"We are now studying the situation with the economic zone of the Kalinigrad region. The results so far are unfavorable. The zone doesn't display the expected efficiency," Mr. Stepashin said.
According to him, the subjective factors played their role in the current situation. "Governor Gordiyenko (the predecessor of incumbent Governor Yegorov) was rather thinking about himself and his own welfare instead of the region," the Audit Chamber Chairman noted.
"We still cannot find the trace of the strangely loaned and lost 15 mln Deutsche Marks. Today the region still has this debt, which accounts for the half of the total region's budget," Mr. Stepashin said.
The Audit Chamber Chairman believes that it was the right thing to abolish offshore zones in Kalmykiya (the autonomy in the upper part of the Caspian Sea western coast) and on Baikonur (the launching site belonging to Kazakhstan, which Russia rented for 49 years), where businessmen in compliance with proper regulations underpaid taxes. As for the Kaliningrad region, Mr. Stepashin is confident "that this untraditional region should develop in accordance with special regulations."
