But the old apparatus, Politburo members, top-ranking officials, are standing very close to him.

"The bottom line is we don't know the figures," a top-ranking official of the United Nations refugee agency said.

A former top-ranking postal official and several public relations executives were given prison sentences for their roles in the scheme.

"She was tyrannical," said a top-ranking female official who asked to remain unidentified.

It was granted after a review by top-ranking officials of the order, which Father Ritter joined as a young priest more than 40 years ago.

On the other side, many top-ranking and mid-level army officials have close links to paramilitary groups, which also control drug-growing areas.

But I am familiar with the statement and it was made by one of the top-ranking officials of that organization.

Educated guesses could be made, and they were made; but nobody outside the closed-in area save a very few top-ranking officials had any real knowledge.

That's why top-ranking officials who leave government make a ton of money.