Russian businessmen spend up to USD 33 billion a year on bribes

Russian businessmen spend up to USD 33 billion a year on bribes. This was announced yesterday by Deputy Speaker of the Russian State Duma Irina Hakamada at the international economic forum in Moscow. She said 'this is the maximum figure, on average Russian businessmen only spend around USD 8 billion on bribes.' She said that bribes are usually used when making different kinds of property deals.

Ms Hakamada believes this kind of corruption has several causes. Firstly, there is a great deal of bureaucracy and public institutions work badly. In her opinion entrepreneurial unions like OPORA are quite ineffective in protecting the interests of small and medium-sized businesses. In addition, the Russian deputy criticised the present legislation. She said the new land code will force companies to buy the land they occupy at very high prices and the tax code causes terrible tax administration.

In her opinion, a law should be passed to create self-regulated organisations to regulate business dealings, speed up administrative reforms and enhance the role of such organisations as the Chamber of Commerce.