The Finance Ministry bill leads to the non-transparency and corruption in public procurement

Press Release, 15.06.2020

The Yabloko Anti-Corruption Policy Centre has prepared an independent anti-corruption examination of the bill of the Russian Ministry of Finance on classifying purchases for law enforcement agencies and Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos).  The experts of the Yabloko Anti-Corruption Policy Centre are confident that the closed regime of procurement will increase the risks of corruption and financial irregularities, as well as eliminate the possibility of civili control over procurement.

The bill provides for the right of the government to establish cases of classified procurement. Also, the government will be able to develop cases of contracting without using a single information system. This means that access to procurement information will be cut.

The Russian Guard, the Federal Security Service and the Russian Federal Space Agency will be able to conduct closed procurement. Also, the government is given the right to foresee cases of classified purchases and develop rules on the rating of business reputation.

The Yabloko Anti-Corruption Policy Centre pointed to corruption-prone factors in these initiatives. The Yabloko experts propose not to expand the list of classified procurements and provide for all the necessary rules directly in the federal law.

“There are positive initiatives in the bill of the Ministry of Finance, but some, on the contrary, reduce transparency and provoke the risks of corruption. This is what happens with government procurements for the Russian Guard, the Federal Security Service and the Russian Federal Space Agency. Public control simply will not be able to access information about contractors and the details of such purchases, as if they refer to state secrets. Such a practice will only increase abuse in these departments,” Alexei Karnaukhov, Director of the Yabloko Anti-Corruption Policy Centre, noted.

An expertise signed by Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov was sent to the Ministry of Finance. It should be noted that Yabloko has the status of an anti-corruption expert accredited by the Ministry of Justice.