Press Release, 18.06.2021

Photo by frantic00/depositphotos

The Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Chelyabinsk Region initiated an audit of the validity of budgetary spending of the Mayor of Chelyabinsk Natalya Kotova and the Minister of the Regional Ministry of Economic Development Natalia Lugacheva on flights and accommodation in the five-star Hilton Hotel in Dubai in May – June 2021. Formally the purpose of the officials’ trip was to be training under the Master of Public Administration programme from the Skolkovo Business School, Russia. The cost of training in this School for a similar programme, but with a less number of modules, is from 1.1 million rubles.

Yaroslav Shcherbakov, Chairman of the Chelyabinsk regional branch of the Yabloko party, drew attention to the luxurious details of the officials’ trip to Dubai, which was slightly prolonged (the training was planned for five days, but the officials spent seven nights in Dubai).

According to Shcherbakov, the Chelyabinsk branch of the Anti-Corruption Policy Centre of the Yabloko Party, was concerned by the fact that in addition to luxury accommodation during the training, the officials did not take a vacation and continued to receive salaries and travel allowances, despite the fact that this training was not a mandatory upgrade qualifications training.

“The viability and the need of such an expensive training at the expense of the state corporation VEB.RF is a separate serious issue. According to the organisers, the programme should result in developing projects for urban economy and comfortable environment. Now it is very important for all Chelyabinsk [the city with many environmental problems] taxpayers to know and remember how much money has been invested in the upgrading of qualifications of officials in order to control and demand a commensurate return on the “dividends” invested in them,” Yaroslav Shcherbakov noted.

“There are also questions about the viability and the need for expensive training at the expense of the state corporation VEB.RF,” the Chairman of the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko added.

Earlier, after the appeal of the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko, the Federal Antimonopoly Service had confirmed violations in the purchase of banquets and gifts by the Governor’s Office Management Department.