Corruption, corruption....
MOSCOW, April 12 (AFP) - Shamil Basayev, prime minister of the
breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya, earned over two million
dollars last year, a salary six times that of Russian President
Boris Yeltsin, Interfax agency reported Sunday.
Yeltsin declared some two million rubles for 1997 (330,000
dollars), the Kremlin's press service announced last month.
Basayev, who "bought a house in Grozny for 250,000 dollars," and
owns four foreign-made cars, said that he gave 90 percent of his
earnings to charity and most of the money came from donations.
"I am not a businessman. Chechen businessmen come to see me and
I tell them: "this is the situation and we need help." They give me
money because they know that I will distribute it justly. People
know that I am not going to hide the money or keep it for myself,"
he said.
Since their 21-month war of independence against Russia from
1994, most Chechens live in poverty suffering from a high rate of
unemployment.
But certain businessmen have made fortunes trading with other
former Soviet republics, leading some to suspect them of links with
the mafia. |
