Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed Mikhail Yurevich, the governor of the Chelyabinsk Region. The news was reported on Wednesday, January 15, by the Interfax news agency, citing the Kremlin press service. The statement уточняется that Yurevich submitted his resignation voluntarily, and the president signed it. http://lenta.ru/news/2014/01/15/yurevich/
To us at the Anti-Corruption Foundation, Yurevich has become almost like family. We’ve been hammering away at him for three years. The main milestones of this long journey: July 21, 2011. “Positive Assessments of the Environmental Situation”: Mikhail Yurevich—a member of United Russia, the “party of crooks and thieves”—fights for the environment by cleaning up Google search results. January 31, 2012. “113 Million of Our Rubles for the Governor’s Security”: Yurevich spent 113 million rubles on his personal security over a year and a half. That was when we filed our first criminal complaints against Yurevich. November 28, 2012. A Postcard to Old Man Yurevich: If you add up the cost of Yurevich’s security and his helicopter, bought with budget money (of course for 20 million rubles above market price) and costing the region 55 million rubles a year to operate, it turns out that Yurevich spent (ATTENTION) 553,009,179 rubles from the budget on these toys alone. Taking into account Governor Yurevich’s previous accomplishments, including: intimidation and bribery to rig elections; buying cable porn channels with budget money; spending public funds so that search engines would stop showing information about industrial disasters in the region at the top of their results; For that, we decided to give Yurevich a ride with the Good Machine of Truth (an anti-corruption campaign project). (and we did)
March 6, 2013. “Chelyabinsk Math”: the tough Chelyabinsk officials literally bought a software program for 10,000 rubles and then sold it to their home region for 25 million rubles through a shell company set up by the wife of one of those officials. All of this could have been stopped two years earlier, but Governor Yurevich did not want to do that. More likely, he got a cut of 10 million out of those 25 million. September 23, 2013. “Not Bad News”: The authorities of the Chelyabinsk Region announced a tender for the lease of two BMW 740Li xDrive sedans, or their equivalent, through 2016 with transfer of ownership rights. More than 13.2 million rubles is planned for this purpose, according to the listing posted on the state procurement portal. As noted in the auction documents, the executive-class sedans must be 2013 models with black leather interiors and a “black sapphire metallic” exterior. The cars must have an engine output of at least 320 horsepower. They are also required to include, among other things, an onboard computer, a heated sport leather steering wheel, a rear-view camera, heated seats, and a television. In addition, officials requested armor protection for the front parts of the vehicles—the hood, bumper, fenders, mirrors, front pillar, and the areas under the door handles. Of course, there is absolutely nothing else to spend 13.2 million rubles on in the Chelyabinsk Region except buying Governor Yurevich of United Russia two BMWs with sport leather steering wheels. December 24, 2013. “United Russia Governor: Allocated Money for His Own Security, Then Ordered It Investigated”: Yurevich’s personal security, events involving Yurevich, Yurevich’s salary, and Yurevich’s helicopter will cost the regional budget 166,897,700 rubles in 2014. And then, all of a SUDDEN, Yurevich instructs the Main Control Directorate to look into the security expenses. In other words, they approved and passed the budget. They approved and passed the procurement plan. They prepared the technical specifications for these services worth hundreds of millions. Back in January 2012, we were already raising hell and filing complaints over the previous contracts. And then Yurevich, who signed off on all of it, puts on an innocent face: really? Is everything that expensive? We should investigate. Obviously, Yurevich was removed not because he is a thief (people here are not removed for that—they get bonuses), but because he failed to share with someone. Still, it feels good. Thanks to everyone at the ACF (Anti-Corruption Foundation) and RosPil (Navalny’s anti-corruption procurement watchdog project) who worked or is working on Yurevich’s case—especially Andrei ipa**sserby, f**or whom Yurevich simply became a personal enemy).