At their local prefectures, Muscovites can fill out the paperwork for a new kiosk or a storefront sign. They can also hire security guards, shop for New Year's Day or convert to Christianity.


Mayor Yury Luzhkov's crimefighters took a look into their own back yard last week, when a mayoral commission documented misuse of government premises and meted out punishment to a handful of city employees. In a decree issued Nov. 23, City Hall concluded that the hectares of office space allotted to Moscow's city government are also housing dozens of private concerns -- including construction companies, dry-goods stores and a branch of the Russian Evangelical Christian Church.


Although the city government has sustained few concrete losses through subletting of city property, these practices have gone on for years and "eventually cost the city a lot," said mayoral spokesman Igor Zverev. The decree began with a routine investigation of petty corruption in government offices, he said.


"In general, it's hard to keep everyone under one hand in a city of one size," he said. He added that the mayor's office hopes to take firm steps to stop these practices, but "we don't exactly consider it to be corruption."


The decree focuses on six cases in which local administrators or prefects sublet office space without consulting the city. It goes on to suggest specific punishment for the employees involved, including several demotions and firings.


In the first case, which concerns an east Moscow branch of the City Property Committee, an employee is accused of unlawfully renting space to an international commercial center and a construction company. The decree recommends that the employee be sacked.