Russia arrests state health insurance boss
Source: Reuters
(Refiles to add dropped words in 10th paragraph) (Recasts, adds prosecutor's comment) By Olesya Dmitracova MOSCOW, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Police have arrested the director of the Russian state medical insurance fund and five other senior employees for bribe-taking, the latest officials to feel the weight of President Vladimir Putin's anti-corruption drive. A court spokeswoman said on Friday that Andrei Taranov, director of the Federal Obligatory Insurance Fund which was set up in the 1990s to improve health services, had been charged under two articles of the criminal code. These relate to receiving bribes and abuse of professional position, she told Reuters, saying: "These are official charges from the Prosecutor General." Five other senior employees of the fund, including two of Taranov's deputies, had been arrested on similar charges, the Prosecutor General's office said on its Web site. Putin has made fighting corruption, endemic to Russian society, a key priority and the theme is becoming a major issue in the build-up to presidential elections in 2008. First deputy prosecutor general Alexander Buksman earlier this month told Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper that annual corruption had reached a staggering $240 billion, matching the federal budget. Putin, who declared war on corruption last May, subsequently dismissed the then prosecutor general for not being tough enough on corrupt officials and replaced him with Yuri Chaika who has since drawn up an anti-corruption strategy. In the past year, top officials have been arrested on corruption charges in several state institutions including the FSB state security, interior ministry and the customs service. "The Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation has started a criminal investigation into the taking of large bribes and other crimes by several managers of the Federal Obligatory Medical Insurance Fund," the Prosecutor General's office said on its Web site, referring to Taranov's arrest. Taranov will be held for two months while a probe is underway, the court which issued his arrest warrant said. On Saturday, the court will decide whether to order the arrest of one of his deputies Dmitry Usenko on the same charges. The fund was not immediately available for comment. If found guilty, the accused could be sentenced to up to 12 years in prison.
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