Kremlin party clans, was sentenced to death.

black cotton

Among all the corruption cases in which the OBKhSS took part in the investigation, the “cotton case” stands out with a special scope. It dragged on for 10 years. The system of registration in the cotton industry of the USSR ended with the opening of almost 1,000 criminal cases. More than 5,000 people received prison sentences, and sometimes capital punishment. Among them were the Minister of Industry of Uzbekistan, the head of the OBKhSS of the Bukhara region, the son-in-law of Leonid Brezhnev Yuri Churbanov and First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan.

OBEP is an operational structure under the Ministry of Internal Affairs Russian Federation protecting the economic security of the state. The abbreviation of the abbreviation defines that this is a department for combating economic crimes, which include tax evasion, unscrupulous transactions, financial fraud, illegal possession of real estate and conducting dishonest foreign exchange transactions.

The authority of the supervisory authority includes checking complaints from deceived customers, studying the activities of organizations, collecting compromising information with decoding, and inspecting utility and office premises. The OBEP department belongs to the police unit, has the authority to make visits without warning, carry out detentions and demand the provision of any information.

Duties and powers of the OBEP unit

The main task of the department for combating economic crimes lies in deciphering the name of the structure. The unit detects threats to the financial security of the state and neutralizes them with acceptable methods. Being under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, the OBEP department has the authority to verify information, conduct operational-search activities, test purchases and interviews of witnesses.

The actions of the OBEP employees are regulated by the law on the police, which gives the following powers:

• inspection of industrial, warehouse, office premises and property;
• study of financial and commercial documentation providing information on trade and entrepreneurial activities;
• requesting and deciphering information relevant to the crime and conducting extended checks structural divisions companies;
• revision of operations, collection of compromising information and secret purchases based on the appeal of citizens;
• recognition of property with improper registration as ownerless, and its sale with the transfer of funds in favor of the state.

Read also:

How not to fall into a financial hole after a vacation?

The OBEP is engaged in the disclosure of crimes against the authorities, the detection of violations in the main areas of the economy and tax policy. The division deciphers unrecorded profits. The department has the authority to conduct preventive inspections to ensure a favorable business climate, secretly collect and decipher information, assist in the fight against terrorism, and cooperate with other operational units.

OBEP inspections: causes and protective measures

The main purpose of the OBEP audit is to identify, prevent and stop criminal acts. Therefore, the visit of inspectors cannot be predicted. You just need to always be ready for it. The following factors may be considered for verification:

• Cooperation with dubious partners who are under the supervision of the authorities.
• Activities in an unreliable sector of the economy, which is constantly supervised by operatives of the Economic Crime Department. These are public catering, construction, small retail and mobile communication points.
• Complaints from dissatisfied customers. Obtaining provocative information and deciphering the information obliges the OBEP employees to carry out a number of operational measures. The granted authority allows you to carry out test purchases, listen in and decipher telephone conversations for further use as evidence, transfer the collected information to the tax office or open a criminal case.

It is impossible to fully insure a company against inspections by the Economic Crime Control Department, but you can contact law firms and reduce losses from visits by operational inspectors. Financial records must be kept in order. Decryption of printouts and other secret information should be destroyed as soon as possible after familiarization. The property must be issued to the company in the required manner to prevent its alienation.

Until the mid-1930s, there was no special unit for combating organized economic crime in our country. But when industrialization and collectivization began to be accompanied by large-scale theft and speculation, which caused significant damage to the economic security of the state, a special department was created in the structure of the NKVD to combat these phenomena.

Economic intelligence service

His story began on March 16, 1937. On this day, the order of the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Nikolai Yezhov, number 0018, was issued. This is how the OBKhSS appeared - a department for combating theft of socialist property and speculation. The new structure was directly subordinate to the head of the NKVD, and headed by the captain of state security Samuil Ratner.

At the same time, the Regulations on the Organization were issued, which established the basic principles for the activities of the new body and determined its structure. The OBHSS was tasked with stopping and solving crimes in the sphere of trade and consumerism, trade cooperation, in savings banks, and also counteracting speculation.

The organization had a "head office" located in Moscow, as well as branches in the republics and regions. Local departments, in turn, were divided into two divisions: one dealt with the fight against theft, the other - with speculation.

Who formed the economic intelligence service? Basically, these were employees of the criminal investigation department, who already had experience in dealing with such offenses as bribery, embezzlement, counterfeiting, and so on.

As the historian Arseniy Zamostyanov notes, by 1940 more than 100 thousand people worked in the OBKhSS system. They were assisted by an extensive circle of informants - about 60 thousand people, mostly workers in markets and shops.

After several years of activity of the OBKhSS, according to the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) of the USSR, the number of theft and embezzlement decreased in trade by 38% and in consumer cooperation - by 46%. Agents revealed cases of theft of almost 50 billion rubles.

In the Great Patriotic

During the war, the activities of the OBKhSS acquired particular importance, because even before the start of the war, the intelligence of the Main Directorate of Imperial Security of the Third Reich carried out a number of activities aimed at undermining the Soviet economy. For example, counterfeit money was massively distributed in the border areas.

At the same time, the OBKhSS agents had a hard time, since many of the employees went to the front. Nevertheless, during the Second World War, the department successfully fought counterfeiting, buying and reselling gold. Many employees were awarded orders and medals. In total, from 1941 to 1945, economic security agents were able to return to the state about 170 billion rubles.

Economic recovery

A new stage in the life of the OBKhSS came after the victory over fascist german invaders. The country lay in ruins National economy just restored and simple people lived extremely modestly. Against this background, the number of economic crimes has sharply increased. Post-war criminals were closely associated with restaurants, shops, markets and savings banks.

So, in the mid-1950s, they managed to break the system of so-called vodka schemers. The fact is that in wine glasses alcohol was sold with an extra charge of 50%. Cunning merchants bought a bottle in ordinary stores for four rubles, sculpted the brand of their glass on the label, and then sold it at an inflated price.

OBKhSS has ensured that wine and vodka products are produced with a special indication on the label that the bottles are intended for deliveries to public catering enterprises. After that, the earnings of speculators fell sharply.

"Developed socialism" and Perestroika

The 1970s were the heyday of the shadow market, the number of thefts increased sharply. Noteworthy are the words of Secretary General Leonid Brezhnev, who once said that no one lives on a salary in the country.

One of the most high-profile investigations of the OBKhSS of that time was the Okean case. It was possible to establish that the director of the eponymous store in Sochi illegally trades in black caviar, packing it in canned fish cans and shipping them abroad.

Another high-profile case was connected with the metropolitan grocery store "Eliseevsky" and its head Yuri Sokolov, as well as the head of one of the Moscow fruit and vegetable bases Mkhitar Ambartsumyan. In both cases, the OBHSS revealed extensive bribery and abuse of power. Sokolov and Ambartsumyan were eventually shot.

In the era of Perestroika, the OBKhSS had to operate in the conditions of liberalization economic life. In 1987-1990, 1,300 offenses were recorded, about 800 criminal cases were initiated.

After the collapse of the USSR, the OBKhSS was transformed into the Main Directorate for Economic Crimes. The range of duties of its employees remained the same, only it was necessary to work in completely new, much more difficult conditions.