Translated material
"Combat" bribe
Chechen police officers exposed their personnel officer
The Chechen prosecutor's office yesterday announced the initiation of a criminal case for extorting a bribe against a high-ranking officer of the Main Directorate (GU) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Southern Federal District (SFD). As Vremya Novostei managed to find out, Igor Lazovoy (his exact rank is not reported, it is only known that he is a senior officer) was detained at the moment of transferring money to him by one of the policemen who was in the republic on a business trip. According to the preliminary version, Mr. Lazovoy refused to endorse a report on the extension of his business trip without remuneration. The senior inspector of the personnel department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Southern Federal District valued his signature at 50 thousand rubles. Yesterday, the personnel officer was taken into custody by decision of the Leninsky District Court of Grozny.According to the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs, officer Igor Lazovoy arrived on a business trip to Grozny from Rostov-on-Don at the end of last week. He had to deal with the documents of police officers seconded to the republic from other regions. According to the materials of the criminal case opened by the Chechen prosecutor's office on Sunday, one of the employees of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the Krasnodar Territory contacted them. He said that an employee of the personnel department from the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Southern Federal District demanded 50 thousand rubles from him. According to the applicant, also an officer, the personnel officer intended to receive money for extending his official business trip in Chechnya. It is no secret that, despite the danger of serving in the North Caucasus region, many law enforcement officers strive to go there on a business trip. Daily payments (they are also called “combat”) for business trips to the zone of the counter-terrorist operation significantly exceed the usual salary of police officers at their place of permanent duty. And it was precisely from these considerations, according to the investigation, that the personnel officer proceeded.
Operatives of the Department for Economic Crimes of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Chechnya handed the young man the required amount in marked banknotes. The personnel officer arranged a meeting with the policeman in one of the cafes in the Zavodsky district of Grozny. Detectives waited until the victim handed over the marked rubles, after which they detained the suspect. On Tuesday, by decision of the Leninsky District Court, Igor Lazovoy was arrested, and today, as expected, he will be formally charged.
The news of the detention of a colleague at the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Southern Federal District yesterday caused a real stir. But the department officially declined to comment, citing the fact that any conclusions could only be drawn after the investigation was completed, or at least after charges were brought against him. “It’s not a fact that there will be significant evidence for this, it’s not a fact that the case will go to court,” noted a source in the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Southern Federal District.