Russian government fights defense sector corruption

• Tweet

MOSCOW, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- The Russian government's fight against in defense sector corruption continues to widen.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Rogozin warned of a new campaign against corruption in the country's arms industry, its second largest source of foreign earning after the country's energy exports.

Rogozin, who is in also charge of the defense industry, said, "A cleanout is inevitable" before quoting a Russian proverb, "The pitcher goes often to the well but is broken at last," Russian news agency RIA Novosti news agency reported Wednesday.

Rogozin said several corruption cases involving firms in the aerospace industry were under investigation.

"If what these (investigative) materials say is true, some top defense officials in the 1990s dared to register state property in the names of daughters, sons and mothers-in-law without considering the outcome," Rogozin said.

"If we see that fraudulent schemes are being carried out somewhere, we immediately draw the attention of prosecutors and law enforcement bodies to this."