Russian anti-corruption detective shot dead

MOSCOW, Sept 28 (Reuters) A senior detective investigating fraud and corruption in Russian businesses was shot dead as he left a Moscow restaurant yesterday, authorities confirmed today.

Nazim Kaziakhmedov was shot twice in the chest and once in the head before his killer fled in a waiting car, the Kommersant newspaper reported.

A photograph on the paper's front page showed a woman peering under a black plastic cover at Kaziakhmedov's body, which lay in a pool of blood.

A spokesman for Dagestan's general prosecutor confirmed to Reuters that Kaziakhmedov, who came from the Southern Russian region, had been shot and killed as he left a restaurant in central Moscow after a lunch meeting.

Kaziakhmedov worked in Dagestan until May, when he was transferred to a special anti-corruption unit in Moscow.

In the chaotic post-Soviet 1990s, contract killings peppered the murky Russian business world.

They have become less frequent in recent years, although last October a gunman killed deputy central banker Andrei Kozlov who had been investigating money laundering in banks. There have been a handful of murders linked to business deals since then.

REUTERS SG VC1410