DUSHANBE, April 27, 2011, Asia-Plus -- Director of the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption Fattoh Saidov told reporters on April 26 that according to findings by the anticorruption agency, corruption has cost Tajikistan at 22 million somoni (equivalent to some 5 million U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of 2011.

“280 inspections conducted by the anticorruption agency over the first three months of this year have revealed 22 million somoni worth of damage,” he said, noting that some 55 percent (12.1 million somoni) of the damage has been reimbursed.

In all, 260 corruption-related crimes have been reported in January-March 2011.  The most prevalent corruption crimes reported over the report period are office abuse, fraud, bribery, document forgery and untargeted use of foreign grants, Saidov noted.

According to him, the ministry of health and its subdivisions in the provinces have been recognized as the most corrupt institutions in January-March this year.  “26 corruption-related crimes have been detected in the health sector over the report period,” the anticorruption agency chief said.

Over the same three-month period, 10 corruption related crimes have been reported in energy and industrial sectors, 9 in education and agrarian sectors, seven in transportation and communications sectors and four corruption-related crimes have been reported in the banking system