DUSAHNBE, October 19, Asia-Plus — “Our wages cannot satisfy us,” Sherkhon Salimov, the head of the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption, remarked at a news conference in Dushanbe today.
According to him, monthly wages of officers with the anticorruption agency fluctuate from $100 to $300. The monthly wage of the anticorruption agency chief himself is 1,225 somonis (equivalent to some $355).
“At present the government is seeking ways to raise our salaries, using resources of both the budget and international organizations,” Salimov said.
On the results of work carried out by the Agency over the first three quarters of this year, he said that 278 corruption-related crimes have been revealed in the country over the report period. 63 of those crimes have concerned bribery, including 52 committed by state officials, and 188 crimes related to embezzlement of funds.
“Damage caused by these crimes to the country’s economy has amounted to 84 million somonis,” the anticorruption kingpin said, adding that 24 million somonis have to date been reimbursed.
He noted that over the same nine-month period, charges of bribery and embezzlement of state funds have been formally brought against 14 tax officers, 21 police officers, 2 representatives from the judicial system, one prosecutor, and 15 officials from various government bodies.
In all, the Agency has investigated 79 cases over the report period; 61 of them have already moved to courts, Salimov said.
We will recall that the agency to fight corruption was established by president’s decree of January 10,2007. The Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption has a staff of 500 and performs functions previously carried out by the State Financial Control Committee, Main Tax Police Directorate, Directorate for Combating Corruption, and other agencies.
