MOSCOW. April 8 (Interfax) - The governing body of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RUIE) discussed the issue of state control of big business at a meeting with Russian President-elect Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday.

"We didn't seek any loosening of the rules for big business - we didn't pursue the logic that once small-scale business has got it, it's about time we got some too. It is not fiscal functions but observance of law that should be the central point of control," RUIE head Alexander Shokhin told a briefing after the meeting.

Shokhin argued it would be wrong to use gross statistics alone as the main criterion for state control.

"If 90% of VAT (value-added tax) is obtained through courts and the tax service doesn't obtain it because it's afraid of pressure from other law enforcement services, it means there's something wrong in the levying of VAT and control over it," he said.

He also argued the number of VAT-claiming lawsuits lost by the state meant the tax service was inefficient.

He said the RUIE is offering to do its own monitoring of tax law enforcement and has proposals for how to create "precedent-based law."

There is also need for uniform judicial practice, Shokhin said.

"We have been given clear answers, dialogue with the state on this issue may be effective," Shokhin said.