RUSSIA: CHIEF AUDITOR PREDICTS MORE CRIMINAL CASES THIS YEAR THAN LAST
Audit Chamber Chairman Sergei Stepashin told a plenary session of the Duma on 27 May that the number of criminal
cases launched as a result of the Audit Chamber's inspections will increase this year over the 241 such cases
launched in 2003, Interfax reported. Presenting the chamber's results for 2003, Stepashin said that the most
significant violations were found in the Defense Ministry, the Agriculture Ministry, the Energy Ministry, Chukotka
Autonomous Okrug, the Republic of Kalmykia, and Chechnya. Stepashin told journalists later the same day that the Audit
Chamber will complete its inspections of the country's major oil companies by July, Interfax reported. He said that
auditor Vladimir Panskov is overseeing the probes into Sibneft, LUKoil, Yukos, and Transneft. RC Copyright (c) 2004.
RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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