Public board set up in Chechnya to control state spending

Grozny, Chechnya, hosted a conference of some public representatives on July 1 which provided for the establishment of a Public board for control over state spending. The conference involved several hundred of people representing various districts of the republic and some of the elders and clergy. The forum made a decision to set up a Public board for control over republican budgetary spending. Major-General Alu Alkhanov, head of Chechnya's Internal Affairs Ministry, was unanimously elected chairman of the Public board.

In his speech, General Alkhanov observed that the goal of creating that board was "to achieve that money in the republic is not embezzled, there is a need to put an end to the practice of dispersing money among tens of facilities, otherwise we will be building hospitals and apartment houses for decades."

In the opinion of a number of analysts, the election of Alkhanov to the post of chairman of the Public board is a usual publicity action aimed at boosting his popularity rating in connection with the upcoming presidential election in the republic. Alu Alkhanov is already called the Kremlin's official favorite and Chechnya's future leader.