I was on Echo of Moscow, on Mikhail Barshchevsky’s program today.
We discussed corruption. How we can defeat it and also how we should reorganize Rabkrin (the Soviet Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate)
The conversation was timed to coincide with a meeting of the relevant working group of the "Big Government" initiative. RosPil is presenting some very specific proposals there on how to organize public oversight in government procurement, although overall I’m skeptical about the anti-corruption prospects of "Big Government."
http://youtu.be/evEf7RRN-mM There’s an interesting moment at 27:45 in the recording that explains my skeptical attitude toward Medvedev’s initiatives. We all remember how forcefully and uncompromisingly he declared that all government officials would be removed from companies’ boards of directors. An absolutely correct decision. Now let’s look at who has currently been nominated to Aeroflot’s board of directors (I’m among the nominees as well):
Two are officials in the literal sense: Nikitin and Tikhonov. One is an official in practice: Chemezov. Mikhail told me I was mistaken, that this couldn’t be the case and was out of the question altogether, because it’s impossible under the law. Well then, here is the official Aeroflot press release on the results of the board meeting, where the list of board candidates was approved. Impossible or not, it may well be impossible — but it’s happening. If such recent and high-profile statements were ignored so quickly and so openly (despite the fact that Medvedev is still president), it’s hard to believe in the prospects of "Big Government."