From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 12/23/2005 3:42 AM
Corruption Drive in Chechnya

The Chechen authorities appear to be tackling systemic corruption, but how far-reaching will their campaign be?

By Umalt Dudayev in Grozny (CRS No. 320, 22-Dec-05)
The arrest of a senior official formerly in charge of a vast war reparations fund appears to mark a new commitment to curb corruption in Chechnya - but there are fears that corruption is so deeply entrenched that it will take more than a few headline-making cases to root it out.

Abubakir Baibatyrov, who in 2003-04 headed the committee responsible for compensating people who lost homes or other property during the years of conflict, was arrested in Moscow on November 28 and is now in detention in Grozny. He has been charged with abuse of office, and is suspected by officials of embezzling more than 15 million roubles, about 520,000 US dollars, from the fund.

IWPR was unable to reach Baibatyrov or a lawyer representing him for a comment on these allegations.

The same week, the Chechen branch of Russia’s FSB security service opened a criminal case relating to large-scale theft from a project to rebuild Grozny’s main airport. Details of this case and of individuals who may be under suspicion have not been made public.

Taken together, these cases suggest the authorities have set about reining in corruption, first focusing on the funds earmarked for Chechnya’s post-war reconstruction.

If that is the message being sent out, such moves are likely to be welcomed by people who feel they have been robbed of the benefits due to them.

The major concerns with the property compensation scheme are that some people have been unable to get money they are owed for destroyed properties, while others have paid over large sums to middlemen or officials to ensure their claims were dealt with.

The thousands of people whose property was damaged or destroyed during the fighting are entitled to 300,000 roubles (10,000 dollars) for homes and 50,000 roubles (1,700 dollars) to cover other items.

A source at the Chechen finance ministry told IWPR that 14 billion roubles (480 million dollars) has been set aside. But only about 40 per cent of the total of 83,000 people who have claimed compensation have actually received it.

Ramzan Katsayev, who lost his house to aerial bombing in Grozny but has failed to get any money out of the authorities, said, “Like practically everyone who submitted documents to receive monetary compensation, I was made an offer to divide the money 50-50 [with fund officials]. I refused, and as a result I can’t get my money.”

Many accuse officials of siphoning off the funds rather than paying it out to those who deserve it.

“What can people do when the state has robbed them down to their last shirt – and not once but twice over?” said Aslambek Apayev, head of the non-government Committee to Protect the Rights of Forced Migrants. After people lost homes in the conflict, he said, “the bureaucrats… then take away even the paltry sum that’s been promised to them. Nowadays, that money is enough only to build decent foundations for a average-size house”.