State-business cooperation to be discussed at anti-corruption

MOSCOW, April 25 (Itar-Tass) -- Cooperation between the state and
business community in the fight against corruption will be in the focus of
attention of a nationwide conference that will be held in Moscow on Monday.
The conference is organized by the Russian Audit Chamber, the Russian
Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and
Industry.
The conference will discuss ways to promote more efficient partnership
between the state and private businesses in anti-corruption efforts, to
form a better system of relations between authorities and business based
on laws and ethic norms," a source in the Audit Chamber said.
Among participants in the conference will be members of the Russian
State Duma lower parliament house, high-ranking officers from law
enforcement and regulating agencies, businessmen unions and associations
and representatives from public organizations. It is expected that the
conference will be attended by the Kremlin administration chief, Sergei
Naryshkin, the chairman of the Audit Chamber, Sergei Stepashin, and the
president of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sergei Katyrin.
The Russian authorities have concentrated on anti-corruption measures
for the past several years. According to the Russian Investigation
Committee, corruption-related crimes account for a fifth of the entire
crimes under investigation.
In his "Magnitogorsk theses" of March 30, the Russian president
stressed the necessity to intensify anti-corruption efforts. Thus, he
instructed the Prosecutor General's Office to draft a bill on a special
procedure of considering complaints on corruption in state bodies, on
controlling their unbiased check, and on obligatory publication of the
results of such check and personal liability of heads of agencies, where
corruption cases are reported.
Last week, the State Duma passed on second and final reading
presidential amendments to the Criminal Code aimed to improve "state
administration in the area of the fight against corruption." Among these
amendments were a 100-fold increase in fines for large-scale bribe taking.