MOSCOW, September 25 (RIA Novosti) - All law-enforcement employees in Russia will have to declare their incomes from January 1 next year, the interior minister said Friday on Vesti TV news channel.
"From January 1, 2010, all employees of parts of the Interior Ministry and members of their families will be required to report their incomes," Rashid Nurgaliyev said.
The new requirement is part of ongoing efforts to clean up the image of law enforcement bodies in Russia, where regular and traffic police are widely seen as corrupt.
In the past month, 4,328 disciplinary actions were brought against Interior Ministry employees, and 372 criminal cases were started against police officers.
Nurgaliyev said the accused include a deputy chief of police in southern Russia's Stavropol Territory, the head of special investigations in the Far Eastern Primorye Territory and the commander of Moscow's rail police, while the deputy interior minister of the northern republic of Komi has already been convicted.
The minister said increased attention was being paid to officials in the central Interior Ministry.
"Above all, this relates to their professional qualities, their morals, and also disciplinary and ethical activity," he said, adding that 18 cases had been started in the past eight months and stressing that senior officials bore personal responsibility for the behavior of their subordinates.
Nurgaliyev also called on the public to make use of a telephone hotline and web site to report corrupt behavior by police.
