The absurdity continues with how the Central Administrative District’s Economic Crimes Unit (OBEP, a Russian police department for combating economic crimes) is “conducting an investigation” into my complaint asking them to check the charitable activities of OJSC AK Transneft for possible embezzlement. In episode one, the valiant fighters against economic crime refused to open a criminal case. In fact, the only element of the “investigation” was summoning me to the police station to give a statement. The investigator also sent two requests, which went unanswered. Details here. But there is also episode two. It turns out the decision refusing to open a case was overturned and the materials were sent back for an “additional review.” After the additional review, they again refused to open a case, but the descriptive part of the ruling is an absolute masterpiece. I’m posting a scan of just one page, because all the others are completely identical to the first ruling. Behold!
“A site visit was carried out, during which it was not possible to conduct interviews.” We all have a pretty good idea of how the police behave during their “site visits.” But that applies to ordinary businesspeople who earn their money through hard work, brains, and frayed nerves. When it comes to the guys sawing off huge sums with a huge saw, the attitude is different. I can just picture the scene. *Transneft office. Wind. Snow. Puddles. At the entrance, by the intercom, OBEP officers stand there shivering from the cold. Hello. **- Excuse us for bothering you. We’re police officers. We’d like to check you for possible embezzlement. Please open the door. God bless you. **- Have you lost your minds?! What embezzlement? The state is our main shareholder, and there’s no embezzlement in state companies. Got that? **- Still, please... We’d like to speak with management... It’s very important. *- Right, security is coming out now and will box the ears of anyone especially slow on the uptake. Hint taken? - Taken. Goodbye. Sorry to trouble you. The work with the tax authorities looks just as impressive: they were sent two requests, and they simply threw them in the trash. One might get the impression that OBEP’s investigative capabilities are not much different from those of a stamp-collecting club in Moscow’s Matveyevskoye District. In fact, the philatelists’ club would be even more effective — at least someone would answer their inquiries. Though there is another possibility: at Transneft they are skillfully and efficiently redistributing the tranches of charitable money. They say these life-giving flows can work miracles. By the way, for those who still believe in the existence of conscience: According to Transneft’s IFRS financial statements for the first half of 2008, published a week ago, the company spent 247 million rubles on charity (about $10 million at the time). That is less than in the same period of 2007 (1.054 billion rubles, or about $43 million at the time), but still not bad, you know. Especially given that Transneft’s management says it desperately needs loans and state support — there isn’t enough money for pipelines. But there was enough to skim off $10 million. We’ll appeal. It’s no trouble for us. The machine keeps churning. And this evening I’m in court with Oleg Vyugin. This noble gentleman is an independent director at Transneft and is supposedly meant to keep at least a small eye on transparency and various questionable expenditures. But for some reason he is doing everything he can to avoid answering my questions about charity spending. Apparently he “doesn’t receive” my letters. So I had to disturb the gentleman.
People