People often criticize us at the ACF (Anti-Corruption Foundation) for speaking too vaguely about fighting corruption. So how, in practice, are we going to catch crooked officials and return their criminal proceeds to the state budget?
Let me tell you a story. It unfolded before our eyes over several years and ended only recently. Putin and the Prosecutor General’s Office stepped in to protect a corrupt official; she has now been fully reinstated, and the Russian budget will still be short 3.6 billion rubles — to give you a sense of scale, that is roughly the annual budget of Pskov.
We are talking about Elena Skrynnik. For many years, she headed the state-owned company Rosagroleasing, which leases agricultural machinery. Then Putin appointed her minister of agriculture — a post she held for three years. Minister Skrynnik lived lavishly — for example, the value of this watch and these two handbags alone exceeded her declared income:
It also emerged that in 2006 Elena Skrynnik bought herself a house in France — at the time of purchase, it cost 8 million euros, and Skrynnik paid the full amount upfront. While serving as minister, she did not list the house in her asset declaration.
Her superiors — Putin and Medvedev — were well disposed toward Skrynnik. She was awarded medals “for services to the Fatherland,” honorary certificates for developing the agricultural sector, and even one “for restoring spirituality in Russia”. But then came 2012. Unrest, protests — and Putin and Medvedev started talking about “fighting corruption”. The Oboronservis case began. And Elena Skrynnik, too, was caught up in the steamroller of these show anti-corruption purges. A criminal case was opened against her colleagues at Rosagroleasing, in which she was apparently either a witness or a suspect. Switzerland then became involved — at the request of the Russian prosecutor’s office (!) the Swiss froze the accounts of Skrynnik’s deputy. But they went further than expected — they decided to look into her own accounts as well. There they found 60 million Swiss francs — or 3.6 billion rubles. They seized the funds, continued their own investigation, and uncovered economically unjustified and suspicious transactions worth more than $140 million.
All of this information was immediately passed on to the Russian prosecutor’s office. To see what happened next, watch our new video:
