100 ТВ, 05.05.2009 г.

While St.Petersburg Administration stated that it would economise on preparations for the Victory Day, the Youth Organisation of the YABLOKO party in St.Petersburg prepared a list of Administration’s extravagant expenditures. An unusual prize – a golden toilet brush  – will be awarded to the Hotel Industry Department of St.Petersburg Administration which turned out to be the winner of such extravagant purchases contest. The department spent 250,000 roubles (USD 1 = RUR 26 in 2008 and USD 1 = RUR 33 in 2009) on spices, mustard and sources it was commissioned to buy for Smolninskaya Hotel. The YABLOKO party has prepared a list of budget organisations with such wasteful spending. It mentions the so-called “golden workshop” costing 1,600,000 roubles allegedly organised for the journalists to train them how to write about “national projects”. Golden furniture for the state residency K-2 is another impressive example: 230 chairs 26,000 roubles per item, marble busts totaling 14 mln roubles and hangings costing 3 mln roubles. Then there come 20 “golden vases” costing 500,000 roubles for St.Petersburg Economy Committee and the most expensive 17 “golden automobiles” totaling 70 mln roubles (USD 125,000 per a car) for St.Petersburg Administration. Our editors calculated that this money would suffice to buy 450 Lada cars.

A guest of our studio is Alexander Gudimov, Chairman of the youth branch of the YABLOKO party in St.Petersburg.

Anchor: Alexander, where did you get all these data?

Gudimov: We found it in mass media and we also searched the web-site of the state order where all this information was confirmed. You can see the winner of the prize that spent 250,000 roubles for Smolninskaya Hotel at the web-site, the information is still there and anyone can check it. 

Anchor: As far as I understand PR campaigns are important for every party, but still why have you decided to hold this very Golden Toilet Brush contest? Do you really have such a prize and will you hand it to the winning bureaucrats?

Gudimov: Yes, we have such a prize. And it is not the first time that we are raising the topic of violations in the field of state orders… And such cases seem to snowball… Once Smolny (St.Petersburg Administration) began refurbishing of the building and bought toilet brushes 12.000 roubles each. We decided that these are really “golden” toilet brushes and this gave a name to the Golden Toilet Brush Prize, and the prize really looks like it and we have already held one awards… One prize had to go to Valentina Matviyenko [Governor of St.Petersburg] for this story, for creating the situation favourable to such financial violations in the city but she did not come to collect her prize…

See the full interview

100 ТВ, 05.05.2009 г.