Global General

Putin: Nightclub blaze exposes corruption

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-12-11 15:31

Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the nightclub in Perm in early hours of December 8, 2009. [Agencies]

MOSCOW: Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin declared a crusade on corrupt bureaucrats after the country's most deadly blaze claimed the lives of 135 people in a nightclub fire in the Russian city of Perm.

"All the vices of our bureaucracy were exposed by this tragedy. Its incompetence, corruption and links to businesses," Putin told a late-night cabinet meeting on Thursday after a visit on Tuesday to Perm where he lambasted local officials.

The entire government of the region resigned after he left.

"We need legal changes strengthening criminal punishment for bureaucrats for violations in control and supervision area," Putin said. He said the changes would address negligence on the part of entrepreneurs as well, but did not elaborate.

The fire in Perm was sparked last Friday when an indoor firework show ignited wicker coverings on the walls of a club, prompting a stampede as partygoers rushed towards a narrow door to escape clouds of toxic black smoke.

"There was only one exit in a club where hundreds of people gathered and all the windows were blocked. Although documents show windows were wide open," Putin said.

"They simply signed fake documents. Did they not know about it? Of course they knew. Where did the municipal authorities look? Why did they close their eyes?"