"No real steps have yet been taken to cut the flow of corruption, narrow it by the granite banks of law so as to prevent its washing out the pillars of society," Ustinov told the expanded collegium of the Prosecutor General's Office on Friday.
A system of continuous monitoring the activities of organs of power at every level and public control is being unfolded in the country, he said. In actually every region, observance of legislation and anti-corruption work of organs of state power and local self-government is being monitored.
Ustinov said that the potential of criminal-law norms must be maximally put to use against corrupt officials.
According to him, in 2003 a little over 1,800 officials were sentenced for bribe-taking and bribe-giving. Meanwhile, more than 7,000 crimes of this kind were registered. In this connection, Ustinov emphasized: "The honesty of officials must be permanently buttressed up by fear of an upright prosecutor."
