Reporting back. As I promised in one of my previous posts, I ran an experiment to bring into the minority-shareholder fight the professionals who are officially tasked with standing guard. There is such an outfit as the Federal Agency for State Property Management. When you hear on TV that “an enterprise belongs to the state” or “such-and-such a stake belongs to the state,” then in all likelihood “the state” means this very agency. So, for example, the largest shareholder in Gazprom OJSC is the state, represented by the Federal Agency for State Property Management, which owns 38.37% of the shares. And as some of my readers may remember, I too am a Gazprom shareholder, and I am very unhappy that pieces of varying size are being sawn off every second from this “national treasure.” And if I, the owner of 0.00000000000001% of Gazprom, am full of outrage, then how concerned must those who own 38.37% be—especially since they are supposed to be standing guard!? They must be beside themselves! So I thought: they’ll be delighted. Especially since the relevant legislation exists: 1. The Agency is responsible for ensuring that money from shares in federal ownership is paid into the budget as revenue. 2. The Agency carries out legal actions on behalf of the Russian Federation to protect the property and other rights and lawful interests of the Russian Federation in the management of federal property. 3. The Agency has the right to go to court and to law enforcement bodies with claims and applications on behalf of the Russian Federation in defense of the property and other rights and lawful interests of the Russian Federation on issues of privatization, management, and disposal of federal property. So I sat down and wrote a letter. In short: I asked them, in the interests of the state, to also become a victim in the criminal case concerning theft at Gazprom and to join as a civil plaintiff. After all, it is rather strange that in the whole enormous Gazprom, only one shareholder—Navalny—thinks he has been robbed. Time to add those who are “standing guard” to the list as well. And here is what came of it:
Take note: my letter is dated December 30. They reply on March 24. That is, for THREE MONTHS (the legal deadline for a response is one month) they sat there staring out the window, and then replied, “the information will be taken into account.” Taken into account where? In the ledger of useless information? There is a criminal case. There is an expert report establishing the fact of theft. There are damages. Isn’t this exactly the moment to play Vereshchagin on the launch (a reference to the incorruptible customs officer in the Soviet film White Sun of the Desert)? But Rosimushchestvo (the Federal Agency for State Property Management) is playing a different game. One that is perfectly obvious to me. They are waiting for the case to collapse and are doing everything they can to help that along. It is clear that if the only victim is an individual shareholder with a tiny stake, that is one situation. If the victim is the state with 38%, that is a fundamentally different situation. And the prospects are different too. By various methods, they can kick me out of the list of victims, and the case will automatically be closed. You cannot kick Rosimushchestvo out so easily. Of course I will challenge their response in court. I will also challenge their inaction. And I will try to force them through the courts to become victims in the case. The chances are extremely slim, but I will try. The main thing here is timing. And they understand that at Rosimushchestvo, which is why they are doing everything possible to drag this out. Then the case will fall apart, the money that was carved up will be spent, everything will be covered over by weeds, and yet another official will keep declaring that he is standing guard. Take a look at these people. These are exactly the ones who are “defending the interests of the state.” Here is the guy who signed the reply:
Gleb Sergeyevich Nikitin. Deputy Head. From St. Petersburg, naturally. Notice the background in the photo. The Kremlin wall. A familiar angle—you can immediately tell where it was taken from. The guy actually went to the trouble of coming with a photographer to GUM (the historic State Department Store on Red Square) just to take a picture like that :). (Update: not from GUM. It was taken from the Rosneft office.) Very stately. You can tell right away: this one is protecting interests. Well, never mind. God is no fool. Someday we will see these little guys in different interiors. As usual with posts about Gazprom, PR and links are welcome. The country should know its heroes. Get out your little black notebooks and write this down...