Interfax: Stereotype on immunity of high-level officials being destroyed – Chaika

MOSCOW. Nov 27 (Interfax) – Law enforcement authorities made progress in fighting corruption in 2013, Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika said.

“The stereotype on immunity of high-level officials is being destroyed. A total of 3,600 corrupt officials of various levels were convicted in January-June 2013,” Chaika said when speaking on Wednesday at a coordination meeting on fighting corruption.

According to the materials of prosecution inspections in January-September 2013, almost 60,000 officials have been held disciplinarily or administratively liable, Chaika said.

“For the first time in several years the number of criminal cases related to corruption, which have been returned by prosecutors and courts for additional investigation, decreased considerably and the number of acquittals on such cases dropped almost 30%,” the prosecutor general said.

At the same time, the fight against corruption has shortcomings, Chaika said. In particular, “amid the continuing decrease of registered facts of bribe taking the negative practice of contributing to the gain by holding bribe givers liable has resumed,” he said. The number of such crimes soared 45%, he said.

“The efforts of law enforcement agencies are often concentrated on revealing insignificant crimes, the facts of receiving illegal rewards by teachers and health workers,” Chaika said.

The cases of baseless registration of corruption-related crimes, in which dead people were found guilty, or cases of using efforts irrationally to reveal crimes, in which the statute of limitations has expired long time ago and it is impossible to hold guilty parties liable, occur as well, Chaika said.