Steal two ears of grain from a field, and you’ll go to prison. Steal 2 billion rubles, and the entire state machine will rise to protect you. I have bad news about the “Gazprom case.” And I need your help. A brief recap of previous episodes for those who’ve forgotten, and for those just tuning back in to our gripping thriller. 1. Gazprom’s management steals 2 billion rubles from its own company using a simple two-step scheme involving the sale of gas to an intermediary. Obviously, this is just one episode out of dozens or hundreds. But this is the one they got caught on. 2. I, as a Gazprom shareholder, am officially recognized as an injured party in the case, which is a minor sensation in itself and prevents the proceedings from being closed for lack of a victim (Gazprom itself, naturally, does not believe it suffered any losses). 3. My post “How Gazprom Is Being Looted” stays at the top for a week and sets some unimaginable traffic records. The media writes about the case, and all this noise creates a very unfavorable environment for sweeping it under the rug, so the investigation moves along fairly briskly. 4. Another victory: the crooks have been named and charged. The chief villain and architect of the theft scheme—Kirill Seleznev, head of Mezhregiongaz—still managed to slip away and temporarily dodge consequences, but his deputy, Igor Dmitriev, who signed the contracts, is now just ten minutes away from the defendant’s bench. Now for what you don’t know: 5. I make a big mistake: I abandon my main rule—to do everything as publicly and openly as possible, and to disclose whatever information I have immediately. Instead, I start behaving according to idiotic standard rules: let’s wait, why make a fuss, let one more expert review happen, let the case get stronger, and then we’ll strike, etc. I stop sharing new information about the case. 6. A meeting takes place. I can’t guarantee 100% that everything happened exactly this way, but a very well-informed source, who usually doesn’t lie, describes the scene almost word for word. Cast: Kirill Seleznev, member of Gazprom’s management board; Alexei Miller, head of Gazprom. Seleznev: Boss, we’re done for! We laughed at this case, but in a month it’ll be in court! Dmitriev’s group will go down, and then they’ll start asking questions about us too! We’ll all go to jail! Boss, what do we do? Miller: (mocking him) What do we doooo? I told you to work carefully, and what did you do? Figure it out yourselves. Seleznev: We can’t fix it ourselves anymore. The case is out of control. Boss, we need to bring in DADDY. Miller: Are you out of your minds? You took it from DADDY in the first place. Have you forgotten whose company this is? Do you think DADDY will be happy to hear about this? Seleznev: (weeping) Boss, what do we do?! I’ll fix everything, boss! Miller: Ah, I ought to fire you so you’d have to become an honest man and live on one salary... Seleznev: (convulsing) iiiii.... uuuuuu..... noooooooo Miller: Fine then, this is a danger to all of us. We won’t touch DADDY. Find the resources to work with the cops, and I’ll make sure the right call gets made. Seleznev: (already using his tenth handkerchief) Thank you, boss, thank you. 7. And then, in May, a letter from Gazprom reaches Minister Nurgaliyev, bypassing all normal procedures. It says there is this malicious Navalny, a tiny minority shareholder, who has dared to encroach on something sacred. That they are the nation’s treasure, while Navalny is a national disgrace. And how long will this insignificant nobody keep throwing a wrench in the works? And why are the police indulging the contemptible Navalny, whose number of Gazprom shares is so small it’s hard even to write down, because you’d get lost in all the zeros after the decimal point. 8. Nurgaliyev writes “look into this” on it. 9. What comes next is reliable but impossible to prove: two generals from the Investigative Committee of the Russian Interior Ministry each receive $1.5 million. 10. You don’t have to believe point nine, but on May 19, 2009, criminal case No. 116372 is taken away from the investigator at the Moscow Main Investigative Directorate and transferred to an investigator at the Investigative Unit of the Russian Interior Ministry’s Central Federal District office. This is done in violation of procedural rules, etc. I won’t burden you with the details, but the violations are there, and they will be appealed. There will be a separate big post on this. 11. This is where I, the fool, should have cried out. Drawn public attention. Started making a scandal. But as noted in point 5, I decided to keep quiet and wait for the new investigator to make a bunch of mistakes and procedural violations. 12. And I got exactly what I waited for. I come back from vacation and find a letter in the mail:
In other words, the main exposed crook, high-ranking Gazprom employee I. L. Dmitriev, is being pulled out of a burning tank by his pals with the help of valiant police officers. 13. Most likely on August 25 (according to operational information), there will be an attempt to close the case altogether for lack of evidence of a crime. Right—what crime could there be, they only stole 2 billion rubles. For this purpose they even created an entire investigative team. Supposedly because the case is especially important. So it requires especially qualified investigators. But while the case was being handled by an investigator at the Moscow level, the investigation was moving forward; as soon as it was taken upstairs “because of its special importance,” the suspects immediately started dropping out, evidence began evaporating, and so on. That’s where things stand. But don’t think this is a post of despair. Nothing of the sort. We will not let them close the case that easily. We’ll fight back to the very end. Obviously Gazprom has paid-off cops on its side, but there are also good cops, and there are bad cops who just haven’t been paid and have no interest in fighting for someone else’s million. So “it’s not all so clear-cut” (a common Russian ironic phrase). And most importantly—and this is my request—mobilizing public opinion and spreading information are absolutely crucial. If anyone says, “Come on, it’s just one LiveJournal post without TV coverage,” they’re wrong. I know how the forces of evil started running around after the sensation caused by the post “How Gazprom Is Being Looted.” For them, this is extremely painful. Friends! Let’s not let the villains wriggle out of this! What needs to be done: 1. Links and promotion, obviously. Anyone can do that in three seconds. 2. Basic dissemination of this information. Send it around via your ICQ contact list, by email. If you don’t like linking to someone else’s LiveJournal, then just repost the text without the link. For those who are a bit bolder and don’t mind spending 5 minutes: 3. Go here, choose “Investigative Committee under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia” in the “where to” section, and copy-paste this simple complaint. Text: I have learned that on July 10, 2009, in criminal case No. 116372, currently under investigation by the Investigative Unit of the Main Directorate of the Russian Interior Ministry for the Central Federal District (senior investigator M. A. Grishin), criminal prosecution against I. L. Dmitriev was terminated. This investigation concerns large-scale embezzlement at OAO GAZPROM and has high public resonance and social significance. The actions of representatives of the Investigative Unit of the Main Directorate of the Russian Interior Ministry for the Central Federal District in investigating case No. 116372 appear to me questionable and possibly aimed at helping the criminal group that organized the thefts at OAO GAZPROM evade responsibility for what they have done. I request that you: 1. Verify the legality and justification for transferring criminal case No. 116372 from the Moscow Main Investigative Directorate to the Investigative Unit of the Main Directorate of the Russian Interior Ministry for the Central Federal District. 2. Investigate the Russian Interior Ministry officials who organized the transfer of criminal case No. 116372 from the Moscow Main Investigative Directorate to the Investigative Unit of the Main Directorate of the Russian Interior Ministry for the Central Federal District for possible corruption in their actions. 3. Verify the legality and justification of the decision by senior investigator M. A. Grishin of the Investigative Unit of the Main Directorate of the Russian Interior Ministry for the Central Federal District to terminate criminal prosecution against I. L. Dmitriev within the framework of criminal case No. 116372. 4. Please inform me of the measures taken in the prescribed manner. Remember that anonymous letters are not accepted, so fill in the fields marked with asterisks: name, address, etc. The complaint is intentionally very general, simple, even primitive—don’t let that bother you. For now, it’s fine. 4. Dmitry Medvedev’s blog. Go to the comments under the latest post with the characteristic title “Countering Corruption” and leave the following comment: Dear Dmitry Anatolyevich, You have repeatedly stated the need to fight corruption. I would like to inform you of an excellent opportunity to put your plans on this issue into practice. At present, criminal case No. 116372 concerning large-scale embezzlement at OAO GAZPROM is effectively being dismantled by the Investigative Unit of the Main Directorate of the Russian Interior Ministry for the Central Federal District. It is possible that such actions by officials of the Russian Interior Ministry are connected with corrupt practices. I ask you to instruct the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation and the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation to look into the situation and take action. 5. If you have a website/forum/mailing list, post this and send it out. 6. If any of you are Gazprom shareholders, join the case! You can simply give me power of attorney, and I’ll do the rest myself. If any of your acquaintances are Gazprom shareholders, send them the link to this post. 7. And finally, if you believe that small groups of people are incapable of changing anything and that all this is useless—go kill yourself! For now, that’s all that’s needed. Remember the great saying: The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing. Many thanks in advance to everyone who responds. Those who are ready to take part systematically in the war against Gazprom’s Mordor (a reference to the evil realm in Tolkien) — leave a note in the comments, and I’ll write to you myself.