MOSCOW, April 26 - RAPSI. The number of corruption crimes has tripled in 2011  against 2010, Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika states in his annual report.

Prosecutors opened around 1,900 corruption cases compared to 600 in 2010, quoted Vedomosti newspaper on Thursday.

The Prosecutor General's Office authorized circa 16,000 unscheduled audits of medium- and small-sized businesses out of the 35,000 requested.  Meanwhile the number of requests for such audits is on a constant decline.

The office also authorized 590,000 out of 1 million requested scheduled audits which were entered into the 2012 annual plan.

The decriminalization of smuggling , however, has been a complete success, according to the Prosecutor General's Office. Only customs duties evasion remains a criminal offence. However,  as little as three such cases were referred to the court in 2011. A mere 15 percent of the 83 registered crimes of this kind have been solved.