21:00, 20 January 2011

MIA head: average bribe in North Ossetia in 2010 was 70,000 roubles

While in 2008, the average bribe in North Ossetia, by the revealed corruption crimes, was 16,000 roubles, in 2009 - 29,000 roubles, in 2010 it reached 70,000 roubles, whereas the average bribe in Russian regions is 27,000 roubles, said Arthur Ahmetkhanov, head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania.

The topic of corruption was raised on January 19 in Vladikavkaz at the expanded sitting of the Collegium of the republic's MIA, where the work of the Ministry in 2010 was summed up.

According to the data announced by Mr Ahmetkhanov at the sitting, in 2010 758 corruption crimes were revealed, that is by 21.3 percent more than in 2009, among them 37 facts of bribery. In total, inquiry into 578 corruption cases was over.

"This is not the result of 'hunt for figures' - the status of the officials brought to responsibility for abuse of service position and illegal receipt of monetary rewards went up," said Ahmetkhanov.

Author: Dmitry Tamerlanov

Source: CK correspondent