MOSCOW. June 9 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Audit Chamber exposed financial violations totaling RUB2.38bn (USD78.11m) in the national defense last year.
"The data is contained in the Audit Chamber's report submitted to the State Duma," a competent source in the Duma told Interfax-Military News Agency on Monday.
The main causes of violations in the use of budget defense funds and federal defense property are imperfection of the national procurement legislation and lack of expenditure pre- planning.
Another cause of the violations was "the vicious practice of diffusing funds for R&D among numerous projects, expenditure- based price setting on arms and military hardware, and imperfection of budget classification in Russia," the source said.
RUB131.7m (USD4.32m) was embezzled and RUB200,000 (USD6,560) was repaired to the state budget last year. The respective figures for 2001 amounted to RUB192.7m (USD6.32m) and RUB55.7m (USD1.83m).
"The decline in embezzlement is primarily related to further introduction of treasury control over implementation of the federal budget," the source said.
Exposed damages to the federal budget and federal property totaled RUB9.33bn (USD305.94m) in 2002. RUB232.98m (USD7.64m) has been repaired.