A staff member from the Russian president's audit office helped extort bribes from foreign companies supplying medical equipment to Russian offices, the Russian Interior Ministry's economic security department said on Monday.
In early November, a company selling medical equipment informed the Russian president's audit office they were offered "to settle all issues on healthcare market purchases," the department's statement said.
"The management of audit office had doubts about the actions of one of the employees," the statement continued. "It was established in the investigation that he helped the fraudsters. As a result, the head of one of the departments, A. Voronin, was dismissed for gross violation of duties and detained."
The investigation also established the main members and organizers of the fraud ring, which included former Deputy Health Minister Alexei Vilken and several managers from large medical companies.
The Berlin-based non-governmental anti-corruption organization Transparency International has persistently rated Russia one of the most corrupt nations in the world. In the 2009 Corruption Perception Index, Russia was ranked 146th of 180, below countries like Togo, Pakistan and Libya. The United States was ranked 19th.
A total of 4,500 corruption cases were brought to court in the first half of 2009 in Russia, with 532 public officials and 700 law enforcers convicted.
Shortly after coming to office in 2008, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev declared corruption the number one threat to modern Russian society and vowed to significantly tighten anti-corruption laws.
Medvedev signed a bill in April on the creation of a national anti-corruption program for 2010-2011 aimed at eliminating corruption, including among top officials.
MOSCOW, November 29 (RIA Novosti)
