GENNADI PONOMARYOV: ACCUSING THE MOSCOW CITY ADMINISTRATION OF UNIVERSAL CORRUPTION IS GROUNDLESS

“Accusing the Moscow city administration of a universal corruption is groundless,” Gennadi Ponomaryov, the administration’s legal affairs chief, has said (formerly, he was the city’s procurator sacked by president Yeltsin after the murder of renowned journalist Vlad Listyev). Accusations against the Moscow city authorities intensified after the Internal Ministry’s investigative committee sent mayor Yuri Luzhkov a report of the facts of corruption allegedly taking place in his administration. The report, in its turn, was compiled after high-profile explosions of residential buildings in Moscow and was directly linked to the elections, parliamentary and presidential. The report mentioned 30 criminal cases in which high-ranking Moscow officials were allegedly involved. Mr. Ponomaryov thinks, however, that only Igor Aleksandrov, chairman of the Moscow Registration Chamber, and Lyudmila Lazkova, Finance Department officer, may be talked about in this context. In the last analysis, though, it is only court that decides on who is right and who is wrong, therefore it is premature to claim Moscow being affected by corruption, Mr. Ponomaryov adds.