Monsieur Turchak gave an interview about his villa in Nice. Before reading, it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with some advanced European practice: 04.03.2013. A Greek court found the country’s former defense minister, Akis Tsochatzopoulos, guilty of falsifying information in his income declarations and sentenced him to eight years in prison. The Wall Street Journal reports. http://www.gazeta.ru/politics/news/2013/03/04/n_2782381.shtml Now back to Turchak. This is simply the height of shamelessness. The headline alone says it all: T*urchak: “An official with foreign assets cannot defend Russia” * It makes you want to say: yes! yes! we completely agree! Leave public service as soon as possible, and take people like you with you. But then, unfortunately, it turns out that it is some other kind of “officials with foreign assets” who cannot defend Russia’s interests. But Turchak can. Because: The villa was bought with a mortgage loan. Turchak has put it up for sale (having bought it, let me remind you, in 2008). It is not really a villa at all, but an apartment. "It just looks nice". "We never actually lived there". (Hardly lived there at all.) And it all ends with this absolute gem: —*** Your reputation could suffer because of this story ** — My conscience is clear. Hiding things and being less than fully candid are not my way.*
WHAAAT?! I reread it several times and still could not believe it. There it is: you got caught. And you even admitted it. When he was a member of the Federation Council (the upper house of Russia’s parliament), he bought a villa in Nice. He hid it and played the patriot. Then he became governor: he told no one about the villa. He concealed it, was less than candid, and played the patriot. For several years he filled out property declarations. He lied, concealed things, was less than candid, and even formally broke the law. The day before his inevitable exposure, he rushed to add a stake in a company to his declaration, concealing and failing to mention that this stake was merely a shell standing in front of a €1.3 million villa. And after all that: my conscience is clear. Well done, a true United Russia party man. It is interesting that United Russia members themselves, who only a week ago were triumphantly declaring, “With Pekhtin, the process of renewing the party has begun,” are now busily backpedaling. Look at how our old acquaintance twists and squirms — the patriotic little mattress Zheleznyak: However, Sergei Zheleznyak, deputy secretary of the General Council of United Russia, assured Moskovsky Komsomolets that he sees no grounds whatsoever for any party disciplinary proceedings. “Without a doubt, this is a different case,” Zheleznyak said. “Pekhtin intends to prove in court, both in America and in Russia, that the property belongs not to him but to his son. This will require at least several months of his personal participation in the proceedings. During that time, he would not be able to effectively carry out his duties as a State Duma deputy.” So it turns out that Pekhtin’s departure from the Duma was not a moral choice, but something like an extended leave of absence to conduct litigation. Turchak, meanwhile, does not even need litigation — he is not planning to deny owning the villa. “Under current legislation, there is nothing unlawful about Turchak’s wife owning a company that, among other things, owns real estate abroad,” Zheleznyak believes. “The bill proposed by the president includes a ban on business assets and accounts abroad, which officials must decide to give up within three months of the law entering into force,” the United Russia member said. “The fact that Turchak has already publicly promised to get rid of his family’s assets shows precisely that he wants to comply with the future requirements without waiting for them to become law. And that can only be welcomed**.** http://www.mk.ru/politics/article/2013/03/05/821770-navalnyiy-i-villa-gubernatora-v-nitstse-kommentiruet-ranee-pavshiy-zhertvoy-blogera-zheleznyak.html Everything is fine, Turchak’s actions can only be welcomed, and we will just sort of forget to mention that the villa should have been declared. They are beyond repair. Everyone needs to hear about this. Don’t forget:
http://turchak.mashina.org/ Update: Slon.ru checked the facts stated in Turchak’s interview: Claim Check: 6 Mistakes by Andrei Turchak