At the ACF, we continue to investigate the activities of the Pension Fund, and today we have a new story for you. It is simple and very revealing—it perfectly illustrates the true nature of the fund itself, the pension “reform,” and, more broadly, how the authorities handle the money we entrusted to them.
Last week, Georgy Alburov reported on the billion-ruble personal fortune of Anton Drozdov, the head of Russia’s Pension Fund.
Be sure to watch this video if you haven’t already. We did not mention the BMW official car that Drozdov uses by accident. That is exactly what we are going to talk about today.
Quite recently, on June 26, the Pension Fund threw away nearly 100 million rubles on car rentals. The contract was signed 10 days after Dmitry Medvedev submitted a bill to the State Duma (the lower house of Russia’s parliament) to raise the retirement age. In other words, right in the middle of the public debate and the claims by that same Anton Drozdov that only an increase in the retirement age would make it possible to raise pensions.
From the documentation for the signed contract, we learned that the Pension Fund’s Executive Directorate—its main governing body—simply cannot collect your pension contributions without
- 6 black 2018 BMW 5 Series cars,
- 22 black Toyota Camrys, 4 of them also made this year,
- and 14 lower-class vehicles.
Another 51 cars were rented for regional branches.
Let’s talk in more detail, of course, about the BMWs. The Pension Fund pays 560,000 rubles per month to rent just one such car. And over six months, it plans to spend 3.36 million rubles on renting one car—more than the cost of a brand-new vehicle with its interior.
Why is it so expensive, you ask? First, because the cars come with drivers, and under the contract their schedule is practically around the clock—17 hours a day, 7 days a week. And if the July service acceptance report is to be believed, that is exactly how much they had to work for 5 of the cars. The Pension Fund’s leadership really does not spare itself! They never stop thinking about us, not even on weekends. Just imagine: Anton Drozdov is spending Saturday at his mother-in-law’s dacha on Rublyovka (an elite, wealthy area outside Moscow), and then suddenly remembers the poor pensioners and rushes back to the office. As he rides along, reclining in the back seat of a BMW with a leather interior, he thinks about what completely unnecessary thing could be cut in order to raise Russians’ pensions.
We also looked at the Pension Fund’s last seven car-rental auctions, and what do you think? Literally everything points to cartel collusion.
For inexplicable reasons, only three companies have taken part in these tenders for many years in a row: Transport Solutions LLC, Bouquet LLC, and Comfort and Safety LLC. For some reason, no one else seems interested in the Pension Fund’s generous contracts—others do not even try to participate. At the same time, the founders have a lot in common.
First, they all seem to be remarkably short on imagination—different people, yet they gave their companies the same names: one has Bouquet LLC, another has BOUQUET LLC. One has CBZT LLC, and another also has CBZT LLC, registered at the very same addresses.
Second, the founder of Transport Solutions (the winner of the latest auction) sold another of his legal entities to the founder of Bouquet two years ago—the very same CBZT LLC.
Third, the price in all of the auctions was reduced only symbolically—as is typically the case in collusion—by no more than 1%.
You cannot even find a website for the company that won the latest auction. What is more, according to its 2017 tax filings, it has only 1 employee! And yet the Pension Fund has already signed contracts with this company worth 350 million rubles.
Based on these facts, we have appealed to the Federal Antimonopoly Service. We will seek a formal finding that antitrust law was violated and the transfer of the materials to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the opening of a criminal case.
And in addition to spending on car rentals, there are also enormous costs for maintaining the Pension Fund’s own vehicle fleet—24 million rubles in the last year alone. From these contracts, we learn that the Pension Fund also has on its books an equally luxurious pair of BMW 7 Series cars, one Audi A8, and 3 Audi A6s. Service in VIP airport lounges across the country and monthly subscriptions to Forbes and Esquire are also paid for out of Russians’ pockets.
Officials insist that it is impossible to find the money needed to save the pension system, while at the same time squandering enormous sums on their own comfort. Not on anything necessary, but specifically on comfort and prestige. The members of the Pension Fund’s board sincerely believe they are ENTITLED to this. That is outrageous enough, but even worse is that the budget has been losing tens of millions for years because of cartel collusion. This is a crime, and it is being committed with the full connivance—or participation—of the Pension Fund.
When they pay ordinary people their own money back—in the form of humiliatingly small pensions or disability benefits—they count every kopeck. But when it comes to spending on themselves, they deny themselves nothing.
Those in power must start with themselves. And if they do not want to, then we must make them.
On September 9, a nationwide protest against the pension reform will take place. Taking part in this national protest is the best way to express your opposition to raising the retirement age.
If you are in Moscow, come to Pushkin Square at 2:00 p.m.
If you are in St. Petersburg, then also at 2:00 p.m., at Lenin Square.
A list of rallies in other cities is here:
Facebook group for the rallies VK group for the rallies
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And here you can find invitation images for the rally by city. Download an image, send it to all your contacts on WhatsApp, Viber, and Telegram, and to every group you belong to. And ask them to forward it on.