A Russian crackdown on corruption has dramatically pushed up the cost of bribes, according officials from the Interior Ministry. In the first half of the year, the average amount bribe money paid to a government or corporate official rose to 293,000 rubles ($10,573) from 30,500 last year, according to Business Insider.
Officials from the Ministry’s economic crimes and corruption department told Bloomberg News that they had undertaken “large-scale operations to prevent crimes related to the procurement of medical equipment, corruption and theft of state funds.”
But, they told Bloomberg, the government’s anti-corruption campaign had actually resulted in higher average bribes.
Russia is perceived as the world’s most corrupt major economy according to Transparency International’s 2010 Corruptions Perception Index, coming in 154th out of 178 countries.
President Dmitry Medvedev has been trying to combat this image. Last week, Russian police arrested Yevgeny Yevstratov on suspicion that he embezzled over 110 million rubles ($3.9 million).
Payments to government and corporate officials comprise for money laundering, fraud and illegal business operations comprise three quarters of bribes but are not the only expenses pushing citizens to enter the grey economy. Russians use bribes to settle everyday matters such as parking tickets, medical appointments, and school admissions. The Russian Economic Ministry said citizens paid at least 164 billion rubles in such bribes last year, according to a report presented in June by the Economic Ministry.
These bribes averaged 5,285 rubles ($190) last year, Deputy Economy Minister Oleg Fomichev said last month when he presented the report.
According to Russia Today, a Moscow Court investigating corruption last year singled out health and education as the most corrupt sectors in society, followed by law enforcement.
