Sobyanin promises to get rid of corrupt officials

Sergei Sobyanin file photo

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Evgeniya Chaykovskaya – January 23, 2013)

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin promised to rid the city authorities of any potential corrupt officials.

“I would like to stress a position of principle for the Moscow government that finding corruption and detaining bribe takers is a big help to city authorities,” Sobyanin said at an open meeting of with Moscow police. “I can say that we will rid the authorities of potential corrupt officials.”

In the past year, dozens of Moscow officials were fired for ineffective work and “suspiciously close relations with contractors,” he said.

The mayor repeated that this week the head of the North Medvedkovo district, Mikhail Mikhailov, and deputy prefect of the South Administrative Area, Oleg Malinin, were fired for corruption, RIA Novosti reported.

Sobyanin also praised the use of surveillance cameras in Moscow in catching other types of criminals.

More than 1,500 crimes were solved in the capital in 2012 thanks to this technology, he said.

“But it is only the beginning, as surveillance systems have only been officially introduced from January of that year,” Sobyanin said.

In places of mass gatherings in Moscow, 1,600 cameras have already been installed, more than 70,000 cameras appeared in apartment block entrances and more than 13,000 in courtyards.

He stressed that equipment will be acquired so local police officers can review footage of video material. In the near future 398 police stations will be equipped.

“In the last years, public activity of citizens increased. This is not just rallies and marches that provide work for law enforcement, but a lot of less noticeable, but important initiatives,” Sobyanin said.

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