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gazeta.ru
November 5, 2001
Auditors Launch Investigation into Kremlin’s Finances
By Andrei Litvinov
On Monday Sergei Stepashin, the chief of the Audit Chamber, the Russian parliamentary financial watchdog, named several more governmental agencies that are under investigation by his agency. Following the launch of investigations into the financial dealings of the Railroads Ministry and the Ministry for Emergency Situations, the Finance Ministry and the Ministry for Natural Resources. Sergei Stepashin announced that his agency has begun a probe into the activities of the Kremlin department for presidential affaires (Upravleniye delami presidenta).
The Audit Chamber is continuing its inspections of federal governmental agencies, causing much uneasiness for many top officials. The Prosecutor General’s Office has already launched criminal proceedings against the railways minister Nikolai Aksyonenko as a result of the auditors’ findings.
The Audit Chamber officials are attempting to play down the speculation surrounding their investigations and insist their actions are routine.
On Monday, during a visit to St.Petersburg, the chief auditor Sergei Stepashin said: “All allegations that the Audit Chamber is conducting “biased” inspections are unsubstantiated”.
The Audit Chamber chief then recounted of his agency’s working plans. On November 9 the Audit Chambers board plans to review the results of inspections of the Road Fund and the Ministry of Natural Resources.
The Audit Chamber also intends to complete a probe into the Finance Ministry’s spending of budget funds by the end of the year.
The Chamber is also looking into the spending of budget funds in several regions, and, in particular, in the far-eastern region of Yakutia, to where large budget funds were allocated for restoration works in the town of Lensk which was heavily badly by floods back in the spring.
Stepashin is not in St.Petersburg just to visit his hometown: His Chamber is conducting a probe into the spending of budget funds allocated for preparations for the Northern Capital’s 300th birthday.
The auditors’ reports are quite likely to somewhat spoil the mood of the city authorities, elated in view of the festivities, and especially that of governor Vladimir Yakovlev. One of Yakovlev’s deputies is already facing corruption charges.
But what is most sensational is the Audit Chamber’s sudden interest in the Kremlin’s Department of Presidential Affaires.
It seems that by focussing on that Kremlin department, the Audit Chamber is attempting to prove that it is not a mere executor of political orders from the Kremlin and is trying to prove its impartiality.
But there has been no confirmation of the speculation that Stepashin’s agency has been instructed to find additional evidence of wrongdoings of the department’s former boss Pavel Borodin, who incidentally is still being investigated by the Swiss authorities in connection with the so-called Mabatex affaire. .
The auditors are apparently interested in the department’s activity under its new chief – Vladimir Kozhin, appointed in 2000.
In 2000 Vladimir Kozhin launched a number of daring and costly projects, such as the renovation of the Strelnya Palace near St.Petersburg which is to be turned into a presidential residence.
Thus by detecting some non-significant violations without inflicting damage to the credibility of the president’s close assistants, the Audit Chamber hopes to prove their impartiality.
The results of the auditors’ recently launched spate of investigations will be announced only next year. An auditor with the Chamber Alexander Kushnar told Gazeta.Ru that the inspection into the Kremlin’s department of presidential affaires that was launched on October 15 and is to be completed by January 31, 2002.
But the General Prosecutor’s Office will receive the Audit Chamber’s reports earlier. On Monday Sergei Stepashin modestly announced that whereas prior to this year only twenty criminal cases had been opened as a result of the Chamber’s activities, this year 48 cases have already been launched.
Given the Chamber’s intensive work of late that number is sure to rise by the end of the year.
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