- Citigroup Sells German Arm for $6.7 Billion
- Charts Predict S&P Festive Rally Above 1,000
- BMW's Global Sales Plunge by a Quarter in Nov.
- Pros Say: Job Losses of 425,000; S&P to Fall to 700
- Bleak Jobs Data Forecasts Add to Automakers' Woes
- Euro Shares Extend Fall after US Jobs Data
- European Stocks to Open Sharply Lower
- Toshiba to Briefly Halt Chip Output on Weak Demand
- Boeing Mulls Pushing Back Dreamliner Deliveries
- Yoshikami: Investing & the Obama Presidency
- Wall of Shame: Fortress Investment's Wes Edens
- Cramer to Geithner: Let FDIC Chair Keep Her Job
- Lightning Round: Boeing, Medtronic, Agrium and More
- Lightning Round OT: Continental, Amylin Pharma and More
- Sell Block: Cramer's Solution for Mortgage-Backed Paper Mess
- Toll Brothers CEO's Housing Outlook
- Making Money Off M&A
- Your First Move For Friday December 5th
Text Size 
Corrupt officials are raking off a sum equivalent to one third of Russia's annual budget, or $120 billion, a senior prosecutor was quoted as saying on Friday.
 |
AP |
President Dmitry Medvedev has pledged to crack down on corruption, which he acknowledges is rampant. Economists say the problem threatens to curb the country's rapid economic growth.
"The revenues of our bureaucrats from corrupt activity, according to experts, account for one third of our national budget," Interfax news agency quoted Vasily Piskaryov, a senior official at the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor General's office, as saying.
RELATED LINKS
Russia's annual budget is estimated to expand to 8,965 billion roubles ($376.5 billion) in 2008, according to the latest official figures, which would value the earning by corrupt officials at more than $120 billion.
Separately, a senior official at Russia's financial watchdog, Rosfinnadzor, was detained on Thursday for taking a 13,600 euro ($21,230) bribe, the state-owned Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported on Friday.
Russia's economy has grown rapidly in recent years, fuelled by a boom in energy and resource exports.
Print
Email
Del.icio.us
Digg It
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes