24 May 2004 18:24
Russian newspaper dismisses audit threat against tycoon-governor
The Audit Chamber, Russia's public-spending watchdog, has checked the finances of a remote region run by
oligarch Roman Abramovich and found them wanting, the Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported. This could herald
the start of a campaign of expropriation against him and others in his position, as the Kremlin strives to boost
national wealth. But the newspaper has seen the audit report, and believes that the nature of the transgressions are
such that they will only boost Abramovich's popularity. The following is an excerpt from the report on 20 May:
Yesterday Sergey Stepashin shared with the public some original prescriptions for doubling GDP and confiscating
excessive income from the oligarchs. At the same time the Audit Chamber head again threatened Roman Abramovich, saying
that he will tell of the Chukotka authorities' transgressions at the Audit Chamber collegium session on Friday [28
May]. However, the long-promised denunciation is in danger of failure: earlier a Nezavisimaya Gazeta correspondent
perused the results of the audit of the district and found nothing sensational in the material.
Stepashin was speaking yesterday at an international scientific and practical conference at the Russian State Trade
and Economic University. Scientists and politicians were discussing Russia's position in the 21st century.
Stepashin stated that "a less than optimum development path was chosen in the early nineties, especially in matters
of privatization and the valuation of our national wealth". Then he moved on to specifics and spoke of his
department's plans: "Many people have taken a slightly ironical view of the question of increasing GDP. I
would caution against doing that. The Audit Chamber has decided to sum up the results of privatization over the last 10
years and to attempt along with the government (I have reported to President Putin on this) to determine the real value
of our country's national wealth. Russia could get up to 100bn dollars as a result of this - and there you have the
doubling of GDP."
Stepashin added that because of legal tax avoidance schemes "in 12 years the country has lost [the equivalent
of] around four federal annual budgets, hence the excessive wealth - I will not shrink from that phrase." In 2004
the federal budget is approximately 90bn dollars. Therefore Stepashin has uncovered the disappearance of 360bn dollars -
a little less than Russia's annual GDP. And, developing this idea, as it were, he disclosed that the "case of
the Chukotka abuses" will be considered at the collegium session this Friday.
[Passage omitted]
Meanwhile, the Audit Chamber report on the inspection in Chukotka and also a draft letter from Audit Chamber auditor
Sergey Ryabukhin to Chukotka Autonomous Area Prosecutor Yevgeniy Kiselev have come into Nezavisimaya Gazeta's
possession. According to these documents, the most widespread violations on the part of the Chukotka Autonomous Area
leadership are high additional payments for local teachers and doctors.
[Passage omitted]
Chukotka Governor Roman Abramovich paid an additional R5,000 to education personnel for "high
professionalism" without regard for the regional coefficient and northern additional payments. In addition,
personnel in health care, education, culture, and social protection and staffers of nature conservation institutions
each received R1,500 a month from the governor. In all, the local administration spent around R109m on these purposes in
2003 and R23.5m in the first quarter of 2004.
Admittedly, Abramovich spoiled his own subordinates as well as public sector workers. After selectively checking the
table of organization of three departments, the Audit Chamber established that the local bureaucrats were receiving
one-third more than the federal bureaucrats. [Passage omitted]
In total, the inspection established that over R1,000,064,000 were illegally misspent. But the illegal use of only
around R220m can be held against Abramovich's subordinates or Abramovich himself. [Passage omitted]
So the Chukotka authorities' main transgressions were additional payments to doctors, teachers and other public
sector workers. It is hard to believe that Stepashin does not realize that these results, contrary to all the earlier
statements, only tend to improve Abramovich's image and increase his popularity rather than lower it.
[Nezavisimaya Gazeta] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
