As a result, charges brought against 249 officials

The Ministry of Revenue and Duties is introducing a new program for prevention of corruption at customs, states the press-service of the agency.

As a result of the new program, in I quarter 2013 249 customs officers were disciplined for violation of official activities.

In addition, the Department of Internal Security with the MRD independently found 42 cases of customs officials’ committing corruption and other offenses, the relevant information was sent to law enforcement for verification and possible initiation of criminal proceedings.

The effectiveness of the introduced program is also supported by the fact that almost one third of the total number of criminal proceedings concerning customs officials is opened based on the materials of the Ministry. In particular, law enforcement agencies on the grounds of customs officers' committing offenses in the sphere of official and professional activities related to the provision of public services, opened 34 criminal proceedings, 11 of them (32.3%) were opened based on the materials of customs authorities.

Also, in order to prevent the customs officers from engaging in illegal activities, the program included 493 individual and 1,116 general preventive measures with officials of the Department of customs affairs and customs authorities in the regions.

To clarify the circumstances of corruption and civil offences in the customs authorities in I quarter 2013 43 internal investigations and 218 agency checks were conducted. To detect and deter possible corruption and other illegal acts by customs officials while performing their duties 40 control measures were undertaken.

Based on the information received by the Ministry in I quarter 2013, for crimes committed in official activities on previously opened criminal cases 10 former customs officials were convicted. Courts closed criminal proceedings against 9 persons.