50,000 corruption cases probed in Russia: Medvedev

Moscow, Jan 26 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Some 50,000 corruption cases are being currently investigated in Russia, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with the Swiss newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung.

“There are currently 50,000 corruption cases in courts. That’s a lot, but only high-profile cases catch the public eye,” Medvedev said.

Russia ranked 133rd out of 174 countries in the latest Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International published in December.

In the latest series of corruption exposes, companies controlled by the Russian Defense Ministry were alleged to have embezzled a total of more 10 billion rubles ($257 million). The sum included 6.7 billion rubles ($215 million) suspected to have been stolen via a corruption scheme that cost Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov his job.

Medvedev gave no comments about the recent corruption scandal involving Serdyukov, saying: “As a lawyer, I make a point of never talking publicly about individual court cases.”

“However, I believe that it is good that corruption cases are covered on TV and discussed by civil society,” he said.

—IANS/RIA Novosti

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IANS 2013-01-26 14:38:03