The fish case () or caviar case () in the USSR was a series of corruption, misappropriation, and smuggling cases related to fish trade uncovered in 1978. The organized crime group in question is sometimes referred to as the (Soviet) fish mafia.Ryan Tucker Jones, Red Leviathan: The Secret History of Soviet Whaling p. 208
The implicated officials, including several major functionaries of the Soviet Ministry of the Fishing Industry, were found to be misappropriating a share of the proceeds of fish sales, taking an advantage of the inherently inexact accounting of the fish catch. The illegal operations also involved smuggling caviar out of the country in tins falsely labeled as containing cheap fish. The involved officials amassed large fortunes of foreign hard currency via the smuggling operations, which they hid in foreign European banks or spent, in large sums, on expensive Western goods.Peter Reddaway, Soviet Policies on Dissent and Emigration: The Radical Change of Course Since 1979 William A. Clark, Crime and Punishment in Soviet Officialdom. Combating Corruption in the Political Elite, 1965-1990, p. 172, citing Reddaway The affair was uncovered due to a purchase of an intentionally mislabeled tin from the "Okean" fish store chain, where some of the tins accidentally ended up.«Рыбное дело»: самый громкий коррупционный скандал в СССР
About 200 members of the Ministry of the Fishing Industry were arrested, and the deputy minister was executed by shooting in 1982. The minister himself, , was implicated, however Leonid Brezhnev personally intervened and Ishkov was simply fired and forced into retirement.Yuri Mikhalev, Whales of the Southern Ocean. Biology, Whaling and Perspectives of Population Recovery, p. 357"Рыбная мафия": как в СССР расследовали первое дело о коррупции, April 25, 2014
In 2009 a documentary Золотая рыбка. Дело «Океан» was released in Russia.Живая история: золотая рыбка. Дело «Океан»
See also Soviet fur mafia Corruption in the Soviet Union , another major corruption case, developed out of the "fish case".
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