Russian Space Agency Misused $1.8 Billion, May Be Replaced

An anonymous reader writes: After a pair of high profile launch failures in the past few months, Russian space agency Roscosmos is making headlines again: this time for corruption. A public spending watchdog reported that the organization had misused 92 billion rubles ($1.8 billion) in 2014 alone. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said their space efforts have been undermined by rampant corruption. "We have uncovered acts of fraud, abuse of authority (and) document forgery. With such a level of moral decay, one should not be surprised at the high accident rate." He also said Roscosmos is to be "abolished," and replaced by a state corporation of the same name by the end of the year. "In its new, corporate identity, Roscosmos will be responsible not only for setting mission goals but managing wages for space industry workers and modernizing production facilities."

Comments

The problem

[CanadianMacFan]

Was probably that they were bribing the wrong people, not the corruption itself.

Putin would like to get his hands on that money

[stonedown]

When Putin charges someone with corruption, it's usually because they control government expenditures and are unwilling to give him his usual kickback. So, it looks like he's going to create a new space agency and install an ally to take advantage of the inherent business opportunities provided by access to a budget of over $5 billion.

Read more about Putin's kleptocracy here:

http://www.reuters.com/investi...

Re:This seems foolproof!

[msauve]

The Russian government has more efficient and cost effective methods of corruption.