BUSINESS

Pension Fund Accused of Theft

Bloomberg

MOSCOW — Russia’s Interior Ministry said it uncovered “large-scale embezzlement” by State Pension Fund employees.

Fund managers used government money to purchase apartments from the city of Moscow in 2004 and 2005, the ministry said in a statement on its web site Wednesday.

The unidentified workers signed nine contracts to purchase property worth more than 43.5 million rubles ($1.85 million) for themselves, according to the statement.

“This situation is unrelated to the current management of the Pension Fund,” the state-run fund said in a statement Wednesday.

The person, who was managing director of the Fund during the period investigated by the Interior Ministry, left the organization in December, 2004, according to the statement.

The fund made payments totaling 1.5 trillion rubles ($60 billion) to more than 38 million Russians in 2006, according to the Federal Statistics Service’s latest available figures. Payments equal 5.6 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product, the statistics office said.

The fight against corruption, which President Vladimir Putin has called one of the greatest threats to Russia’s security, must remain a priority, President-Elect Dmitry Medvedev said on Feb. 15. Medvedev will replace Putin in May when he is sworn in.

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