DUSHANBE, October 19, Asia-Plus  -- Inspection carried out by the Agency for State Financial Control And Combating Corruption at the Sangtuda-1 project site revealed that some 3,500 tons of cement had been misappropriated there, the anticorruption kingpin Sherkhon Salimov remarked at a news conference in Dushanbe on October 19.  

According to him, large monetary deficit has also been revealed at Dushanbegaz (Dushanbe natural-gas distributor). 

“A misappropriation damage caused by Dushanbegaz to the country’s economy has amounted to 3.844 million somonis,” Salimov said, noting that this amount also included a shortage of cement in an amount of 316,000 somonis.  The cement that was purchased for building the Dushanbegaz facilities was realized on the city markets at the rate of 20 dirams per kilogram, the anticorruption leader said.   

Over the first nine months of this year, 278 corruption-related crimes have been revealed in the country.  63 of those crimes have concerned bribery, including 52 committed by state officials, and 188 crimes related to embezzlement of funds.