DUSHANBE, January 26, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- In a report released at a press conference in Dushanbe, director of the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption Fattoh Saidov noted on January 25 that according to findings by the anticorruption agency, corruption cost Tajikistan at 110.8 million somoni in 2010.

“1,206 inspections conducted by the anticorruption agency last year revealed 110.8 million somoni worth of damage,” he said, noting that some 70 percent (76.6 million somoni) of the damage has been reimbursed.

According to him, inspections revealed 15.7 million worth of damage in the Ministry of Energy and Industries, 15.6 million worth of damage in the Civil Aviation Department of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, 4.8 million somoni worth of damage in the State Committee for Investment and State-owned Property management, 4.1 million somoni  worth of damage in the Customs Service, 2.8 million somoni worth of damage in the State Committee for National Security, 1.8 million somoni worth of damage in the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, more than 1 million somoni worth of damage in the Ministries of Education, Health, Defense as well as Land Reclamation and Water Resources, more than 2.5 million somoni worth of damage in the Committee for TV and Radio-broadcasting, etc.

1,636 officials and managers were implicated in wrongdoing, and administrative action was imposed upon them; 77 of them were sacked.

Over the report period, officers from the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption detected more than 1,000 corruption-related crimes.  In 2010, the anticorruption agency investigated 337 criminal cases instituted against 457 persons and the case already moved to courts.