Text version
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Hi, my name is Alexandr Golovach, and I am
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a lawyer with the Anti-Corruption Foundation.
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Today, of course, I’m going to talk about the most
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important, outrageous,
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and emotionally charged issue right now: the so-called
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pension reform. In his recent video address,
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Putin asked all of us
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to treat the increase in the retirement age
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with understanding. “I ask you to treat this
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with understanding.”
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But I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’m going
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to tell you how the Pension Fund
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is literally throwing our money around.
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This is a very simple but extremely
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revealing story that perfectly
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illustrates the whole essence of both the reform itself and
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the Pension Fund, and in general how
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the authorities handle the money that we
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have entrusted to them. Last week, Georgy Alburov
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told you about the billion-ruble personal
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fortune of the head of Russia’s Pension Fund,
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Anton Drozdov.
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Be sure to watch that video if you
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haven’t done so yet. While talking about
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luxury real estate, my colleague
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briefly mentioned an official
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BMW company car. That’s what we’re going to talk about today.
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When he reports on the
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triumphant increase in pensions by a token amount
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and then gets into an official BMW and
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drives to a seven-room apartment in the
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most expensive district of Moscow—well, just recently,
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on June 26, the Pension Fund threw away
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almost 100 million rubles on car rentals
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($1M+). The contract was signed 10
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days after Dmitry Medvedev submitted
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the bill to raise the retirement age
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to the State Duma (the lower house of parliament), that is, at the very
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height of the debate, and after the same
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Anton Drozdov had declared that only raising
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the retirement age would make it possible to increase
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pensions. From the documentation for the signed
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contract, we learned that the
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executive directorate of the Pension Fund of Russia—its main
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body—apparently cannot collect your
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pension contributions without 6 black BMW 5 Series
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cars, model year 2018,
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22 black Toyota Camrys, four
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of which were also made that year, and
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14 lower-class cars.
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Another 51 vehicles were rented
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for regional
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branches. Let’s talk in more detail, of course,
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about the cost: to rent just one such
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car, the Pension Fund pays 560,000
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rubles per month, and over six months the rental of
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one car
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is budgeted at 3.36 million
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rubles. That is more than
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the cost of a brand-new car from a dealership.
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Why so expensive, you ask? First,
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because the cars are provided with
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drivers, and under the contract their work schedule is
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practically around the clock: 7
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days a week, 17 hours a day. And if
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the service acceptance reports for
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July are to be believed, that is exactly how much they had
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to work. The Pension Fund’s management really does not spare itself;
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even on
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weekends they never stop thinking about us. I can just picture it:
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Anton Drozdov is visiting
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his mother-in-law’s dacha on Rublyovka (an elite suburb outside Moscow) on a Saturday, and then
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suddenly remembers poor Russians and
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rushes back to the office to think urgently,
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leaning back in the rear seat of a leather-upholstered
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BMW, about what completely unnecessary thing
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he could cut in order to
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raise Russians’ pensions. We also
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looked at the Pension Fund’s last 7
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car-rental tenders,
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and what do you think? Literally everything there
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points to cartel collusion.
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For inexplicable reasons,
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for many years in a row only three
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companies have taken part. Apparently, no one else is interested in the Pension Fund’s generous contracts.
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The others do not even try to
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participate. At the same time, the founders have a lot
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in common.
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They all seem to be very short on imagination:
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different people gave their companies
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the same names—one has “Bouquet,” and another has
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“Bouquet” too; one has “CDT,”
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and another has “CDT” as well. They are registered at
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the same address. At all
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the auctions, the price dropped only symbolically, as
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usually happens in cases of collusion—by no more than
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1 percent. Based on these facts, we
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have appealed to the Federal Antimonopoly
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Service. We will seek official recognition
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of a violation of antitrust
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law and the transfer of the materials
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for the opening of a criminal case.
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You can’t even find a website online for
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the company that won the latest tender.
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According to its 2017 tax filings,
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it had only one employee. And yet
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the Pension Fund signed with it
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a contract worth 350 million rubles ($3.5M+).
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And besides spending on car rentals,
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there are also enormous expenses for servicing
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the Pension Fund’s own
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vehicle fleet: 24 million rubles
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in the last year alone. From these contracts, we
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learn that on the Pension Fund’s books there are at least
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a luxurious pair of BMW 7 Series cars,
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one Audi A8, and three Audi A6s.
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Service in VIP airport lounges across
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the country, and a monthly subscription to
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Forbes magazine,
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and Esquire as well, are all paid for out of the pockets
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of Russians. At the same time, they insist
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that it is impossible to find the funds
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to save the pension system, while at the same time
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cynically spending enormous sums on
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their own comfort—not on anything
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necessary, but specifically on comfort and
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prestige. The members of the Pension Fund’s board
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the fund sincerely believes that they are entitled to it
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such things
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and that cannot but be infuriating — it’s not that we are like this,
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it’s life that is like this.
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But the fact that the budget has been losing tens
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of millions, including as a result of cartel
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collusion,
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with the complete connivance of part of the elite
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and the Pension Fund, is simply enough to drive one
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into a rage. When they pay ordinary
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people their own money
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in the form of humiliatingly small pensions or
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disability benefits, they count every
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kopek; but when it comes to spending
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on themselves, they spare no expense and
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deny themselves nothing. They do not even care about
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the millions stolen right under their noses.
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Of course, that money would not be enough
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to provide all pensioners with decent
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pensions. But you know, I would very much like
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to see some elderly pensioner
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come to the main building of the Pension
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Fund on Shabolovka (a street in Moscow),
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and Anton Drozdov tells her there:
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“Ma’am, you worked your whole life in
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industry, and you are entitled to 10,000
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rubles a month, while I, a bureaucrat,
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and hanger-on, am entitled to half a million
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rubles a month just for a BMW 5 Series
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with a driver,”},{
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“plus another 300,000 rubles a month in salary. And what
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is so unusual about that? My daughter’s university in Scotland
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has to be paid for, and the utility bills
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are so expensive when your apartment is 330
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square meters (about 3,550 sq ft) in central Moscow.”
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“Please be understanding, ma’am.” I
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will repeat the obvious point:
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the authorities must start with themselves, and if they
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do not want to do that, then we must
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make them. On September 9, there will be
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a nationwide protest against
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the pension reform.
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Take part in the nationwide
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protest.
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This is the best opportunity to express your
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disagreement with the increase in the retirement
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age. If you are in Moscow, then
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come to Tverskaya Street at 2:00 p.m., and
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if you are in St. Petersburg, then also at 2:00 p.m. to
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Lenin Square.
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See you there.
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[music]