Russia's Medvedev sets out anti-corruption drive

By Oleg Shchedrov

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday he wanted a package of anti-corruption legislation in place by next year, stepping up his campaign against a problem he says threatens national security.

One of Medvedev's first steps when he took over as president from his mentor Vladimir Putin in May was to order his officials to draft a strategy for fighting corruption.

Medvedev has said the plan will be based on three pillars: creating incentives for officials to work honestly, making sure that corrupt officials do not escape punishment and changing the national mentality, which has traditionally tolerated graft.

But he said the answer was not a Kremlin-orchestrated purge of corrupt officials as in the past but a broader approach, that would include ceding powers to the private sector.

Medvedev is not the first Kremlin leader to promise to root out corruption, but his predecessors have failed to deliver any substantial progress. An anti-corruption watchdog said Medvedev's plan was a good start but he needed to do more.

"When the plan is finalized, we need to switch to legislative work so that the plan becomes a set of laws in, say, half a year," Medvedev told lawmakers in the Federation Council, or upper house of parliament.

"Russia should start the new year with modern anti-corruption legislation of which we will not be ashamed."

A 2007 index of global corruption prepared by Transparency International, a Berlin-based non-governmental organization, ranked Russia on the same level as Togo, Angola and Indonesia

Economists say corruption is hurting investor confidence and curbing economic growth. Russia is enjoying an economic boom fuelled by oil exports but officials say the growth cannot be sustained without attracting new investment.

"Corruption has become a way of life for a huge number of people," Medvedev said. "Those who accept bribes carry no responsibility. This should not be the case."

TOUGHER RULES

Medvedev has not yet unveiled the full plan. Some of the details he outlined on Wednesday include:

- New laws setting tougher requirements for candidates for senior government jobs and removing hurdles to prosecuting officials for corruption.

- A system for comprehensive public and parliamentary oversight over the government.

- Tougher rules for selecting and disciplining judges. Many observers say the courts system is deeply corrupt.

- Introducing tighter rules for officials handling state property and making the awarding of state contracts more open.

Medvedev is seen by many Kremlin-watchers as more liberal than Putin, who concentrated immense powers in his hands. The new president suggested easing the Kremlin's grip on power could help defeat corruption.

"The plan envisages handing over some of the functions from a federal level to the regions and from the state to the private sector," he said.

The head of Transparency International's Russian office said the thrust of Medvedev's campaign was correct, but he needed to do more to prove he is serious about tackling corruption.

"Despite revealing some details of his plan, Medvedev left lots of things out of the public eye," Yelena Panfilova told Reuters.

"The best thing he can do now is to make public the full text of the plan and put it to open debate by experts and the public ... Such things need full transparency."

(Editing by Richard Balmforth)