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Monday, Mar. 22, 2004. Page 4 The Moscow Times Audit Chamber Targets Chechnya Combined Reports VLADIKAVKAZ, North Ossetia -- The Audit Chamber said Friday that investigations showed Chechen authorities last year misused a quarter of their budget, including funding earmarked for reconstruction of the republic, and said the evidence had been forwarded to prosecutors. Sergei Ryabukhin, an auditor at the fiscal watchdog, said some $81 million from the budget was misspent in 2003, Itar-Tass reported. Lashing out at the recently replaced Chechen prime minister for what he described as "the zero-effectiveness of the republic's economy," Ryabukhin said Chechnya's budget deficit reached $17.5 million, or almost 51 percent of revenue, according to Itar-Tass. Since 2000, Chechnya has received $2.17 billion in transfers from Moscow -- including $481 million for a federal reconstruction fund, the news agency said. "Gross financial violations" accompanied the use of $175 million from that fund, Ryabukhin claimed. The former prime minister, Anatoly Popov, denied he was involved in any misuse of funds, Interfax reported. The Audit Chamber has conducted several investigations of alleged embezzlement and other misuse of government funds intended for reconstruction in Chechnya. Meanwhile, clashes in Chechnya claimed the lives of 20 federal troops from Thursday to Sunday, an official in the Moscow-backed administration said on condition of anonymity. More than 150 civilians were detained in the latest mopping-up operations aimed at weeding out rebel sympathizers, the official said Sunday. (AP, MT) Russia: Police believe abducted relief worker still in Dagestan [No dateline, as received] "The Dagestani law-enforcement bodies are absolutely convinced that Arjan Erkel is alive. Most likely, he is being held in Dagestan," Dagestani Interior Ministry's press chief Abdul Musayev said on Ekho Moskvy radio. He stressed that the search for Arjan Erkel, the worker of the Medecins Sans Frontieres humanitarian organization who was abducted in Dagestan in August 2002, is not ceasing for a minute. A special investigation team has been set up and the interior minister of Dagestan [Adilgirey Magomedtagirov] regularly hears accounts of the officers engaged in the investigation. Saving Erkel's life is a top priority, and the secret nature of the operation stems from this fact, Musayev said. "Such cases cannot be solved hurriedly, just by one attack. We must move towards our goal precisely and accurately," he added.
50 collaborators disappear in Chechnya
An interesting report came from
Chechnya. Kavkaz Center’s sources reported that 50 armed Kadyrov’s
collaborators disappeared a few days ago, supposedly last Tuesday. The
source reported that on that day abandoned cars were discovered in Upper
Terek District, but no collaborators were spotted. The entire Chechnya is full of all
sorts of rumors in this regard. According to one of the versions, the
collaborators just ran away from their ungrateful service to Moscow’s
puppet, sold their weapons to the Chechen troops (to Mujahideen) and
left the territory of Chechnya. Another version says that an armed group
of collaborators joined the Chechen Armed Forces. So far no one knows what really
happened. But 2-3 days after that incident the reports started coming
in from Chechnya that Russian invaders started raiding some specific
units of collaborators and so-called pro-Russian police. No information
is available on whether these activities of the invaders are tied to
the disappearance of the collaborators. |