25/7 Tass 44
KHABAROVSK, July 25 (Itar-Tass) — Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika at a meeting in Khabarovsk on Monday drew attention of supervisory bodies of the Far East to the shortcomings in their work.
So, he said, many security services of the Far Eastern Federal District have turned out to be unprepared for fighting forest fires. More than 1,000 fires occurred in the Far Eastern Federal District since the beginning of the season. Yakutia, the Amur region and Khabarovsk Territory account for 96 percent of fires. Prosecuting authorities of the Far East “have failed to take preventive measures” during preparations for the fire hazard season, failed to timely stop the laxity of officials, said the prosecutor general.
According to Chaika, there were also no significant changes in the fight against smuggling and organised crime. The number of economic crimes exposed in the district has declined 1.5 times.
He also noted that as a result of prosecutorial intervention since the beginning of the year, the amount of wage debt paid in the Far Eastern Federal District was 407 million roubles of 567 million roubles of wage arrears.
According to him, close attention was also given to supervising the preparation for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum’s summit that will be held in Vladivostok in 2012 – financial irregularities in excess of 3 billion roubles have been exposed.
“Basically, these are crimes related to corruption. However, over the first six months of 2011 two times less criminal cases of corruption have been opened, only 77 facts of taking bribes were exposed. And criminal cases of corruption by organised groups have not been opened at all,” said the prosecutor general.
Chaika demanded to “review issues related to coordination of law enforcement agencies’ activities.” Among the priority work sphere that require increased attention of the prosecutor’s office the prosecutor general named counteracting corruption, ensuring transport safety, protection of citizens’ rights to timely and complete labour remuneration. He also called for a more effective interaction between the prosecution bodies and authorities in the Far Eastern region.
RF President’s Plenipotentiary Representative in the Far Eastern Federal District Viktor Ishayev who took part in the meeting of the, in turn, informed that 662.8 billion roubles have been allocated for the construction of the APEC summit facilities and preparations for the event. And about 9 trillion roubles have been allotted for the development of the Far East until 2025. A number of major programmes are being implemented, gas and oil pipelines, bridges and railways are being built. According to the presidential envoy, statistics testifies to enormous volumes of theft in the region. “Around 70 billion roubles are embezzled per year,” he said and stressed that “corruption has permeated into the spheres of production of biological resources, forestry sector and other industries.”
The Far Eastern Federal District is the largest of the eight federal districts of Russia, while being also the least populated, with a population of 6,291,900 (74.8 percent urban). The Far Eastern Federal District was established in 2000 by then-President Vladimir Putin and is currently being governed by presidential envoy Viktor Ishayev. The Far Eastern Federal District covers the territory of the Russian Far East.