Nearly 225,000 economic crimes detected in Russia in six months

MOSCOW, July 14 (RIA Novosti) - Nearly 225,000 economic crimes were detected in Russia in the first half of 2005, the Interior Ministry department for combating economic crime said in a press release.

The ministry said economic crime was up 7.5% on last year, and that over 30% of these crimes were classed as serious or very serious.

Police detected 59,500 crimes relating to property, including over 31,000 cases of embezzlement and nearly 27,000 cases of fraud.

"The law enforcement agencies have stepped up their efforts to combat money laundering and laundering of other illegally acquired assets," the ministry said.

More than 2,500 cases of money laundering were detected in the first half of 2005 in comparison to 1,076 crimes in 2004.

Over the six month period police detected 43,800 crimes in the credit and financial sector, 35,200 crimes on the consumer market, and 14,500 crimes against the state authorities, including 5,200 cases of bribery.