DUSHANBE, January 26, 2013, 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 166 million somoni in 2012.

“1,300 inspections conducted by the anticorruption agency last year revealed 166 million somoni worth of damage,” he said, noting that some 65.7 percent (109 million somoni) of the damage has been reimbursed.

According to him, officers from the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption detected 1,320 corruption-related crimes over the report period.

191 corruption-related crimes were reportedly committed by representatives of local authorities, 57 by employees of banking system, 81 by employees of the Ministry of Education, 53 by officers from the Ministry of Interior, 45 by employees of the Ministry of Agriculture, etc.

Saidov noted that anticorruption officers last year revealed 14.6 million worth of damage in the Customs Service, 7.6 million worth of damage in the Civil Aviation Department of the Ministry of Transport, 9.2 million somoni worth of damage in the Ministry of Education, 5.5 million somoni  worth of damage in the Ministry of Energy and Industries, 4.8 million somoni worth of damage in the Interior Ministry Traffic Police Directorate, 3.8 million somoni worth of damage in Tojiksughurta (state-run insurance company), and 3.4 million somoni worth of damage in the Ministries of Agriculture.