Russia’s Top Investigator Warns Against Privatization Fraud

The head of Russia’s powerful Investigative Committee said Thursday that preventing corruption during a planned privatization of state assets will be a top priority for his agency this year.

The government recently announced plans for an ambitious three-year program running up to 2016 to privatize a wide array of state property, from energy to agriculture and banking to transportation. The program is expected to yield the state 1 trillion rubles ($31 billion).

Investigative Committee chief Alexander Bastrykin said his agency will focus in particular on preventing the theft of state assets and warned against transferring state property to private parties to prices below market value.
Bastrykin said the damages from corruption last year amounted to more than 13 billion rubles ($360.5 million). However, 11 billion rubles have been recovered in the form of property seized from people convicted of corruption, he said.