|
Organised crime is 'everywhere'
15/05/2006 15:27 - (SA)
Moscow - Organised crime has reached the level of a national threat in Russia, according to the country's prosecutor general, Vladimir Ustinov.
Ustinov, quoted by Russian news agencies on Monday, said organised crime groups were active throughout the country, with a particularly strong grip on the customs service where they "feel at home".
Speaking at a meeting with the Russian interior ministry, federal security service, justice minister and supreme court, Ustinov said: "We are forced to admit that the spread and scale of organised crime in Russia is taking on the character of a national threat.
"Organised crime has penetrated almost all areas - political, economic, social. Whatever sphere you look at, there's organised crime."
More than a dozen senior officials in customs and law enforcement departments were sacked on Friday, as part of a drive by President Vladimir Putin to weed out corruption.
The sackings also followed a presidential order switching control of the federal customs service from the government's development and trade ministry to the prime minister's office.
Ustinov said the "fight with organised crime exists only on paper. Nothing is actually done".
|
News
