Top Tax Official Shot In Russia

MOSCOW, Aug 11 (AFP) - An unknown assailant handcuffed and then shot dead a senior official within the Russian tax ministry, a prosecutor's official told AFP Wednesday.
Vladimir Bondarenko, who was the acting director of the tax ministry's office responsible for gathering computer data figures, was killed in his apartment earlier this week.
The Gazeta Internet site reported that Bondarenko opened the door to his killer, who handcuffed him and shot him in the head. It quoted officials as suspecting the assailant wanted Bondarenko to give him access to the computer program that would give access to Russia's tax figures.
Crime in Russia remains rampant, although it has subsided somewhat from the early post Soviet years, when financial figures fell victim in gang-land shootouts on a nearly weekly basis throughout the country.