07 February 2008, 09:55
Residents of Chechnya complain against officials who give out compensations for destroyed houses for bribes
Residents of Chechnya continue complaining that compensations for the houses lost during the conflict can be received, only if one pays back a half of the sum to bureaucrats as the so-called "otkat" (kick-back).
The Newspaper "Gazeta GZT.ru" writes today that the residents of Grozny, who have already received compensations, told about two options of how to get the money. The first variant - not quite reliable - is to bribe by giving 30 thousand in advance. The second one is more reliable: it is necessary to halve the money right after reception. The frequent intermediaries in the "transaction" are the officials themselves who are engaged in making payments, the paper writes. The money is usually split right nears the branches of the "Rosselkhozbank", which makes the operations.
Sources at the Republic's Prosecutor's Office assert that they take measures against violations in this sphere. "The struggle is successful, but there are problems," Nikolai Khabarov, deputy public prosecutor of Chechnya, has stated. "During the whole period of issuance of compensations, the bodies of the Prosecutor's Office and internal affairs have initiated 789 criminal cases, 257 cases have been sent to the court for consideration on the merits. Of them, 225 cases in relation to 280 persons were considered by courts. Verdicts of guilty were passed on them. 18 cases concerning 18 persons were considered on malfeasances.
