During meetings with voters in the last mayoral campaign, I would sometimes use the following tactic to connect better with the audience (mostly elderly people):
First, I would talk about the Moscow healthcare modernization program, which cost 100 billion rubles (roughly over $1.5 billion at recent exchange rates). Its whole point was to buy all sorts of expensive equipment.
Then I would quote Sobyanin, who claimed that in terms of CT scanners and similar equipment, Moscow is ahead of every city in Europe.
And then I would ask: is it really true that anyone can now quickly get an ultrasound or MRI scan for free***?***
At that point, the pensioners would leap from their seats, hurling furious curses, and I would understand: rapport had been established. We all shared roughly the same view of the effectiveness of Moscow’s healthcare development program and the corruption involved in state procurement of medical equipment.
But this post is not meant to stir outrage or point out the system’s flaws. This is a post of quiet sadness.
On behalf of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, I would like to bid farewell to Georgy Natanovich Golukhov, head of the Moscow Health Department and one of the Moscow mayor’s closest associates.
As you have most likely already heard, yesterday evening Georgy Golukhov resigned. He obtained a Swiss residence permit and can no longer work as a government official. He is leaving both public service and Russia.
It feels like a knife in the back!
After all, Georgy Natanovich is not just Sobyanin’s associate in the matter of... uh... “making use of” budget funds, he is one of Putin’s officially designated trusted representatives!
How could such a man end up as a Swiss resident? His fondest hopes as a trusted representative have just come true — his principal has been in power for 15 years. His principal’s approval rating is 80%.
How can he move to Switzerland, straight into the clutches of those godless Europeans imposing sanctions against dear Putin’s government?
We at the ACF (Anti-Corruption Foundation) are especially sad, because we had been working on this trusted representative for quite a while and were planning to nail him very soon. But now he is no longer even an official. In Russia, illicit enrichment is not a crime, so at this point any information we have is little more than a guide for other civil servants on “how to get out in time.”
Be that as it may, let us simply see Georgy Natanovich off to his new homeland, observe a moment of silence, and take a look at what the former minister is taking with him as a dowry.
Since 1988, Golukhov had worked as chief physician at a state hospital in Moscow. After 24 years in medicine, he was appointed head of the Moscow Health Department. He holds a Doctor of Medical Sciences degree, is a professor, and a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences.
A doctor with 24 years of experience is unlikely ever to have lived in grand style. He did not disclose his income before becoming an official, but we can make an estimate, since it is known that Golukhov worked the entire time at a state institution:
Even after becoming head of Moscow’s healthcare system, Golukhov still had relatively modest income.
2012:
But Georgy Natanovich’s asset declaration is like a medical chart — you have to read the whole thing, taken together.
And what do we see there? Right from the start, in 2012, Golukhov informs us: I own, he writes, a 450 sq. m apartment in Switzerland.
To be honest, we noticed Golukhov a long time ago. An awfully large apartment in an awfully expensive country looks a lot like illicit enrichment. We very much wanted to catch this Golukhov out in Switzerland.
But we did not find that apartment.
But we found two others! A year ago, we had already made a trip to Lake Geneva to look at the apartment of Vitya Yakunin (the son of Vladimir Yakunin, former head of Russian Railways), who was supposedly “doing a two-year business internship” at Gunvor.
So let us make the trip once again. Just 3 kilometers away from the Yakunins, to the village of Choulex near Geneva.
Quite recently, a new apartment building was constructed in this relatively old neighborhood:
A nice-looking building like this:
We move closer, and there it is:
So many characteristically Swiss names! Evgeniya Golukhova, Natan Golukhov, plus the Golukhov-Panin family in the neighboring apartment.
Evgeniya Golukhova (born 1934) is Georgy Natanovich’s mother. She lives there with her husband, Golukhov’s father Natan.
It is highly unlikely that 80-year-old Soviet-era pensioners bought themselves property in Switzerland. Clearly, the property was purchased with money from our “civil servant.”
And Panina is Oksana Valentinovna Panina (born 1968), Georgy Natanovich’s wife. By profession she is a pediatrician and holds a Candidate of Medical Sciences degree. Judging by her declared enormous 2012 income of 41 million rubles, Madame Panina is a businesswoman, yet no matter how hard we looked, we found no trace of any business activity apart from sole proprietorship registration.
And in 2013 her income dropped by a factor of 2.5, to 16 million rubles. Documents officially requested by our Swiss super-agent confirmed our worst suspicions:
The document in full for Georgy Golukhov and Oksana Panina.
The document in full for Georgy Golukhov’s parents’ apartment.
Now let us assess the apartments we found. According to the cantonal website, the Golukhovs’ own apartment is 233 sq. m, and the parents’ apartment is 188 sq. m. After studying the brochure, we learn an astonishing fact:
Prices for apartments in this building range from 2.2 to 3.4 million Swiss francs, that is, 88.4 to 135.7 million rubles each. Let us remind you: the Golukhov couple have two of them, while their maximum combined income is 67 million rubles. In other words, even the cheapest apartment in this building is beyond their means.
Let us check whether Minister Golukhov’s family might have saved up for these apartments by denying themselves everything and risking starvation. It does not look that way:
Golukhov’s son Mikhail lives in Switzerland and is studying hotel management there. Tuition at this university, for example for a master’s program, costs 55,000 francs.
Venice, Cannes, Monaco, London — Misha has the standard travel itinerary of a twenty-year-old student:
“Buonasera,” Misha Golukhov says to everyone standing in line at a Moscow clinic waiting for an ultrasound on a machine his father bought at a price that apparently included the purchase of apartments in Switzerland.
To sum up:
The Swiss certainly will not dare tell us that we are sending them poor ministers. Georgy Golukhov is leaving public service a rich man.
Unfortunately, the Swiss also will not dare tell us that they understand where civil servant Golukhov got his money. In official sources, we can document income of 67 million rubles (57 million of it from the murky sole proprietorship of the official’s wife), while Swiss expenditures alone can be documented at 201.5 million rubles (two apartments and one year of the son’s tuition). Besides that, there are obviously some savings and bank accounts in Switzerland. And there are also 3 apartments in Russia with a total area of 462 sq. m, plus a 571 sq. m country house in the Odintsovo district outside Moscow.
The Swiss would call this “illicit enrichment,” but they do not really care. It was taken from Russia, not from them.
For them, people like Golukhov mean investment; for us, it means a children’s clinic in Pechatniki (a district of Moscow) that has not had major repairs in 40 years.
And it is not the Swiss’ problem that in faraway Russia there is no legislation under which Georgy Natanovich can be asked hard questions and taken to court.
It is very important for everyone to understand this: from those who are ill and pay for MRI scans that should be free, to those who are healthy and donate money for the treatment of sick children whose parents cannot afford an MRI.
Official Georgy Golukhov has left public service and is reuniting with his family in Switzerland. We know a great deal (and suspect even more) about where he got the money to build this family paradise, but there will be no consequences for him.
But there could have been consequences. Even if not right away. Under our draft law, the relationship between expenditures and income would be checked not only for Golukhov but also for his family members. What is more, we specify that the law would apply to Golukhov for three years after leaving public service. And if, after moving abroad, he were to SUDDENLY acquire a bank account with 30 million euros, he would be placed on an international wanted list, because that money would constitute unjustified enrichment, in full accordance with Article 20 of the UN Convention against Corruption.
Georgy Natanovich could have been facing up to seven years in prison if he had no explanation for the sources of his income.
So, as we see Georgy Golukhov off to Switzerland, the main question we whisper to ourselves while watching the plane take off — with our modest department head flying business class — is this: do we really want to introduce criminal liability for illicit enrichment?
My personal answer: we very, very, very much do!
If you want it too, then let us push for it. It is not an easy task, as you can see: the President’s trusted representatives will be fiercely against it.
We need to show that there are people who are firmly in favor. And that there are many more of them.
Vote for the draft law — we need to collect one hundred thousand votes. Already voted? Persuade someone else.
Instructions for obtaining/resetting your password are here.
Explain it to people, campaign for it.
Send this post to anyone who has doubts, so they can see what illicit enrichment looks like in practice.
Remember, 87% of citizens are on our side. Sooner or later, we must prevail over these Georgy Golukhovs, these department heads.