MOSCOW, February 27 - RAPSI. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov believes the Interior Ministry and Investigative Committee are not paying enough attention to financial crimes and tax evasion.

"It is essential to increase cooperation between all government agencies involved in tax administration," he said at a Federal Tax Service board meeting.

"Unfortunately, the taxation service reports are not considered promptly enough, and not always investigated as thoroughly as they should be," he added.

He said the tax authorities regularly submit large numbers of reports on tax violations to the law enforcement agencies. "In 2012, criminal cases were opened over only 1% of all reports filed on suspected dummy firms," he said.

The same happens with reported tax crimes, Siluanov said. In his words, the taxation service submitted 8.6 million tax evasion reports last year to a total value of 174 billion rubles ($5.7 billion), but very few tax evaders have actually been prosecuted.

"We are not calling for mass prosecution," Siluanov said. Still, the law enforcement authorities need to put in more effort to ensure that the taxpayers meet their obligations.