Prevention of the Collection of Unlawful Payments in Municipalities with Emphasis on Preventive Criminal Policy

Abstract

Municipalities, as among the most important institutions responsible for urban governance, have continuous and direct interactions with citizens as well as natural and legal persons through processes such as issuing building permits, determining and collecting municipal charges, receiving service fees, concluding contracts and transactions, implementing development projects, and providing public services. The extensive scope of these financial interactions, the diversity of revenue sources, the multiplicity of governing regulations, and the existence of administrative discretion in certain revenue-generating processes have created conditions conducive to corrupt practices, particularly the collection of unlawful payments. The principal concern in combating this form of administrative corruption, which entails numerous detrimental consequences, is that addressing the phenomenon cannot be achieved solely through criminalization and the imposition of criminal sanctions. Rather, as with other forms of crime, preventive measures must also be employed, and effective prevention requires the identification and reduction of opportunities for violations within the administrative and financial structures and processes of municipalities. Using a descriptive-analytical method, library-based research, and a comparative approach, the present study examines the legal, administrative, organizational, supervisory, technological, and social mechanisms for preventing the collection of unlawful payments in municipalities. In this regard, alongside an analysis of the legal status of Article 600 of the Islamic Penal Code and its distinction from other financial and administrative offenses, the structural and organizational factors contributing to the emergence of opportunities for corruption are examined. The findings indicate that the most critical point for preventive intervention is the stage at which a financial claim is created and calculated. The more transparent, standardized, traceable, and less dependent on individual discretion the payment-demand process becomes, the lower the likelihood of collecting payments that lack a legal basis. The principal conclusion of the study is that preventive criminal policy concerning the collection of unlawful payments will be effective only when it shifts its focus from the “individual offender” to the “corruption-prone process” and establishes a systematic relationship among situational, administrative, organizational, and social prevention measures and the criminal justice response.