Putin - Russia Arrests 370 In Energy Sector In "Anti-Tax Crime" Drive- Novosti

[hatrack]

Gosh, first a deep concern for the environment, and now an anti-crime campaign. Gee, those Russians sure are cleaning up the energy biz, aren't they? :sarcasm:

MOSCOW, November 21 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's law enforcement agencies have so far arrested 370 people through a major ongoing anti-crime operation in the country's fuel and energy sector, the Russian president said Tuesday.

Vladimir Putin, who is currently attending an all-Russia coordinating session of law enforcement agency chiefs to discuss measures to counter corruption and crime, said the operation, named "Energy", was launched several years ago, but was not made public and has already helped the state to recoup billions of rubles.

The main goals of the operation are to prevent tax crimes committed by oil and gas companies, as well as economic and corruption crimes among federal, regional and local authorities.

In recent years Russia has witnessed several high-profile arrests and court hearings in cases connected to fuel and energy companies. In the most famous of these, the founder and former head of the now bankrupt Russian oil company Yukos, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was arrested and sentenced to serve an eight-year prison term after being convicted of fraud in May 2005.

EDIT

http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=11706