According to the auditor from United Russia, no such checks are envisaged by the Audit Chamber’s plan

Press Release, 1.07.2019

The Audit Chamber of Russia will not check the flights of Igor Sechin, Rosneft Chief Executive Officer, to elite resorts on a company’s plane. There will be no checks of Rosneft, because it is not included in the annual plan, as follows from the answer of Valery Bogomolov, auditor of the Audit Chamber and former State Duma deputy from United Russia.

In June 2019, Reuters published an investigation on the flights of Rosneft’s planes to elite resorts – Sardinia, Majorca, Ibiza and Maldives. Flights fell mainly for public holidays and weekends. The Anti-Corruption Policy Centre of the Yabloko Party believes that Igor Sechin is violating Article 201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and spends the budget of the state-owned oil company for his personal needs. Yabloko sent inquiries to the Audit Chamber, the Public Prosecutor General’s Office and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

“The inspection of PAO Oil Company Rosneft is not envisaged in the work plan of the Audit Chamber of the Russian Federation for 2019… The information has been taken into account and will be used when carrying out planned control measures, if necessary,” the Audit Chamber’s response runs.

Yabloko’s Anti-Corruption Policy Centre, however, notes that, according to the law “On the Audit Chamber of the Russian Federation,” one of the tasks of the state body is “ensuring measures to counter corruption”.

“There is no reason why the Audit Chamber conduct an audit and find out why Rosneft’s planes fly to elite resorts. But political will is needed so that to fight corruption. The refusal of the auditor is a bright signal that the present government does not have such a will,” Alexei Karnaukhov, director of the Anti-Corruption Policy Centre of the Yabloko party, says.

It should be also noted that in 2018, the Audit Chamber published its publicly available annual audit plan for 2019. This was the first such publication. The disclosure of the plan should have increased the transparency of the work of the department. At the same time, Alexei Kudrin, head of the Accounts Chamber, said that the audit plan could be adjusted within a year.