On December 22, Vitebsk /Olga Bogacheva - BELTA/. The largest number of corruption-related crimes in the Vitebsk region has been detected in industry, Igor Morozov, prosecutor of the department for combating corruption and organised crime of the Vitebsk regional prosecutor's office, told a BELTA correspondent. In total, 329 corruption-related crimes were registered in the region from January to November this year, which is 7.5% more compared to the same period last year. The largest number of them (82) were detected in the region's industrial sector. In terms of these corruption-related offences, 26 crimes involve bribery and 31 involve giving bribes. Primarily, officials of enterprises took money for concluding contracts favourable to the bribe-givers, for releasing products, and for resolving other issues related to economic activities. A significant number of bribery-related crimes were also committed in public administration (16), healthcare (23), and education (11), Igor Morozov noted. For instance, law enforcement agencies have uncovered cases of medical workers accepting bribes for illegally issuing sick leave certificates. One of the lecturers at a higher education institution in Vitebsk took money from students for resolving issues concerning obtaining positive marks in exams. There were also cases of bribery among police officers and executive authorities. Criminal cases have been initiated and investigations are underway in all these instances. Overall, during the reporting period, 73 cases of bribery were detected in the region (46 in the same period of 2010), 107 cases of giving bribes (92), and 2 cases of intermediary services in bribery (9). The vast majority of criminal offences in this category were committed in cities: out of 182 crimes registered in the region under Articles 430-432 of the Criminal Code of Belarus (receiving, giving bribes, intermediary services in bribery), 92 were registered in Vitebsk and 52 in Orsha. -0-

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