23:35, 3 March 2004

Chechen policemen pay part of their salary to Ramzan Kadyrov

Almost all members of Chechen law enforcement agencies give a hefty percentage of their pay to Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the security service of his father Akhmad Kadyrov, leader of the republic. Prague Watchdog's correspondent learnt about these kickbacks from Chechen policemen who preferred not to be named.

For example, DPS (road patrol service) officers, each of whom earn 14,000 rubles a month, have to fork over 2,000 of it to Ramzan.

The method of doing this is very simple - upon receiving their salaries, the policemen simply leave a portion of it at the cash desk.

Curiously enough, OMON (special tasks police force) officers are not part of young Kadyrov's payola system, reportedly because their current commander, Ruslan Alkhanov, is a former head of Kadyrov's security forces.

Ramzan is commander of the security service of the President of the Chechen Republic and officially has only 60 people under his command.

However, according to the Russian human rights organization Memorial, the actual number of Kadyrov's security forces is 3,000.

Source: Prague Watchdog