Kavkaz Center: Russians Cashing In

From: Eagle_wng

Russians Cashing In
Publication time: 12 November 2006, 16:36

Russia’s army of bureaucrats is pocketing about US$ 256 billion in bribes every year. The scale of graft was close to equaling the state’s entire annual revenues.

The scale of bribes has reached such a level that within a year a mid-ranking corrupt bureaucrat can buy himself a 200-square-metre apartment..

On average, property in Moscow costs US$ 4,200 a square metre, making a flat that size worth more than US$ 807,00o.. Even senior officials have state salaries of less than US$ 2,000 a month.

Transparency International, an international monitoring group, estimates that corruption in Russia has grown sevenfold since 2001, the year after the Russian dog Putin came to power. In a survey published this week, it ranked Russia 126 out of 159 in the world corruption stakes.

Getting a child into school, passing a driving test and ensuring medical treatment are among the areas riddled with corruption.

Russians tend to tolerate bribe-taking because it is often the only way to get things done, but the brazenness of corrupt officials who build luxurious country houses has prompted apathy towards the institutions of the bandit state of Russia, The Guardian reported.

KC

http://www.kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2006/11/12/6376.shtml

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