Union of Peasants and Officials

The case of corruption in the now defunct Ministry of Economy of the Russian Federation was brought to court yesterday. The former head of the department of this department, Anatoly Lifanchikov, and his deputy, Vladimir Korneev, are accused by the Prosecutor General's Office of accepting bribes. According to investigators, Lifanchikov and Korneev took money from agricultural enterprises in exchange for providing lucrative loans. These loans themselves also turned out to be stolen, about which their own investigations are underway.

Investigators first became interested in the head of the department of economics of the agro-industrial complex of the Ministry of Economy, Anatoly Lifanchikov, back in 1995 - then he became involved in a major investigation into the smuggling of alcohol by a number of wine and vodka enterprises. That case, however, “died,” and the intelligence services again paid attention to the official in the spring of 2000, when the Ministry of Economy was being reorganized. This time, the GUBEP handed over to the Prosecutor General's Office materials about the questionable activities of the head of the department when issuing loans. As investigators found out, back in the mid-90s, several dozen agricultural enterprises asked the Ministry of Economy for money to replace outdated equipment. The equipment was purchased for peasants using Western loans under guarantees from the Russian government, however, as investigators found out, the managers of most agricultural enterprises simply resold it, pocketing the proceeds. One of the main figures in the scam, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office, was Mr. Lifanchikov. Allegedly, agricultural enterprises repeatedly gave him bribes for assistance in obtaining loans, including for the signature of ministry leaders to appear on the necessary documents. Lifanchikov's deputy, Vladimir Korneev, according to investigators, received only one bribe, but a large one.

Last summer, based on these facts, the Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case and carried out a number of seizures at the Ministry of Economy. Later, Lifanchikov and Korneev were charged with taking bribes, and they were given a written undertaking not to leave.

Alexander SHVAREV