In civilian life

Director of the Federal Tax Police Service Mikhail Fradkov will meet with Vladimir Putin today. The head of the Federal Tax Service announced this on Wednesday after a meeting of the heads of the tax police of the Central Federal District. “It is difficult to predict the issues that will interest the president,” Mr. Fradkov said. “We are preparing for everything possible.”

According to the Vremya Novostei newspaper, in addition to a formal report on the results of the work of the Federal Tax Service in the first half of the year, the chief tax policeman and the president will discuss the possibility of turning the Federal Tax Service into a civilian agency. However, Mr. Fradkov himself believes that it is too early to talk about stripping the shoulder straps. “On instructions from the president, our working group is preparing proposals to transfer the wages of service employees to the conditions of wages for civil servants,” he said. The issue of benefits currently enjoyed by tax workers equivalent to military personnel, according to Mr. Fradkov, will be resolved taking into account the specifics and importance of the tax service.

In addition, it is possible that during the meeting the discussion will also focus on the notorious concept of state financial control. It is known that interest in it is especially strong among various departments, which, within the framework of the concept, want to create and then subjugate influential bodies - financial intelligence and financial police. However, the correspondent of the Vremya Novostey newspaper was assured by the White House staff that “all these financial embryos are a complete myth.” Even Mr. Fradkov himself, as sources in his circle say, once said the following phrase: “Finance and intelligence - I don’t understand the combination of these words.” A high-ranking official of the Ministry of Finance, in turn, claims that “the order to develop the concept of a certain authorized body that will analyze financial and other commercial information was given by the President exclusively to the Ministry of Finance, and our department is not going to create any police or intelligence services.” And he added: “This will be a body where information will be possessed and processed by people in white collars.” The Ministry of Finance Commission, led by First Deputy Minister Sergei Ignatiev, will present to the President its proposals on the status of an authorized body in August, and its creation is planned for February. For now under the Ministry of Finance.

Svetlana MIKHAILOVA, Vera KUZNETSOVA