I generally like pairing ridiculous quotes from our Kremlin riffraff with funny pictures. But this time I don’t even have a funny picture:
Yakunin says he was hit with U.S. sanctions because of his honesty
Russian Railways chief Vladimir Yakunin believes the U.S. authorities put him on the U.S. sanctions list because of his honest position and candid statements.
http://top.rbc.ru/politics/20/03/2014/912526.shtml
Just think about the level of officially acceptable hypocrisy we’ve reached, if even this insatiable thieving mug, grabbing everything it can get its hands on, having sent his children and grandchildren abroad, is talking about honesty.
Instead of a funny picture, Yakunin’s “honesty” is best illustrated by this image: http://navalny.ru/yakunin/.
Before continuing with Yakunin, I want to note that, as I said before, sanctions against Putin’s billionaire cronies are enthusiastically welcomed by Russian citizens regardless of their position on Crimea.
Look—even on the show of arch-propagandist Dorenko, on the radio station "Govorit Moskva" ("Moscow Speaks," hardly a liberal outlet), 92% of listeners support imposing such sanctions.
So, what we want to say is that the Anti-Corruption Foundation doesn’t just tell stories write blog posts, it also gets things done formalizes the results of its staff’s work.
I’m pleased to present the official complaints that the Anti-Corruption Foundation is sending to the relevant authorities in the UK and Switzerland regarding corruption involving Vladimir Yakunin and members of his family, including his son Andrey, who lives in the UK.
The Serious Fraud Office http://www.sfo.gov.uk/ A government body empowered to investigate and prosecute fraud and corruption. It oversees compliance with the UK Bribery Act. Its responsibilities also include monitoring compliance with corporate governance rules and maintaining the reputation and transparency of the British business environment. The SFO offers an excellent opportunity to submit documents and evidence about suspicious transactions, bribery, corruption, and other crooks. We’d be foolish not to use it. In our complaint, we tell the SFO that it would do well to take a look at that very “insurmountable wall” which, according to the younger Yakunin, stands between his hotel business and Russian Railways. The Anti-Corruption Foundation questions the existence of that wall and sees a series of remarkable coincidences—for example, that Andrey Yakunin’s hotels are located on land adjacent to railway stations, that the land came to him from Zheldoripoteka, and that the projects are financed through a company managing the assets of Russian Railways’ Blagosostoyanie pension fund. Or take the fact that Sergei Orlov, a partner in Yakunin’s foundation, sits on the boards of Zheldoripoteka, the investor RVM Capital, and even the Blagosostoyanie non-state pension fund—hardly consistent with an insurmountable wall. Let me remind you that the details can be found here. We also shared with SFO officials another highly interesting story about Andrey Yakunin’s business, which we do not yet want to discuss publicly (it is blacked out in the text of the complaint). The Anti-Corruption Foundation will soon tell the full story of these new adventures of the "insurmountable wall," leaving the Yakunin clan trembling in anticipation a little longer. The full complaint can be read here. A couple of excerpts from it: Based on our investigations it becomes evident that business activities of Andrey Yakunin are followed by substantial widespread conflict of interest for himself and his father, Vladimir Yakunin as well as other management of Russian Railways and it’s subsidiaries. The existence of such conflict of interest may have lead to serious corruption offences in this state corporation and abuse of power or improper performance by it’s President Vladimir Yakunin. Based on the results of our investigation, it is clear that Andrey Yakunin’s business is accompanied by an obvious and substantial conflict of interest for him and his father, Vladimir Yakunin, as well as for other executives of Russian Railways and its subsidiaries. The existence of such a conflict of interest may have led to serious corruption offenses in this state corporation, official misconduct, or improper performance of duties by Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin. Based on our understanding of the letter and spirit of Bribery Act 2010 we believe that if son of foreign public official is a permanent resident of the United Kingdom and have gained multimillion profits from business with the state corporation headed by his father it should lead to further investigations by relevant authorities in the United Kingdom. In accordance with our understanding of the letter and spirit of the Bribery Act 2010, we believe that if the son of a public official is a resident of the United Kingdom and earns multimillion-dollar profits from business with a state corporation headed by his father, this should trigger an investigation by the relevant UK authorities. 2.1. Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations http://www.edi.admin.ch/esv/?lang=fr This is a department of the interior ministry that regulates charitable foundations. Its purpose is to make sure that Switzerland’s many foundations are doing what they are supposed to do—charity, rather than money laundering. It compares a foundation’s actual activities with its charter, checks financial flows, and can inspect what is happening in the foundation’s office. The Swiss regulators are about to get a lot busier. The Anti-Corruption Foundation is sending them a request to review the activities of no fewer than four charitable foundations in which Vladimir Yakunin—often together with his entire family—is listed as a founder:
We decided not to speculate about why the head of a Russian state corporation needs four charitable organizations in hostile Europe, where not a single “traditional spiritual value” is supposedly left—let the competent authorities sort it out. The full text of the complaint can be viewed here. 2.2. Attorney General of Switzerland Just to be safe, we also decided not to deprive the Swiss Attorney General of the pleasure of learning about the adventures of the Yakunin clan. We are translating both Swiss complaints into French and sending them in both paper and electronic form. The full text of the complaint can be viewed here. A few excerpts: T*here are also four legal entities registered in Switzerland where Vladimir Yakunin is listed as a founding member. All of them are a non-commercial organizations. Given the context (possible corruption offenses) described above, there are serious concerns about genuineness and integrity of these organizations. * There are also four legal entities registered in Switzerland in which Vladimir Yakunin is listed as a founder. All of these legal entities are non-profit organizations. Given the information set out above (possible corruption offenses), there are grounds for concern about the honesty and legality of these organizations’ operations. My thanks to all Anti-Corruption Foundation staff (especially the investigations department) working on “honest Yakunin” for their excellent work. We are waiting for a response from the British and Swiss authorities. And I ask everyone who wants to help us to share this information with friends and acquaintances. Remember: Yakunin’s mafia-like family is not robbing some abstract companies—it is robbing you and your family directly. During Alexei Navalny’s house arrest, his blog is being run by Yulia Navalnaya and Anti-Corruption Foundation staff.