Alexei Navalny has three days left to serve in the special detention center (a short-term administrative jail). Despite the arrests—and even the holiday period—the ACF (Anti-Corruption Foundation) is continuing its fight against corruption and exposing schemes involving the state budget.
The ACF has long worked on the issue of officials buying expensive cars at taxpayers’ expense. We uncovered many such procurements and got them canceled, collected signatures in support of a special law banning officials from buying cars costing more than 1.5 million rubles, and did plenty more besides. Later, officials themselves picked up the topic and started saying that, yes, of course, it was wrong for public officials to buy very expensive cars. For example, here is what our favorite Dmitry Medvedev said in 2015: “Unfortunately, we have a number of traditions that officials have grown accustomed to. For example, driving more expensive cars than their counterparts in other countries. But government cars should be normal, middle-class vehicles.”
But despite all this, expensive cars are still being bought for officials and the heads of state-owned companies. For example, the Ilyushin aviation group (“Il”) announced a tender to lease an Audi A8 for 8.5 million rubles. Not a bad choice for a state company in these turbulent times. And Ilyushin is headed by none other than Alexei Rogozin, the son of former deputy prime minister and current Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin.
Apparently, this luxury car is being procured specifically for him—with a sunroof, massage seats, premium Feinnappa leather, and a 23-speaker sound system.
More about both the car and Alexei Rogozin himself in today’s video from ACF lawyer Lyubov Sobol:
We have already come across Rogozin several times in our investigations. For example, we reported on his apartment, valued at 500 million rubles, and on violations during the construction of the Vostochny Cosmodrome, which Rogozin oversaw as deputy prime minister. Rogozin did respond to those investigations—but in his own peculiar way.
And so once again, we would like an answer. This time from Alexei Rogozin himself. — Who exactly is Ilyushin buying this 8.5 million-ruble Audi A8 for? — Why this particular car, rather than the “middle-class” vehicle Medvedev talked about?
Better yet, there is no need to answer at all—just cancel the procurement, as Lyubov Sobol urges in her post.