Interfax: Russian Investigative Committee opens over 21,000 anti-corruption inquiries in 2014
(Interfax – December 9, 2014) The damage done to Russia by corrupt practices nears 15 billion rubles ($281 million) a year and about half of that sum is compensated for, Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said.
“The damage done to the budget and aggrieved parties in [corruption] cases referred to court this year exceeds 14.5 billion rubles ($272 million),” Markin told Interfax on Tuesday, International Anti-Corruption Day.
Seeking to compensate for the damage, “detectives have frozen accounts and other assets of criminals to a sum exceeding 7 billion rubles ($131 million), which is 48.9 percent of total damages,” he said.
“Damage of 5 billion rubles has been compensated for, as against approximately 4 billion rubles ($75 million) compensated last year,” Markin said.
Anti-corruption agencies have intensified their activity since the establishment of the Russian Investigative Committee “which has brought positive results in the detection and prevention of corruption crimes and the reduction of their rate,” he said.
“Russian Investigative Committee units have processed over 32,500 corruption reports and opened 21,137 criminal inquiries this year,” Markin continued.
More than 26,000 corruption crimes were in the process of investigation by Russian Investigative Committee detectives, and inquiries into 10,233 corruption cases were completed in the first nine months of this year.
Markin said they were focused on corrupt practices of persons possessing so-called “special legal status”.
Charges were brought against nine deputies from legislative power bodies, two judges, 139 deputies of local self-government bodies, 32 election commission members, 188 elected officials from local self-government bodies, ten prosecutors, 40 lawyers, seven detectives from the Russian Investigative Committee, 22 police detectives and one detective from the Federal Drug Control Service, he said.
[featured image is file photo]