The government started an investigation into oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, in a bid to counter accusations that it has been soft on fighting corruption.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's deputy Igor Sechin, who oversees the energy sector, told Putin at the end of December that a number of executives had been sacked and said an enquiry would examine allegations of corruption among Transneft managers.
Sechin read out to Putin a list of top managers who had left FSK, the traded power transmission firm, as well as the power grid firm MRSK, and said a number of criminal cases had been launched.
"Probes into similar cases with regard to some others among the largest infrastructure firms, such as Transneft, have been initiated," Sechin told Putin, according to a transcript of his remarks posted on the government's web site.
(Reuters)
