Press Release, 24.03.2021

Photo: Alexei Teksler Governor of the Chelyabinsk Region / Photo by Creative Commons

The Chelyabinsk Department of the Federal Antimonopoly Service found violations in the public procurement of luxurious banquets and gifts by the Governor of the Chelyabinsk region. The Federal Antimonopoly Service carried out the corresponding audit after the appeal by the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service noted that the violations were already contained in the description of the object of the purchase and the terms of the contract, including the justification of the initial (maximum) price of the contract, which did not allow to determine exactly what and at what price  should be purchased to meet the needs of the Governor (assortment of food and drinks, quantity, price and name of gifts – everything had to be agreed upon during the execution of contracts).

Officials guilty of violations will have to be brought to administrative responsibility under Article 7.30 Part 4.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (“Violation of the procedure for the procurement of goods, works, services to meet state and municipal needs”) which is a fine of 3,000 roubles.

“In early 2021 the Yabloko party Anti-Corruption Policy Centre awarded a special anti-prize the Golden Toilet Brush to Alexei Teksler in the nomination VIP-gifts for officials,” said Yaroslav Shcherbakov, Chairman of the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko.

“Every year the region has been spending 20 million roubles on gifts and banquets for the Governor. In practice, such vague terms and conditions of public procurement contracts allowed him to buy anything at any price,” the leader of the regional office added.

Activists of the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko note that attracting public attention to the excessive spending of the Governor made it possible to reduce the costs of the next luxury purchases at the state expense by 6.3 million roubles.

At present, the Main Control Department and the Chamber of Control and Accounts of the Chelyabinsk Region are conducting inspections on similar contracts already completed in 2019 and 2020 with regard to their justification and validity.