Hello everyone. We’re now systematically switching on our unstoppable mass-complaint machine. As everyone remembers, we sent several hundred letters to the Prosecutor General’s Office demanding an investigation into corruption at VTB. The first letters went out on 07.12. Today is 19.01. No one has received a reply. The crooks in the prosecutor’s office clearly don’t want to work. One has to assume they’re being helped along by the modest charm of the Effective Managers.We’ll keep pushing. We said we would get a response to every single complaint, and we will. - Option for the less energetic / busier: 1. Find the slip of paper where you wrote down the time and date of your submission. You may have noted it in the comments to this post. 2. Go here. 3. In the “subject of appeal” section, choose “work of the prosecutor’s office.” 4. Copy and paste the text below, inserting your name, the date, and the time of your submission. 5. Click “send.” 6. Watch how events unfold. We’re all grown-ups here, so I won’t repeat for the millionth time that you need to provide your full and accurate name and address. After that, you should receive confirmation by email that your complaint was received. Save that confirmation! Text to copy and paste: Update. The website accepts letters no longer than 2,000 characters. Stupid, but there’s nothing to be done. So here is a shortened version. To the President of the Russian Federation, D. A. Medvedev I, Ivanov Petr Sidorovich, on ___ December 2009, at approximately …-… Moscow time, submitted an appeal to the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation requesting an investigation into facts of corruption, fraud, and abuse of office that may have occurred in the course of the business activities of VTB Bank OJSC. These facts were published in the media and on the internet. For my appeal, I used the official website of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation, the website’s “online reception office,” and the specially prepared form for submitting appeals located at http://www.genproc.gov.ru/ipriem/corrupt/ Under Clause 1, Article 12 of the Federal Law “On the Procedure for Considering Appeals from Citizens of the Russian Federation,” state authorities are required to provide a written response on the merits of an appeal within 30 days from the date of its registration. As of now, more than 40 days have passed since I submitted my appeal to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation. In addition, all reasonable deadlines for delivery of correspondence by postal service have expired. Thus, my legal rights have been violated by employees of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation unknown to me. Based on the above, and guided by the Federal Law “On the Procedure for Considering Appeals from Citizens of the Russian Federation,” the Federal Law “On the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation,” and other regulations, I ask you, within the limits of your authority, to instruct the relevant competent bodies of the Russian Federation to: 1. conduct an investigation into violations of current legislation by employees of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation in connection with their failure to consider my lawful appeal and failure to send me a response; 2. hold the employees of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation disciplinarily liable for the above-mentioned violation of the law; 3. require the relevant employees of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation to consider my complaint and send me a response; Please inform me in writing, within the prescribed time limit, of the measures taken. End of text. - Option for the more energetic / less busy: 1. Do everything suggested above. 2. In addition, send a paper copy of the complaint to the Prosecutor General’s Office at the following address: GSP-3, 125993 Moscow, Bolshaya Dmitrovka St., 15a The text is identical, with minimal edits. It is below. 3. We’ll see how things develop from here, but I think I’ll ask you to give me power of attorney to represent your interests in court, or to sign a formal agency agreement, so that I can sue over the violation of your rights. Text of the complaint to the Prosecutor General’s Office: To the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation I, Ivanov Petr Sidorovich, on ___ December 2009, at approximately …-… Moscow time, submitted an appeal to the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation requesting an investigation into facts of corruption, fraud, and abuse of office that may have occurred in the course of the business activities of VTB Bank OJSC. These facts were published in the media and on the internet. As a citizen of the Russian Federation, I am interested in an objective investigation of the published facts, especially given that 85% of the shares of VTB Bank OJSC are state-owned. For my appeal, I used the official website of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation, the website’s “online reception office,” and the specially prepared form for submitting appeals located at http://www.genproc.gov.ru/ipriem/corrupt/ My appeal was prepared and submitted on the basis of the following provisions of current legislation: Part 1 of Article 7 of Federal Law No. 59-FZ of the Russian Federation dated May 2, 2006, “On the Procedure for Considering Appeals from Citizens of the Russian Federation” (hereinafter “Federal Law No. 59”). Part 1 of Article 11 of Federal Law No. 59. Part 3 of Article 11 of Federal Law No. 59. Part 2 of Article 16 of Federal Law No. 59. Part 4 of Article 10 of Federal Law No. 59. My appeal contained all the necessary details, including my name and postal address. The appeal did not contain obscene or insulting language, threats to the life, health, or property of officials, or to members of their families. According to Article 33 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, citizens of the Russian Federation have the right to apply personally, as well as to send individual and collective appeals to state bodies and local self-government bodies. Under Clause 1, Article 12 of the Federal Law “On the Procedure for Considering Appeals from Citizens of the Russian Federation,” state authorities are required to provide a written response on the merits of an appeal within 30 days from the date of its registration. As of now, more than 40 days have passed since I submitted my appeal to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation. In addition, all reasonable deadlines for delivery of correspondence by postal service have expired. Thus, my legal rights have been violated by employees of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation unknown to me. Based on the above, and guided by the Federal Law “On the Procedure for Considering Appeals from Citizens of the Russian Federation,” the Federal Law “On the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation,” and other regulations, I request that you: 1. conduct an investigation into violations of current legislation by employees of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation in connection with their failure to consider my lawful appeal and failure to send me a response; 2. hold the employees of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation disciplinarily liable for the above-mentioned violation of the law; 3. require the relevant employees of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation to consider my complaint and send me a response; 4. inform me in writing, within the prescribed time limit, of the measures taken. Many thanks in advance to everyone who takes part. In the near future I’ll post a progress report on the interim results of the campaign to pin down the VTB crooks. So far, the general picture is that these guys are wriggling like snakes on a hot pan trying to wriggle out of it and avoid starting an investigation. Which is hardly surprising. Show me someone who wants to investigate his own schemes. But we’ll beat them all.