MOSCOW, October 17 - RAPSI. The Investigative Committee has proposed establishing a financial police if a tax crime investigation should be assigned to a tax authority, or to give the tax service investigative powers.

"The idea to take the powers to investigate tax crimes from the interior authorities does make sense. The investigators' experience shows that investigations into such offenses require specific expertise," committee official Georgy Smirnov told RIA Novosti on Monday.

However, he added, only seven to eight percent of all criminal cases are opened as a follow-up to tax audits, while tax crimes are categorized as latent. Generally speaking, about 70 percent of such crimes are detected, he said.