MOSCOW, June 6 (RAPSI) - Over 27,000, 90% of the 30,500 complaints about the performance of communication operators sent to consumer rights regulator Rospotrebnadzor concern postal service Pochta Rossii, Izvestia newspaper wrote on Wednesday.

The fines imposed by courts following the consideration of some of these complaints have exceeded 7.5 million rubles ($234,520), Rospotrebnadzor said. The regulator's press service told Izvestia that the courts had only heard about half of the complaints. Most of these concerned lost and delayed mail.

The regulator believes that total fines imposed on Pochta Rossii may ultimately double to more than $500,000.

Pochta Rossii has admitted to having problems. "In 2012, around 800,000 complaints about the company's performance were filed with communication and consumer rights regulators, as well as directly with Pochta Rossii," the company's press service said.

Around half of these complaints concern delayed delivery, while 7,000 complaints were made over lost mail.

Last week, the Prosecutor General's Office reported that 13 cases were opened against the postal service for delaying parcels at Moscow airports.

It launched an inspection following media reports about a large number of parcels that had accumulated at the airports. Prosecutors found that unprocessed parcels and correspondence from March were still being held at Sheremetyevo Airport on April 17.

Similar violations were noted at Domodedovo and Vnukovo airports. The cases were launched under an article on doing business in violation of special permission (license) terms, which stipulates a fine of up to 40,000 rubles ($1,250).

Pochta Rossii comprises 86 branches and about 42,000 outlets across Russia. Every day the company's employees receive, process and deliver over 1.5 billion letters, 48 million parcels and 113 million money transfers, Pochta Rossii states on its website.