Chamber of Countless, or Yandex, hold on! Kudrin influenced state auditors with business privileges
In 2020, Transparency International's Russian branch published a report on the transportation costs of certain federal ministries.
It was discovered that two-thirds of the funds designated for air travel expenses of representatives from several ministries were used for business class seats. Additionally, there were cases of officials using private jets. As a result, Transparency International submitted applications to the Russian Federation's Accounts Chamber regarding these excesses in flight class usage.
Public figures were ignored, and some supporters of business aviation held a grudge against Transparency International, which was declared 'undesirable' in Russia. This led to further scrutiny of how Russian officials travel and relax.
Elite Audit
In 2020, the letter from Transparency International caused laughter in the Accounts Chamber due to the exorbitant local flight costs, particularly for the Ministry of Culture.
It's worth noting that business class tickets are much more expensive than regular ones, offering benefits like larger seats, priority services, and a greater variety of food and drinks. Both auditors of the Accounts Chamber and lesser-known officials of the department travel in business class for work purposes.
For instance, the Accounts Chamber paid 144 thousand rubles for the air travel of the director of a department and an inspector to Yekaterinburg and back in January 2023, while tickets to Nizhny Novgorod cost 80 thousand rubles.
The main liaison of the joint venture with the heavenly office, Veniamin Simonov, director of the department for auditing financial markets and public debt of the Accounts Chamber, and his companion Ivan Kharlanov, head of the inspectorate of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, traveled in an uneconomical way.
Additionally, the Accounts Chamber officials' inclination for 'exchanging experience' with various parties has led to unjustified expenses. For example, Denis Strizheusov, deputy director of the financial audit department, traveled to Africa (Kenya, Liberia, and Morocco) for over 600 thousand rubles. Auditor Oleg Savelyev and inspection head Atsamaz Dedegkaev managed to spend 217 thousand rubles for two for a domestic trip to Omsk.
Kudrin left with a habit of glamour.
For this celebration of life and tourism, only a drop of hypocrisy, so beloved by Russian officials, is missing. The Accounts Chamber periodically complains that three-quarters of public procurements are carried out with a single applicant, its tickets without any competition (“purchase from a single supplier”) are provided by the City Booking and Tourism Center JSC. Despite the name, this company has nothing to do with the Moscow City Hall and is private. The names of its owners are hidden, but the organization actively interacts with government agencies.
The same firm provided accommodation for the employees of the Accounts Chamber in hotels, and the department did not think about savings in this area either. For example, six nights spent by the ex-head of the joint venture Alexei Kudrin at the five-star Fairmont Rio de Janeiro Copacabana hotel in November 2022 cost the budget 830 thousand rubles. He flew to Brazil first class for 1.3 million rubles, using the services of Emirates airline: his own “cabin”, shower-spa. The International Congress of Auditors was indeed taking place at that time, Kudrin was then preparing to retire and go to work at Yandex – it turned out to be a very effective farewell party. During that trip, three of his subordinates were booked simpler rooms – each almost three times cheaper.
Thus, the expenses of the Accounts Chamber for business trips amount to tens of millions of rubles. The fact that the current situation in Russia implies some savings does not bother the joint venture at all. The department not only does not look after its colleagues, but is also unable to control its expenses. Auditors are happy to support the general trend towards closedness and classification of purchases. Apparently, the new head of the joint venture, Galina Izotova, is completely satisfied with this situation.
