Australia isn’t the only country looking for a new deputy chief for its central bank – Russia’s was murdered yesterday. In the Moscow way of things, Andrei Kozlov, 41, was gunned down near a football stadium, reports CNN.

Vice Premier Alexander Zhukov said the assassination was likely linked to Kozlov’s duties, and suggested the possibility of a connection with the Central Bank’s revocation of licenses of unreliable commercial banks, the Interfax news agency reported.

Kozlov had been responsible for banking supervision, and had overseen an ambitious scheme to reduce criminality and money laundering in the banking system.

His most conspicuous achievement had been the introduction of a deposit insurance scheme designed to restore the population’s faith in the banking system after widespread defaults in 1998, in which many Russians lost their savings.

So that’s what happens to central bankers who interfere with a little money laundering. Wonder what might happen if you run a casino and interfere with money laundering there? Indeed, you might wonder what could happen just doing business with gambling outfits in a place like Moscow.

Aristocrat Leisure hopes to sell lots of machines to the revitalised Moscow gambling industry. James Packer’s PBL is reportedly interested in running a casino there. A nice place for a nice industry for nice people.