DUSHANBE, July 27, 2011, Asia-Plus -- In January-June this year, the Ministry of Health (MoH) has led Tajik state institutions in terms of corruption.

Director of the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption, Fattoh Saidov, remarked this at a news conference in Dushanbe on July 26.

According to him, employees of the MoH have committed 35 corruption-related crimes over the report period.  The MoH is followed by the Ministry of Education (MoE) – 33 corruption related crimes.  20 corruption-related crimes have been reported in the Ministry of Energy and Industries, 16 in the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and 15 in the Ministry of Transport (MoT).

“The Ministry of Interior (MoI) has topped the country’s law enforcement agencies in terms of corruption over the same six-month period.  27 corruption-related crimes have been reported in the MoI in January-June this year,” said Saidov.  “Employees of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) have committed 11 corruption-related crimes over the report period, servicemen of the Ministry of Defense (MoD) – 9 and officers from the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) – 6.”

Asked about corruption-related crimes committed by the SCNS officers, the anticorruption agency director noted that those crimes related mainly to financial frauds.  “Thus, chief of the SCNS financial department has been arrested for embezzlement of 1.2 million somoni,” noted Saidov, “Corruption-related crimes have also been reported in the SCNS border guard department.”

He also noted that a chief investigator with anticorruption agency’s office in Sughd province had been arrested over the report period for bribery.