Russian president Dmitry Medvedev called today for a cleanup of a state tenders system where the country is annually losing up to $33 billion in kickbacks to corrupt officials.
Transparency International watchdog rated Russia 154th out of 178 nations in its corruption perceptions index, along with Cambodia, Kenya and Laos. It was Russia's lowest ranking since the index began in 1995. Last year it was 146th.
State tenders which result in 10 million supply contracts each year are a hotbed of corruption and head of the Kremlin's control department Konstantin Chuychenko said a cleanup will save 1 trillion roubles ($33 billion).
"In simple Russian language it means that graft amounts to 1 trillion roubles. Gigantic sums of money are being pocketed by officials and dishonest businessmen," Mr Medvedev said in remarks published on the Kremlin website.
The amount equals one tenth of the budget's total expenditure. Medvedev called for extended prison terms for corrupt bureaucrats and noted that Russia could not sentence them to death.
"Unlike other countries, we do not have the death penalty for this [type of crime]. Though sometimes it is thought to be helpful," he said.
Mr Medvedev, who took office from Vladimir Putin in 2008, has promised to open up the tightly controlled political system, modernise the economy and fight corruption, but the clampdown on bribes and kickbacks has not gone far beyond rhetoric.
Corruption has long become a way of life for most Russians, from small bribes paid to traffic police to multi-million dollar kickbacks for officials who hold sway over the economy.
Mr Medvedev admitted in July his administration had made almost no progress in fighting corruption.
Reuters