The Russian government approved a draft law on Thursday containing "serious measures" that will make it easier for authorities to put leaders of organized crime behind bars, Interior Ministry officials said. A ministry spokesman, Yevgeny Ryabtsev, said by telephone that the draft law, if approved by parliament, will allow police to freeze businesses' accounts and give authorities wider powers to conduct sting operations to snare state officials linked to organized crime. "Many local officials act in the interests of organized crime groups. Corruption is flourishing and that must be stopped," Ryabtsev said. "The new law will give us the chance to stop the destruction of the state." Yury Demidov, an Interior Ministry official who helped write the draft law, said it legalized sting operations and the infiltration of police agents into mafia gangs. The law would be the first to allow police to create mock companies to help incriminate crime figures in undercover operations. Demidov said police have used fake companies for sting operations in the past, but never with legal backing. The law would also allow authorities to freeze bank accounts of companies suspected of wrongdoing for up to 24 hours without a court order. "These severe measures should sober the leaders of the crime world," Demidov said. He said the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, will debate the draft law this month. Police reported about 20,000 cases of bribetaking by officials in 1993, up 27 percent compared with 1992. Most of the cases involved Russia's organized crime gangs, which police estimate to number over 1,500. Ryabtsev said that the new legislation would be welcomed by police, who under the Soviet-era criminal code have the power to go after the criminals who actually commit murders and thefts, but never the bosses and corrupt officials that stand behind them. Reuters reported that deputy public prosecutor Oleg Gaidamov had expressed reservations about the draft law on the grounds that it violated Russia's new constitution.
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