How about we take a closer look at our dear officials, my friends? Especially since we have an ironclad reason. This post was supposed to go up last Monday, but then the terrorist attacks happened, and I thought the campaign would be inappropriate. But in a way this is even better: another week has passed, and we have once again confirmed that the traditional response to uncomfortable questions from the people who call themselves the "Rulers of Russia" is silence. So, a corruption scandal is raging around the world. Daimler AG is accused of bribing officials in 22 countries between 1998 and 2008 in order to secure government contracts for its products. Russia is among those 22 countries, and from 2000 to 2005 about €5.2 million in bribes was allegedly paid there (7.8% of the total value of Daimler products supplied under government contracts).
The thing is, the United States has something called the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, under which U.S. citizens and American companies can be prosecuted for corrupt acts committed outside the United States. Put simply, if an American bribes one of our traffic cops, he can get five years in prison in the U.S., even if nobody in Russia cares. This is taken very seriously. As knowledgeable people explained to me, if there are serious suspicions of overseas corruption, a landing party of 150 lawyers from the U.S. Department of Justice descends on the company, and everyone immediately understands: people are going to jail. So it is no surprise that, realizing things were getting dangerous, Daimler admitted guilt and agreed to pay a fine of $185 million rather than take the case to court. In other words, we have an indisputable fact: a company supplying luxury cars for government use has officially stated that it paid bribes to officials who made decisions about purchasing those cars. More than that, Daimler AG's Russian subsidiary, Mercedes-Benz Rus CJSC, following the parent company, admitted the bribery charges brought against Daimler AG by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission. This was stated in a press release posted on the automaker's website on Friday. The bribe-givers point to the bribe-takers: - employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs; - employees of the Special Purpose Garage of the Federal Protective Service of the Russian Federation (the elite state motor pool serving top officials); - employees of the Ministry of Defense; - employees of the Moscow city government; - employees of the Ufa mayor's office; - employees of the municipal administration of Novy Urengoy. Here is an excerpt from the materials submitted by the U.S. Department of Justice to the District Court in Washington. (Taken from the website of the newspaper Vedomosti, many thanks to them.)
Those who are especially curious are invited to ознакомиться with the full version of the document (in English, also from the Vedomosti website). A nightmare. Horrifying. We are looking at one of those cases where corruption is obvious and proven (in an American court, at the very least). All that remains is to hold accountable those who took the bribes. In some countries, such as Latvia, reports about Daimler's revelations have already led to the launch of high-profile proceedings. And what about here? In a country whose leadership is supposedly fighting corruption and legal nihilism so bravely. Complete, serene silence. Not a single official has commented on what is happening. Let me remind everyone that a prosecutor has the authority to order the opening of a criminal case on the basis of media reports. But apparently our prosecutors do not read newspapers. Hence the silence. Everything needed to begin an inquiry and open a criminal case is already there. Confessions. Evidence. A court ruling (an American one). Public outcry. Media reports. But our law enforcement officers, shyly scraping the ground with the toe of their shoe, say: we have received no complaints. I propose we help the boys out and send them some complaints. I urge everyone to show some civic responsibility and, without begrudging three minutes of your time, put our authorities to a serious test. As a reward, we will get to watch police officers, prosecutors, and bureaucrats of every kind dance the merry "eels in a frying pan" dance. Algorithm: 1. a) Go to the online reception office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. b) In the "recipient" section, select "Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia." c) Carefully enter your name and address (a written reply will later be sent there). d) Copy and paste the text below (as usual, if anyone wants to edit it or write their own, you're welcome): From reports in a number of leading foreign and Russian media outlets, I have learned that Russian federal and regional officials have become subjects of an anti-corruption investigation being conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice in relation to the Daimler AG automotive group. Daimler AG is accused of bribing officials in 22 countries between 1998 and 2008 in order to obtain government contracts for the supply of its products. From 2000 to 2005, Russian officials allegedly received approximately €5.02 million and about 80,000 German marks illegally — 7.8% of the total value of Daimler products supplied under government contracts in our country during that period (€64.7 million). Among the recipients of the bribes, which were built into the cost of government contracts, were employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Special Purpose Garage of the Federal Protective Service (FSO), the Ministry of Defense, and the city authorities of Moscow, Ufa, and Novy Urengoy. The transfer of the bribes was organized by DaimlerChrysler Automotive Russia CJSC (currently Mercedes-Benz Rus CJSC). Detailed information on the amounts of the illegal payments, their recipients, and the mechanisms used to transfer the money is available online (including at http://www.scribd.com/full/29326576?access_key=key-1ktdhuo9hckkg3e83gr4 and http://www.scribd.com/full/29326196?access_key=key-18wmju8yzk4lbrn38x4g). Publications about Daimler AG's illegal payments in Russia are based on serious, verified facts — the source of the data on the illegal payments is material from the U.S. Department of Justice submitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Moreover, the management of the German concern Daimler admitted to bribing government officials in 22 countries, including Russia, and under the terms of a settlement agreement with the U.S. government will pay a fine of $185 million. On March 26, 2010, Daimler AG's Russian representative office — Mercedes-Benz Rus CJSC (until recently Daimler Chrysler Automotive Rus CJSC) — also admitted guilt in violating the provisions of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and issued a special press release to that effect. Thus, there are sufficient grounds to believe that the actions of federal and regional officials contain signs of violations of federal law, including those covered by Articles 285, 290, and 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In view of the above, I ask you to: 1. Conduct an inquiry into the facts indicating signs of a number of crimes in the actions of employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Special Purpose Garage of the Federal Protective Service (FSO), the Ministry of Defense, and the city authorities of Moscow, Ufa, and Novy Urengoy; identify the guilty parties and bring them to criminal responsibility — or issue a reasoned decision refusing to open a criminal case so that it may be appealed further if necessary. 2. Decide on the creation of a special operational-investigative task force to investigate the facts of Daimler AG's illegal payments on the territory of the Russian Federation. 3. Given the especially large size of the bribes and the broad public resonance of the case, place the investigation under the personal supervision of the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. Please treat this appeal as a report of a crime. e) send it. 2. a) Go to the website of the Prosecutor General's Office, to the "Fight Against Corruption" section of the online reception office. (As if they made it just for us, right?) b) Click "I agree." c) Enter your name and address (with postal code!). d) Copy and paste this text: From reports in a number of leading foreign and Russian media outlets, I have learned that Russian federal and regional officials have become subjects of an anti-corruption investigation being conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice in relation to the Daimler AG automotive group. Daimler AG is accused of bribing officials in 22 countries between 1998 and 2008 in order to obtain government contracts for the supply of its products. From 2000 to 2005, Russian officials allegedly received approximately €5.02 million and about 80,000 German marks illegally — 7.8% of the total value of Daimler products supplied under government contracts in our country during that period (€64.7 million). Among the recipients of the bribes, which were built into the cost of government contracts, were employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Special Purpose Garage of the Federal Protective Service (FSO), the Ministry of Defense, and the city authorities of Moscow, Ufa, and Novy Urengoy. The transfer of the bribes was organized by DaimlerChrysler Automotive Russia CJSC (currently Mercedes-Benz Rus CJSC). Detailed information on the amounts of the illegal payments, their recipients, and the mechanisms used to transfer the money is available online (including at http://www.scribd.com/full/29326576?access_key=key-1ktdhuo9hckkg3e83gr4 and http://www.scribd.com/full/29326196?access_key=key-18wmju8yzk4lbrn38x4g). Publications about Daimler AG's illegal payments in Russia are based on serious, verified facts — the source of the data on the illegal payments is material from the U.S. Department of Justice submitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Moreover, the management of the German concern Daimler admitted to bribing government officials in 22 countries, including Russia, and under the terms of a settlement agreement with the U.S. government will pay a fine of $185 million. On March 26, 2010, Daimler AG's Russian representative office — Mercedes-Benz Rus CJSC (until recently Daimler Chrysler Automotive Rus CJSC) — also admitted guilt in violating the provisions of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and issued a special press release to that effect. Thus, there are sufficient grounds to believe that the actions of federal and regional officials contain signs of violations of federal law, including those covered by Articles 285, 290, and 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In view of the above, I ask you to: 1. Conduct an inquiry into the facts set out in this statement for the purpose of identifying signs of a number of crimes in the actions of employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Special Purpose Garage of the Federal Protective Service (FSO), the Ministry of Defense, and the city authorities of Moscow, Ufa, and Novy Urengoy; identify the guilty parties and bring them to criminal responsibility — or issue a reasoned decision refusing to open a criminal case so that it may be appealed further if necessary. 2. Given the especially large size of the bribes and the broad public resonance of the case, place the investigation under the personal supervision of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation. e) Click "send." 3. a) Go to the website of the Guarantor of the Constitution, whose closest subordinates seem to have done quite well for themselves on kickbacks. b) Click "send a letter." c) Enter your name, address, and email (and hope they do not later start sending spam like "enlarge your penis." Though from such enterprising fellows, you might expect a little side hustle like that). d) In the "subject of appeal" field there is no section called "fight against corruption." Apparently the Presidential Administration considers this a minor issue. I chose "state security, fight against terrorism, extremism." We do consider bribery in the Federal Protective Service a threat to state security, don't we? We do. e) Copy and paste the short text below. It must be no more than 2,000 characters. (I couldn't resist having a little fun in the last paragraph of the descriptive section and point 2 of the request): From reports in a number of leading foreign and Russian media outlets, I have learned that Russian federal and regional officials have become subjects of an anti-corruption investigation being conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice in relation to the Daimler AG automotive group. Among the recipients of the bribes, which were built into the cost of government contracts, were employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Special Purpose Garage of the Federal Protective Service (FSO), the Ministry of Defense, and the city authorities of Moscow, Ufa, and Novy Urengoy. The transfer of the bribes was organized by DaimlerChrysler Automotive Russia CJSC (currently Mercedes-Benz Rus CJSC). Publications about Daimler AG's illegal payments in Russia are based on serious, verified facts — the source of the data on the illegal payments is material from the U.S. Department of Justice submitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. What especially alarms me is the fact that employees of the Federal Protective Service and the Presidential Property Management Directorate, both directly subordinate to you, may also be implicated in these acts of bribery. As is well known, corrupt intelligence and security personnel can become easy prey for foreign intelligence agents and terrorists, and since the FSO employees received bribes from representatives of a foreign company, such concerns have serious grounds. Thus, the possible criminal acts described above pose a threat to the personal security of the President of the Russian Federation, the Guarantor of the Constitution. In view of the above, I ask you to: 1. Within the limits of your authority, instruct the law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation to conduct a comprehensive inquiry into the facts set out in this statement. 2. Order a separate investigation to determine whether the Mercedes-Benz vehicles used by the President of the Russian Federation and the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation were also purchased with bribes paid to employees of the Special Purpose Garage of the FSO. 3. Given the broad public resonance of the case, place its investigation under your personal supervision. e) Click "send." After these steps, which are mandatory for every law-abiding person and citizen who cares about the country, their own future, and the future of their children, we should try to spread information about the case and our little civic flash mob as widely as possible. And now a word to those who are thinking at this moment: Sounds fun, but I won't send anything myself. Lots of people have already sent letters, and mine won't change anything. My dear friend, as long as you stick to that position, no positive change will ever happen. You are playing into the hands of bribery-taking officials. All they want is your personal passivity. So don't soothe yourself with excuses. You have the time. You can overcome your laziness. And you can help bring these crooks to justice. A separate appeal to representatives of the so-called pro-Kremlin youth movements. Young Guard of United Russia, the Nashi movement, and so on. You guys seemed very eager to fight corruption and denounce bribe-takers, didn't you? I suggest you take part. In fact, I insist. What do we do next? Remember — or write down on a piece of paper — the date you submitted your appeal, and wait. If within two weeks we do not hear public statements about a criminal case being opened — or at least an inquiry being launched — then it means the Guarantor of the Constitution and the National Leader have decided to cover the tender behinds of their bribery-taking subordinates. The opinions of the cops and prosecutors themselves do not count here. This is a political case, and everyone understands that perfectly well. Both the Prosecutor General and the Interior Minister will be waiting for a political green light: may they proceed or not? And we will see. May they proceed or not? If after a month we learn that the case has been dumped down to the level of the Moscow/Ufa/Novy Urengoy police departments or even lower (some district police office), then it means a final decision has been made to bury the case. We will act according to how events develop. This will not be easy. We will have to work at it. To make sure of that, just look at what is written in tiiiiny letters on the car's license plate frame.
They paid kickbacks on this clunker too. Anyone who wants to help me and dig into this whole story more seriously can write to navalny at gmail dot com. We will need to collect responses, scan them, post them, organize them, and so on. We will do everything through Google Wave (I'll send an invite). At the same time, we'll work out technical coordination and cooperation for the future. We will squeeze them slowly, but inexorably. A separate call: we need people who - can draft competent letters in English to Daimler, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the FBI. - understand the finer points of how the FCPA is applied. It has reportedly been stated that Daimler, under its court settlement, will operate under external anti-corruption oversight. We will raise the issue that if Daimler is not helping expose the recipients of bribes in Russia, then it is violating the terms of the settlement. Apparently we will need a U.S. citizen who has more formal standing than we do to file complaints with American authorities. If there are any brave Americans out there, write in. Naturally, promotion of this post is welcome. Many thanks in advance to everyone who takes part. You are the country's hope.