Huge Number of Economic Crimes Registered in Russia in 2003

The criminal situation in financial sphere is getting worse
About 360,000 economic crimes have been uncovered in Russia over the 11 months of 2003, which is several times more than over the same year-ago period. The information was provided by the press-service of the Interior Ministry department for fighting against economic crimes.

Out of the total number of the crimes, 135,000 are grave and especially grave crimes, 34,000 are connected with large sums of money and over 8,000 crimes were committed in the sphere of foreign economic activity. Within the period under report, law enforcement authorities registered 2,500 instances of smuggling, about 24,000 instances of printing counterfeit money and 592 crimes were connected with bad money laundering.

Russian departments of the Interior Ministry fighting against economic crimes cooperate with similar services of other countries. At the end of the past week, a joint conference with law enforcement authorities of Belarus was held in the city of Polotsk. The press-service of the department for fighting against economic crimes reports that together with similar authorities in Belarus, special activities are being held to curb smuggling, illegal alcohol turnover and fraudulent financial transactions.